** I made the houston chronicle....
Exhibit boasts one of the largest archives on gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender life
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
Just past the hot-pink columns marking the entrance to Saturday's Houston Pride Festival, beyond the stand for a woman painting portraits on river rocks and through the throngs of young couples in rainbow necklaces sat what has come to be known as "The History Tent."
Inside, hushed chatter replaced the music blaring through the rest of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender festival, which preceded the evening's Pride Parade in Montrose.
"That is a very popular table," said Larry Criscione, pointing out a display of black-and-white photographs, including one from a Village People concert. Down from that were aisles of archived magazines and books, including a photo book of female impersonators from the 1930s and a 1974 manual titled "Information on transexualism for law enforcement officers."
A wiry postal worker who talks with his hands, Criscione, 60, has spent the past 13 years building, preserving and cataloging what has become one of the largest GLBT archives in the country. Housed at the Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church in Houston, it includes 20,000 books, 100,000 periodicals and 15,000 photos.
On Saturday, Criscione lugged out about 3,000 of the items to share with the thousands who flocked to Pride.
"I didn't know that anyone kept this stuff about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people," said Terrance Gilbert, 21, visiting from College Station. "It makes me want to hang on to more stuff."
The collection was started in the 1970s by Charles Botts, a NASA worker who just "loved collecting stuff on the GLBT community," Criscione said.
Before his death in 1994, Botts was spending 40 hours a week building his archives. One time, when Allen Ginsberg visited Houston on a book tour, Botts brought the author his entire collection of Ginsberg books and asked for a signature in each. It's for the gay and lesbian archives, he told Ginsberg, who quickly started signing.
Since Botts' death, Criscione has taken up where Botts left off. A self-described bookworm, Criscione said he was a late bloomer in the gay movement, coming out in the 1990s. But he's made up for it since then: He put 100 hours into Saturday's display, for instance, and devotes about 10 hours a week improving the church's archive.
On Saturday, a steady stream of festival goers filed through his white tent, some to escape the rain, but others were drawn by the intrigue of history. Kate Brusegaard spent much of her time in the tent flipping through old magazines she had read as a younger woman. She said the collection made her think about "how far we have come."
"We're accepted by all these corporate sponsors and everything now," she said, waving toward the food and drink booths crowding the festival grounds.
The Botts collection is one of two such archives in Houston. Organizers of both are engaged in friendly competition for pieces, Criscione said. But one day, the goal is to combine them to form a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Museum.
Criscione's immediate goal is more simple: to teach the younger generation. Hanging on the wall of the tent Saturday were two historical posters that he likes to point out to visitors.
The first was from June 25, 1978, announcing the first town meeting for gays and lesbians in Houston. Next to it was a poster offering a $2,000 reward for information on the Montrose slaying in 1991 of Paul Broussard, a gay man, by a group of teenagers from The Woodlands. On the poster was a description of the hate crime.
"People need to see our political struggles," Criscione said. "Back then people bled and sweat and died for our rights. People need to know that."
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