My Grandmother's Suitcase
A talk with slides by Jim Van Buskirk

Shortly after publishing "At the Museum of Jewish Heritage," an essay which explored his mysterious lifelong attraction to Judaism, Jim Van Buskirk was told a secret by his mother: "You are Jewish." She went on to show him his grandmother's suitcase filled with photographs, letters, and documents. He continued to look for answers to his family's history --and his own identity -- by researching his genealogy, talking to previously unknown relatives, and examining the contents of his grandmother's suitcase. This audio-visual presentation is adapted from his memoir-in-progress.

Before the Rainbow Flag: California's Early Gay History
A talk with slides by Jim Van Buskirk

From the Amazonian Queen Califia, whose name the state bears, through gender variant characters to the early struggle for same-sex civil rights, California has always been a harbinger of sexual bohemia. This lecture, including over 40 slides, adapted from Gay By the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area (Chronicle Books, 1996) chronicles California's early years through 1966.

Starring San Francisco
A talk with slides and film clips by Jim Van Buskirk

San Francisco has appeared in hundreds of movies and television series, some famous, others obscure, from Eric von Stroheim's 1924 Greed to Dirty Harry to Zodiac. This presentation, based on Celluloid San Francisco: The Film Lover's Guide to Bay Area Movie Locations by Jim Van Buskirk & Will Shank, presents film stills and clips demonstrating the Bay Area's rich cinematic history. Among the many familiar (or not-so-familiar scenes) are the Alta Plaza Park steps being chipped in What's Up, Doc?, the futuristic skyline in Towering Inferno and Bicentennial Man and the geographically inconsistent chase sequence in Bullitt.