(upbeat music) - "Unsolved Mysteries," "Influential Authors," and "Untold Stories" all have a place in Utah's LGBTQ+ history.

Randy Hoffman and Saoirse O'Hagan are here to talk about how the Mildred Berryman Institute is bringing these stories into the spotlight.

Thank you so much for being here.

- Thank you.

- Yeah, thanks for having us.

- So tell me a little bit more about the institute and how it helps people learn more about the history.

- Yeah, the Mildred Berryman Institute is a public history nonprofit founded by historians, myself, Megan Weiss, and Connell O'Donovan.

And we host monthly events mostly lectures.

But during October, LGBT history month, we have some extra events going on.

- Yeah, talk a little bit about the extra events that are happening and what people can expect this year.

- Yeah, we have four big events going on.

It'll be really fun.

The first one is on October 4th.

It's an unveiling and dedication of a new historical marker that we put up with Salt Lake City for the former Sun Tavern.

- Oh, I love that.

And Saoirse, you know of some other events people can participate in as well?

- Yes, so, like Randy mentioned, we have our monthly lecture events.

This one will be focusing about the cold case surrounding Spence Mendenhall.

And one of his descendants is going to be flying in from Chicago to talk to us about that.

And then two days later on the 17th, we'll be having a ancestor memorial for Spence Mendenhall, which is something we do every year to honor a different member of the LGBTQ+ community.

- So these are really powerful and impactful events that really bring the community together, and it sounds like kind of forms another community in and of itself of the people who are learning.

Can you talk about how important that is here in Utah?

- Yeah, I think you described it really well.

These end up being really beautiful events where people from our community of all ages and allies come together to learn about our past.

But yeah, we do like to add that element of learning about these amazing people from our past.

- Well, thank you so much for stopping by and sharing this information.

If you would like to learn more about the Mildred Berryman Institute and the events that are happening in October, you can just head to the website that is on your screen right there.

It's the mildredberrymaninstitute.org/car for more details.

I'm Liz Adeola, and thank you for watching "Contact."

(upbeat music) Philanthropy, Arts, culture.

It's what brings us together.

Hi, I'm Liz Adeola, the host of Contact, a show that connects you with local events and organizations that serve your community.

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