Video Interview, Patricia Finnerty, August 2, 2012

  • CREW: And Kevin, I'm rolling.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: OK.
  • Pat, first, give me the correct spelling
  • of your first and last name.
  • PATRICIA FINNERTY: It's Patricia Finnerty, F-I-N-N-E-R-T-Y.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: OK.
  • And if I were to title you, what title would be given you?
  • PATRICIA FINNERTY: Archival consultant
  • for the Gay Alliance.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: OK.
  • So just walk me through a little bit
  • the timeline here of discovering this archive
  • collection from HPA and what you thought
  • then should happen with them.
  • PATRICIA FINNERTY: Well, my position with the Gay Alliance
  • was to find a permanent repository for the HPA
  • collection.
  • So I thought what better repository
  • that our national museum, the Smithsonian?
  • So I emailed the Smithsonian, was
  • able to hook up with their curator, Franklin Robinson.
  • And he was very happy to have the HPA collection, especially
  • to make it accessible to researchers
  • and people who are interested in AIDS research.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Hold on.
  • CREW: Can you ask the first question?
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah.
  • OK.
  • CREW: And I see your paper.
  • Sorry.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: It's OK.
  • CREW: And I am rolling, sir.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: All right.
  • Let's try that again.
  • Walk me through the process of getting these HPA
  • archives to the Smithsonian.
  • PATRICIA FINNERTY: The process was coming up with a repository
  • who I thought would be a good fit for the collection.
  • And that happened to be the Smithsonian.
  • And it was just simply doing a little research,
  • a little digging on my part.
  • And I was able to find out who the curator of the collection
  • would be at the Smithsonian.
  • It was Franklin Robinson.
  • It was just an email and a phone call
  • and seeing if it was a good fit for their collection.
  • And it was.
  • So it wasn't really too difficult.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Why is this so significant, particularly
  • for Rochester?
  • PATRICIA FINNERTY: It's significant for Rochester
  • because we were the early--
  • at the forefront of AIDS research.
  • And how much better to put this collection at the Smithsonian
  • with people who are interested in AIDS research?
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Mm-hm.
  • And similar question, but what do you
  • think it says about Rochester and our response
  • to the AIDS crisis?
  • PATRICIA FINNERTY: What it says about Rochester
  • is what a caring community we are
  • and how we're on the forefront of really helping
  • people and reaching out and realizing there's an issue
  • and doing something about it.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Mm-hm.
  • When you came across the HPA records,
  • what was your first impressions of them?
  • Why did you think these were so important?
  • PATRICIA FINNERTY: Well, they were extremely well preserved.
  • Not only that, but they were so complete.
  • They had every record and poster and business document
  • and everything, really, a researcher
  • would want to know about the early HPA days.
  • So I was really amazed at the breadth of the collection.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Mm-hm.
  • And as the archival consultant for the JGB,
  • what has been the most fun or what
  • has been the most interesting?
  • PATRICIA FINNERTY: The most fun has really
  • been interacting with the Smithsonian and to see
  • how our collection, our small part of it,
  • fits into the wider scope of what
  • they have at the Smithsonian.
  • And to think that records from Rochester, New York
  • are being housed at our National Museum is pretty exciting.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Good.
  • All right.
  • Thanks.
  • PATRICIA FINNERTY: OK.