Campus Connection

UWL student uncovers untold local history, builds UWL’s historic archive

UWL Special Collections — the university’s historic archive — is excited about a newsletter donation that opens new pages of La Crosse’s diverse history. Special Collections acquired “The Leaping La Crosse News,” a source of information for lesbians living in the La Crosse area, published from 1979-2007. The addition helps make Special Collections preservation efforts more representative of the diverse people and groups who make up La Crosse history, says Laura Godden, Special Collections historian. People outside the majority group don’t often end up in a historic archives because what is recorded by newspapers, government agencies and other community organizations at any moment in time is based on people’s acceptance level of that group, explains Godden. That’s a problem, she adds. “If people are not included in the community’s most predominate records and if that group’s own records don’t get saved in the archives, it essentially writes these groups out of the larger historical narrative because their evidence isn’t readily accessible by researchers,” she explains. For example, UWL Special Collections has very little documentation of Syrians who came to La Crosse in the early 1900s and Cuban refugees who came in the 1980s. Until this donation of “The Leaping La Crosse News” and a subsequent donation from the same donor, Special Collections had only a few article clippings related to the LGBTQ population in La Crosse in the 1980s. Student research makes the connection [caption id="attachment_46503" align="alignright" width="325"] UWL student researcher Cristian Noriega, a psychology major, helped bridge the gap between a local resident with a historic collection and UWL’s Special Collections. Here Noriega, left, is pictured with the collection of “The Leaping La Crosse News” with Laura Godden, Special Collections historian.[/caption] That lack of history about the LGBTQ community became a problem for UWL psychology major Cristian Noriega who was doing background research for the “Hear, Here” project in spring and summer 2016. He had difficulty locating any records related to La Crosse’s lesbian community while searching in Special Collections and the La Crosse Public Library archives. While interviewing Mary O'Sullivan, a local resident and former editor of “The Leaping La Crosse News,” she mentioned to Noriega that she had issues in her home. Noriega realized the nearly complete collection would be useful not only for his project, but also for other researchers. He contacted Special Collections to see if they would be interested in preserving them. Knowing this history of La Crosse’s LGBTQ population goes beyond a class project for Noreiga, who identifies with the LGBTQ community. “I feel very happy about this because she [Mary] has made it so much easier for people like me to continue all of our work that helps the LGBTQ movement,” he says. Noreiga says a lot of his work is educating people about the LGBTQ community. One common misconception he hears is that being “LGBTQ” is just a trend. Having documented evidence of a local group dating back to the 1980s is one more way to counter that argument, he says. Meanwhile, UWL’s Special Collections staff is very grateful for Noreiga who bridged the gap between the donor and the archivist. It is hard for archivists to acquire collections from diverse groups as donors of materials need to trust that what they’ve worked so hard to preserve is in good hands, notes Godden and Paul Beck, Special Collections librarian and Area Research Center director. “When we get a collection like this, we promote it and treat it with respect,” says Godden. “It can act as a springboard to build that trust so that more people are likely to donate and become part of the larger historical narrative.” Do you have something to donate? UWL Special Collections is always on the lookout for materials that help tell the story of La Crosse’s rich history and diversity. Learn more about Special Collections on the web. Dig in Special Collections has taken the background research collected by UWL students for the Hear, Here project and constructed an archival manuscript collection. This means the public can visit and find a file folder of student compiled research for each Hear, Here story heard on the streets of downtown on various groups and topics such as: homelessness in La Crosse, the marsh road controversy, La Crosse’s red light district and more. All are welcome to visit Special Collections and view the historic primary resources and rare book collection. Special Collections is on the first floor of Murphy Library. Its entrance is in the library's atrium. More on ‘The Leaping La Crosse News’ Distributed monthly, “The Leaping La Crosse News” covered topics such as national, state, and local news about lesbian activities, legal cases, fashion, entertainment, and events, as well as social and political activities of La Crosse area lesbians. Visit Special Collections to view the collection.