Hormel Center Director to Retire

The director of the San Francisco Public Library's James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center is set to retire next month, just shy of 10 years leading one of the country's premier archives for the LGBT community.

Wednesday, April 5 will be the last day on the job for Karen Sundheim, who became the acting manager of the Hormel Center in September 2007 and later its permanent director. Her retirement will start on April 8, when she turns 62.

"That was my plan all along. It is common for city workers to retire on their 62nd birthday," Sundheim told the Bay Area Reporter during a recent interview. "I have absolutely loved my job, but it is also incredibly intense, with a huge workload."

Seated in the Hormel Center's reading room on the third floor of the main library, Sundheim reflected on her 17-year career with the city's library system. After stints at both the Berkeley Public Library and the Environmental Protection Agency's library in downtown San Francisco, Sundheim was hired as the branch librarian of the Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Memorial library in the gay Castro district.

"I have had an incredibly enriching, fascinating, and stimulating career," said Sundheim, adding while laughing, "but I am really tired."

In addition to her duties overseeing the Hormel Center, Sundheim has also been responsible for the main library's collection on European history after the fall of Rome. She also supervises two librarians and 20 pages, the people who reshelve books.

"I am really going to miss the library staff, because they are amazing," she said.

The library will begin looking to hire Sundheim's replacement after she leaves. It is also planning to hire a Hormel Fellow for a two-year period part-time. The position is funded by the library's friends group and foundation and will be tasked with outreaching to younger and more diverse communities.

Sundheim hopes her successor will bring a renewed focus on engaging youth, many of whom she noted are interested in learning about LGBT history. And they will also need to bring more LGBT people of color "into the fold" of the Hormel Center, she advised.

The collection remains "heavily Caucasian," she said, despite her efforts to diversify it during her tenure.

"That was my top goal, but I could only do so much," said Sundheim.

The Hormel Center, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, is named after the country's first openly gay ambassador, who donated $500,000 to help launch the collection. The center's holdings span the history and culture of the LGBTQ community, said Sundheim, with a special focus on northern California.

It includes more than 13,000 books and nearly 5,000 films, the majority of which were donated by the city's Frameline LGBT Film Festival. The materials also cover periodicals, music, and 75 archival collections, some on loan from the GLBT Historical Society, that are the collected papers of noted LGBT individuals.

It also houses the Freedom to Marry Archive, which Sundheim acquired from the marriage equality activist Molly McKay. It consists of 22 binders of photos, articles, and documents spanning a 20-year period.

Countless writers, filmmakers, and scholars over the years have utilized the materials. And the Hormel Center has presented various events, readings, and exhibits featuring its collection and the works of LGBT poets, thinkers, and artists.

"I have done thousands of programs," said Sundheim, explaining that her goal with each was to bring "people into the library for knowledge but also entertainment."

Tim Wilson, an archivist for both the Hormel Center and the library's San Francisco History Center, said he would miss working with Sundheim.

"Karen's curiosity about all aspects of our history was boundless," Wilson told the B.A.R. "I'll miss her enthusiasm, professionalism, and the respect that she has consistently shown coworkers and patrons alike."

Jim Van Buskirk, the Hormel Center's founding director, also praised his successor's achievements over the last decade, from the public programs she oversaw to the digitization of the Frameline film collection.

"Karen has done a terrific job managing the Hormel Center and leaves a lasting legacy," wrote Van Buskirk in an emailed reply. "I'm proud of her many accomplishments and wish her all the very best in her post-Hormel life!"

Sundheim and her wife, Nancy Suib, 68, who retired in June from her job as an independent book rep, plan to spend 12 days in April driving through Oregon. The Oakland couple are also planning a three-week trip this fall along the East Coast to visit family and friends.

Twice a month Sundheim plans to lead the weekly meditation group that meets each Wednesday at noon in the Hormel Center. She started it five years ago, and it attracts between 25 to 30 people for each session.

But mostly Sundheim wants to relax, do some personal writing, and plow through the thousands of book titles on her reading list.

"I want to try to learn what resting is," said Sundheim. "I don't know how to rest."