Historians in Philadelphia, United States, are searching for a couple whose wedding photos were confiscated more than 60 years ago in 1957.
The photos were developed at a local photo shop by one of the grooms. However, because the photographs depicted a same-sex couple, they were deemed 'inappropriate' by shop management and ultimately withheld. However, according to , one of the store's employees held onto the confiscated photos
That store employee kept the photos in her possession until she died, with the collection discovered by the woman's daughter.
“My mother had a somewhat photographic memory for faces and retained these in the event the customers who dropped them off ever came back to the shop so that she could give them to the customers on the sly,” the daughter wrote in a letter to Los Angeles LGBTIQ+ archive, .
The photos were ultimately sold on eBay and donated to the ONE Foundation along with the in Philadelphia, with both organisations working together to track down the grooms ever since. Archivists believe that, if still alive, the men would now be in their 80s or 90s.
“It’s a needle in a haystack - there’s too many questions and not enough information about this photo collection,” archivist Michael Oliveira told The Philadelphia Citizen.
“It’s a needle in a haystack," said one archivist. Source: ouronestory.com
He continued: “While many people and families tend to stay put in the Delaware Valley area, we can speculate about where they were taken, who took the photos and so much more - and never arrive at an answer.”
This lack of information, Oliveira explains, is fairly consistent with matters of LGBTIQ+ history.
"There are so many unidentified people in our collection - it is a frustrating part of our history,” he said.
“There were people who feared violence, having their houses burned down, because they had their name in the newspaper. And these retaliations did happen; sometimes they were government sanctioned.”
