I'm From Driftwood Records
name: label: Creator
content: Manske, Nathan
label: Names
content: I'm From Driftwood
label: Names
content: Chatterton, Troy
label: Names
content: Dinh, Summer Z.
label: Names
content: Garza, Santiago
label: Names
content: Lee, Marquise
label: Names
content: Manske, Nicholas
label: Names
content: Vester, Desiree
topic: label: Topic
content: Gay bars
label: Topic
content: Gay and lesbian studies
label: Topic
content: Gay rights
label: Topic
content: Gay youth
label: Topic
content: Lesbian and gay experience
label: Topic
content: LGBTQ+
label: Topic
content: Postcards -- United States
label: Topic
content: Social history
label: Topic
content: Tourist trade -- Postcards
label: Topic
content: Travel -- Photographs
label: Topic
content: United States
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by I'm From Driftwood organization through Nathan Manske, Executive Director, February 2020.
creator: label: Creator
content: Manske, Nathan
setName: label: See more items in
content: I'm From Driftwood Records
abstract: label: Summary
content: Oral histories (transcripts) taken from LGBTQ identifying persons over a fifty state I'm From Driftwood story tour. Records include oral histories, photographs, tour records, correspondence, and ephemera from the tour crew and tour inteviewees.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: From the book jacket, i'm from driftwood; True Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Stories from All Over the World, edited by Nathan Manske. "Since March 2009, ImFromDrifwood.com has collected true lesbian, gay, bisexual and tansgender stories from every corner of the globe to help LGBT youth realize they're not alone. The hundreds of written stories range from the furtive life of a gay man living in Indiana during the ultra conservative and unforgiving 1950s, to clandestine underground gay-straight alliance in present day Indonesia. While some stories recount bitter memories of violence, hatred, and introlerance, most are a testament to the most common of human emotions-optimism, love, honesty and hope. Together, these stories offer rare insight and lend an indisputable humanity to the lives of LGBT people everywhere, giving people young and old the world over a sense of community and a reassurance that they are not alone."

The crew for the story tour consisted of: Nathan Manske, founder of I'm From Driftwood organization; Marquise Lee, creator of the video stories, videographer and editor; Nicholas "Nick" Manske, brother of Nathan and driver for the tour; Desiree Vester, "Mistress of Logistics"; Santiago Garza, video intern; and Troy Chatterton, logistics volunteer. These records concentrate solely on the experiences and oral histories gathered by Manske and his crew on their tour of the United States during 2009-2010.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2 Cubic feet (5 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2009-2019, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1503
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Oral history
label: Type
content: Love letters
label: Type
content: Sketches
label: Type
content: Transcripts
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: These records are arranged in three series.

Series 1, Oral Histories, Transcriptions, and Notes, 2010 September 11-2011 January 9

Series 2, Project Records and Ephemera, 2010-2011, undated

Series 3, Photographs and Hand Drawn Postcards, 2010-2011, undated
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Franklin A. Robinson, Jr., archivist, 2020.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Oral history -- 2010-2020
label: Genre/Form
content: Love letters
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketches
label: Genre/Form
content: Transcripts -- 20th century
scopecontent: label: Content Description
content: Records documenting the I'm From Driftwood project, transcripts of oral histories collected from persons identifying as LGBTQ. Histories were taken from persons in all fifty U.S. states over the course of a five month (September 2010-January 2011) story tour. Oral histories are arranged in the order in which the state was visited. The records include transcripts of interviews with the Driftwood story crew focusing on their memories of the joys and challenges of the tour state by state. There are photographs taken in each state of the tour of persons, places, and the story tour's signature pink cowboy boots. These boots were used for donation recepticles during fundraising visits to local LGBTQ community centers, bars, and student unions.

The records document an amazing oydessy of the Driftwood crew. Not only do the transcripts of persons interviewed include the sometimes poignant history of that particular person, but interviews with the Driftwood crew themselves illustrate the sometimes emotional, frustrating, yet rewarding, journey they were taking to capture these interviews. The records include pen and ink, hand drawn postcards by artist Nicholas Manske, driver for the tour, to his then fiance, Summer Dinh. The postcards feature Manske's drawing of a signature site within any given state. The postcards give yet one more human story to the many documented in these records.

Files from some states only include the crew transcripts, there were either no stories gathered in that state or for privacy various reasons they are not included in these records.
separatedmaterial: label: Separated Materials
content: The story tour's pair of pink cowboy boots was collected by the Division of Work and Industry, NMAH, accession number: 2020.0090.