The Shamrock Bar: Photographs and Interviews by Carol Burch-Brown
odd: label: Other Title
content: It's Reigning Queens in Appalachia
name: label: Photographer
content: Burch-Brown, Carol
label: Names
content: Shamrock Bar (Bluefield, W.Va.)
label: Names
content: Kilkelly, Ann
place: label: Place
content: Appalachian Region
label: Place
content: Bluefield (W.Va.)
label: Place
content: West Virginia -- 1990-2000
topic: label: Topic
content: Bars (Drinking establishments)
label: Topic
content: Bisexuality
label: Topic
content: Gay artists -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Homosexuality
label: Topic
content: Lesbian and gay experience
label: Topic
content: Transvestites
label: Topic
content: Transvestism
label: Topic
content: Working class
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Carol Burch-Brown, December 2003.
creator: label: Photographer
content: Burch-Brown, Carol
setName: label: See more items in
content: The Shamrock Bar: Photographs and Interviews by Carol Burch-Brown
abstract: label: Summary
content: The collection documents a working class "gay" bar, the Shamrock Bar, Bluefield, West Virginia, 1997-2000, through photographs and oral history interviews.
bioghist: label: Biography
content: Carol Burch-Brown is Professor of Art and Humanities at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, and is a photographer, painter, and musician. Photographer and co-author with David Rigsbee, Trailers, University Press of Virginia, 1996.
label: Historical
content: During its heyday, the Shamrock Bar in Bluefield, West Virginia was a gathering place for gays and lesbians. The photographer reported in March 2003, before donating this collection, that Miss Helen Compton, proprietor of the Shamrock, had died and the establishment had been closed.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Cubic foot (2 boxes )
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1997-2003
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0857
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Compact discs
label: Type
content: Digital images
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Oral history
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Transcripts
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is divided into three series. 

Series 1: Photoprints

Series 2: Transcripts

Series 3: Compact discs
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Carol Burch-Brown and David Haberstich, 2004.

Photoprints digitized by Noah Stewart, digitization technician, 2025.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Compact discs
label: Genre/Form
content: Digital images
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews -- 1980-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Oral history -- 1990-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin -- 1990-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- Digital prints -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Transcripts
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection consists of Carol Burch-Brown's photographs (200 photoprints, mostly silver gelatin on fiber-base paper, but including more than a dozen digital prints), copies of tape-recorded interviews (on 26 compact discs), and transcripts of interviews (3 volumes plus a compact disc containing Word files) made at the Shamrock Bar, Bluefield, West Virginia, 1997-2002, documenting a working-class gay bar.  The photographs include "drag" performances, pageants, and other activities at the bar.  Many show performers applying makeup and donning costumes, including the use of prosthetic breasts.  Pictures taken in the bar are often in a soft-focus, slightly blurred, high-contrast, impressionistic style.  There are a number of sharp-focus portraits, however, and exterior views of the building, its neighborhood, and the town are sharply focused, detailed documentary images.

Names (usually pseudonyms or stage names) which turn up in the interviews include:  Natasha Michaels, Nikki Eaves, Shea West, Cortney Collins, Taylor Made, India Dream, Clinton, Tiffany Aver, Terba Devero, Roxie Morehead, and Dorothy. The performer "Bunny" is actually the photographer's friend and colleague, Ann Kilkelly. Many of these persons are also shown in the photographs, as is Helen Compton.

Note: The audio compact disks are not original recordings, and may be played by researchers directly.