WILLIAM COLBURN is a historic preservation consultant based in Dearborn, Michigan. He began his involvement in preservation while at Wayne State University as one of the founders of a campus preservation activist group fighting urban renewal policies in Detroit. William has been a board member of the United States Committee/International Council on Monuments and Sites, Preservation Action, the Michigan Historic Preservation Network, and the Michigan (Saarinen) Chapter/Society of Architectural Historians.

SUBJECT: Mr. Colburn gave an overview of GLBT preservation: Mr. Colburn, active in the international conservation movement, has worked with the National Trust for Historic Preservation to acknowledge GLBT preservation within the national context, Mr. Colburn elaborated on the role of the GLBT community in the revitalization of urban centers and discussed his preservation experience in Detroit.


WILL FELLOWS is the author of Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men from the Rural Midwest (University of Wisconsin Press) and a forthcoming book entitled Preservation Comrades: Gay Men as Keepers of Culture. He lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

SUBJECT: Mr. Fellows discussed his new book soon to be released, Preservation Comrades: Gay Men and Keepers of Culture:

From large cities to rural communities, gay men have long been visionary pioneers as keepers of culture: rescuing and restoring decrepit buildings, revitalizing blighted neighborhoods, saving artifacts and documents of historical significance. This penchant to preserve has typically been ignored or dismissed as a stereotypical gay cliche, even by gay men themselves. In his forthcoming book, Preservation Comrades, Will Fellows explores this authentic and complex dimension of gay men's lives by profiling early and contemporary preservationists from throughout the U.S. He illumines neglected facets of what it means to be gay, and highlights contributions to the larger culture that gays are uniquely inclined to make.

In this talk, based on the five years of research and writing that have gone into creating Preservation Comrades, Fellows will present an overview and summary of his findings and his analysis of them. His observations will be illustrated with material drawn from the lives of preservation-minded gay men from around the U.S, and will show these individuals' relationship to culture-keeping queer men, past and present, in societies worldwide.


JIM KENNEDY is a graduate of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, Jim created and performed a one-person extended show on Harvey Milk at the SF Castro's Josie's Cabaret.

SUBJECT: Mr. Kennedy provided a live playing of tapes from some of Harvey Milk's speeches as well as supplementary commentary throughout the tour of City Hall.

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