Center preserves nightclub history
Family of Pulse victim visits memorials at historical facility
Too distraught to visit Pulse where their daughter died weeks earlier, Deonka Drayton’s parents turned instead to the Orange County Regional History Center.
The center, which is preserving memorials honoring the 49 victims of the mass shooting at theOrlando club, hadsomethings theyneeded to see.
“I think it’s very importantwhatthey’redoing,” said Deonka’s father, Shepherd Drayton Sr.
The curators, who have carefully collected more than 3,500 items related to the massacre, arranged for Shepherd’s family to see some of the memorials unique to their daughter. He asked for the private viewing in July, explaining that they had traveled from home in South Carolina.
Amongitems theywanted to see was a wooden cross bearing Deonka’s name and photo, one of 49 built by an Illinois carpenter for the victims.
“Being a man of faith, I sawthat crossandthoughtof all the good people who wrote on it or who left flowers or left notes or other things,” her father said. “It was deeplymoving to us as a family to feel that support, that love for our daughter.”
At least once a week, history center staffers visit the still-growing memorial outside Pulse to collect pictures, posters and other tributes before they are lost to the Florida sun and rain.
“It’s obviously a historical event,” curator Pam Schwartz said of the mass shooting, the worst in U.S. history. “But the community’s response has been so immense that it’s really its own event.”
She said most people who contributed to the memorials had never met any of the victims but were compelled to honor them.
“It’s kind of a remarkable thing,” Schwartz said.
They gathered hundreds of stuffed animals, notes and drawings, along with blessed prayer beads, a rainbowpainted flamingo and a copy of Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” an anthem for the gay community.
“It’s hard to say what we’re going to end up with here,” Schwartz said, standing in a humidity-controlledwarehouse filled with the artifacts.
The center has no immediate plans to display the collection, but it may include a few items in an upcoming LGBTexhibit.
The objects in the collection were retrieved not only from the club but wherever memorials sprouted: the tiny park beside Orlando Regional Medical Center, the lawn of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts and Lake Eola Park.
“Everything in this collection is special in some way,” said museum staffer Whitney Broadaway, examining an array of objects.
Curators were permitted to take a bullet-damaged door to the gender-neutral bathroom at the club, where people tried to hide fromthe shooter, and asked Orlando Regional Medical Center surgical resident Dr. Joshua Corsa for the pair of weekold shoes hewore during his shift the night of the shooting.
Corsa, who helped treat 54 people at the hospital after the shooting, had posted a photo of the bloodstained shoes on Facebook, which drew national attention. He vowed to keepwearing them until the last Pulse patient went home. One remains.
“This touched thousands of lives,” said Michael Perkins, manager of the center’smuseum.“We are trying to preserve it for generations.”
Perkins said he consulted Pam Schwartz, chief curator, and Michael Perkins, museum manager, at the Orange County Regional History Center, which is preserving memorials and other items from the shooting. The objects in the collection were retrieved not only from the club but wherever memorials sprouted, such as parks and lawns.
withexperts fromtheSmithsonianMuseums and visited the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center Site as he prepared his staff for the challenge of preserving Pulse.
The Orange County history center also received an unsolicited $5,000 grant from a California-based foundation to assist with cleaning and archiving the pieces.
Deanna Gomby, president of theHeising-SimonsFoundation, which issued the grant, said she hoped the gesturewould help the community heal, understand what happened and preserve the memories of those lost in the shooting.
The effort includes tedious work to remove mold, dirt and candle wax from “Everything in this collection is special in some way,” said Whitney Broadaway, collections manager. Curators were permitted to take a bullet-damaged door to the gender-neutral bathroom at the club, where people tried to hide from the shooter.
photographs and personal notes. It also involves cataloguing an object’s signficance.
For instance, curators took possession of a sink from the Pulse bathroom that survivors scaled to reach a hole in the wall to escape. “It’s not just a sink, it was a way out,” Schwartz said.
Located in downtownOrlando, the history center will host an exhibit beginning Oct.1called “Pride, Prejudice & Protest: GLBT History of Greater Orlando.” Perkins said the exhibit, scheduled months before the shooting, focuses on the struggles of the gay and lesbian community. The Orange County history center also received an unsolicited $5,000 grant from a California-based foundation to assist with cleaning and archiving the pieces.