About
The Rainbow History Project formed November 4, 2000 in a meeting at the CyberStop Cafe on 17th Street NW (tolerant home of many of our meetings and oral history tapings!) following a notice placed by Mark Meinke in the Washington Blade. The notice came out of frustration at trying to identify archives and sources of information on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered history in metropolitan Washington DC. Five people showed up for that first Saturday meeting and decided to try organizing the history project; those attending were Mark Meinke, Charles Rose, Bruce Pennington, Jose Gutierrez, and James Crutchfield. The group's purpose has always been to preserve our community's memories. Among our highest priority initial projects was the capturing of community members' memories for an oral history project.
Our mission is
to collect, preserve, and promote an active knowledge of the history, arts, and culture relevant to sexually diverse communities in metropolitan Washington DC.