A small room above the Diversionary Theatre in University Heights houses the San Diego GLBT community’s rich history.

From wall to wall, shelves are lined with books, newspapers, magazines, and other less ordinary items.

You can peruse everything from the earliest San Diego GLBT publications, to soft-core gay romance novels published in Santee.

Lambda Archives of San Diego, founded as the Lesbian and Gay Archives of San Diego by Jess Jessop in 1987, is committed to preserving the GLBT community’s records and cultural items that are a vital component of our history.

The work is essential to understanding the fabric of our community, and to accurately documenting early activists’ accounts.

The space, however, is limited, and the back room houses stacked boxes of items that have been donated, but not archived because there is no room.

And that is only one of the challenges Lambda faces.

Saturday, Lambda Archives of San Diego will celebrate 20 years of service by honoring 20 heroes in the GLBT community.

While two decades is a milestone, we wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of Lambda or know the value of its work.

The organization has never launched an aggressive public relations campaign. It has never done a large-scale membership drive. It has never hosted an event the size of Saturday’s 20 Years, 20 Heroes. In fact, its display at the Pride festival this year was the most visible the organization has been to the community during its 20 years.

Lambda, despite its need for a larger space, more funds, and more volunteers, has stayed relatively low-profile, but, arguably, is doing our community’s most important work.

In the process of documenting where we have been and how far we have come, Lambda tells us where we’re headed and what more needs to be done in our fight for equality.

The message here is two-fold:

We would like to congratulate Lambda for its 20 years, and thank president Frank Nobiletti, his board members and all the volunteers for their valuable work; and, we would like to call on the organization and the community to work toward building a strong foundation for the archives in the GLBT community.

It is a shame that the average member of the community does not know what Lambda does, and it is a shame the organization isn’t more visible.

Nobiletti is invested in watching the organization grow. In fact, his enthusiasm for the archives is unparalleled. Of course, he says, he’d love to have a bigger space to house all of the items that have been donated, and, in the future, he’d like to see Lambda hire a part-time employee who is available in the archives on a regular basis.

Now, the collection is only available during limited times each week or by special appointment. Because the organization is volunteer-driven, it isn’t always open to the community.

So what can you do?

Memberships to the archives, a nonprofit, are available, and Lambda also welcomes donations. Community members can contribute to the organization’s endowment, which provides financial security for its future endeavors. And, of course, volunteers who’d like to help archive items are always welcome. You can visit www.lambdaarchives.org for more information.

Lambda is a community organization that we are all invested in. Likewise, Lambda is invested in our community – and it’s time we work together to preserve our vibrant history.