From what we understand, The Cherry Grove Archives Collection unofficially started in 1940's, when Bill Ronin (and others) began documenting the community and jotting down, "Cherry Grove Archives" on various photo slides with a ball-point pen.
Since then, the collection has grown both because of the donations made by Grove community members throughout the years and also because of the dedicated work of Harold Seeley, who's passion for collecting surely saved many Cherry Grove treasures from becoming trash. Today our Archives volunteers are working hard to preserve, digitize and present our material in ways that both educate and engage.
In the early days of photography cameras were large and complicated, INSERT PROPER SENTENCE, but we are lucky enough to have rare images in our collection from the early 1900's.
This was a time when Cherry Grove began to flourish with families from Long Island (and other surrounding areas), who used the sand bar as a summer playground for fishing, clamming and soaking up the sun on the amazing pink quartz beach.
The earliest photos we have in our collection come from the photo albums of families like the Gerroddettes and the Pintos, who have roots in the Grove since the 1800s, and have generously shared their families memories to help chronicle the centuries of our community.
As access to cameras became more common, the documentation of Cherry Grove life was happening in every home. Many Grover residents had photo albums that were packed with images from all the stage shows at the Community House and bars like the Ice Palace (known as the birthplace of disco), to private house parties and sunny days spent playing on the beach.
For many however, these albums that chronicled their queer lives in Fire Island were kept a secret outside the safespace of Cherry Grove. Sadly, many albums would be discarded when residents passed or moved away. This was done to either to hide their truth from "the real world" or it was an act by ashamed family members who would discard such evidence.
A gay angel was truly sent in the form of Harold Seeley, who had a passion for collecting and made it his mission to ensure that photos, films, show props, house signs and other memorabilia would not be lost to the trash heap.
His adamancy is what has made our Archives Collection so rich and has been absolutely crucial in keeping our LGBTQIA+ history alive.
Each person is a member of our Archives, as they collect their adventures through the years and submit those treasured materials to the Cherry Grove Archives Collection.
Our goal is to include everyone's story for future generations.
So much of queer history can be forgotten or overlooked, and as time passes each new generation will inevitably want to look back and understand what we have an accomplished and where we have come from. The Archives will be a wonderful resource to illuminate our community (and beyond) about the trailblazing lives of those who loves, loved, partying and played in Cherry Grove, Fire Island.
To preserve the integrity of the items we begin with digital scanning, then we attempt to have images "cleaned up" with professional restoration and color correction.
Because we have begun to digitize our Archives, we are able to return photo albums and any other items, if the owner would like to retain the material.
Our volunteers are currently working to create an online viewing platform that allows visitors to tour through the decades of images that create a colorful canvas of life in our fabulous community. Diligently sorting through those decades of images, which have been stored away, is an intensive process to properly catalogue.
Cherry Grove has always been home to many different artists, and we have several photographers from the Grove who have partnered with CGAC to present their work through our collection. We thank Diana DiPrima, koitz, Susan Kravitz and Lorraine Michels for sharing their years of vibrant documentation, because their images truly help to paint the colorful canvas that is the history of Cherry Grove.
We would like to thank Lee Sharmat, Lorraine Michels and Brian Clark for their many volunteer hours spent collecting and cataloging all the material in the Archives, as part of our on-going mission to digitize all our treasures.
For details about adding your history to CGAC, please visit our SUBMIT page.
If you would like to license any CGAC material, check out our LICENSING page.
If you are a business or organization and want to submit your posters, visit our SUBMIT page.