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Virtual Service Focuses On Fenton LGBTQ+ Project

Noah Goodling, Fenton History Center executive director, will talk about “Preserving Diversity: Building a Jamestown LGBTQ+ Archive” at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown’s virtual service on Sunday, Nov. 8.

In late 2019, Jamestown Pride approached the Fenton History Center with a standard request: They wanted to know more about the history of the local LGBTQ+ community.

The Fenton’s mission is to preserve and promote the history of our area, but in this instance the organization drew a blank. There had been no systematic effort to collect this history, at the Fenton or anywhere else, and as a result it was being lost through inaction.

The staff and the Board of the Fenton resolved to do better, and have spent the last year putting together a framework for a local LGBTQ+ archive to be preserved as part of the Fenton’s permanent collections. Goodling will talk about this project, the responsibility that the Fenton has to preserve diverse forms of history, and how the community can support and contribute to this growing effort.

Born in Warren, Pa., and moving to Corning, N.Y., at the age of 9, Goodling earned his degree in history from Allegheny College. He lived and worked in the Jamestown community for a year, gaining experience at the Chautauqua Archives and the Robert H. Jackson Center, before pursuing a graduate school at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. He worked at the Indiana Historical Society, the National Council on Public History, and served as the college archivist for Thomas Nelson Community College in Virginia before returning to Jamestown in 2017 to lead the Fenton.

Because of COVID-19 limitations, at this time all UUCJ Sunday services are virtual instead of at its 1255 Prendergast Avenue location. Anyone is welcome to participate by emailing UUJamestown@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link for the 10:30 a.m. service. The link goes out on Saturday afternoon, but those interested can request to join until the start of the service on Sunday.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving Warren County, Pa., and the southern tier of Western New York. For more information, visit jamestownuu.org or the church’s Facebook page, facebook.com/jamestownuu.

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