Over the summer a tragic event happened that have got many people and organizations doing memorial services for the people who had to endure the event. On June 12, 2016 between 2:02 and 5:15 a.m. there was a shooting at a LGBTQ+ nightclub called Pulse. The Pulse shooting is known, in America, as the deadliest shooting that has taken place in the United States. The gunman killed 49 people and in the process of doing this, he injured another 53. During the shooting, people who were trapped inside the nightclub were texting their parents or loved ones to let them know about the shooter and the shooting.

The Orange County Regional History Center is one of these organizations. The Regional History Center is going to be preserving memorial items to create a long-term memory for the community and world. The memory will create a comprehensive historical record for both the current and the future generations. To create the historical record, the people who work at the Regional History Center will be photographing, cataloging, removing, and preserving different tribute items, artifacts from the event, and also mementos that are from the many memorial sites located around Central Florida that are open for the public to view. The non-perishable items that are collected will be stored and safeguarded for posterity. They will also be collected to be used in future Pulse memorial exhibits, tributes, and/or museums. Other items collected that are related to the Pulse tragedy are some photographs, digital memories, videos, spoken stories, social media postings and tributes, artwork, and other remembrances from Pulse. These  mementos are also going to be collected to show current and future generations what happened on that dreadful night in June. Flowers will also be collected on a regular basis and will be turned into soil that is going to be used in gardens that are located throughout the City of Orlando.

Some ideas for other memorials about the Pulse shooting are speeches, parades, and exhibits. One of the exhibits that is being done along with the One Orlando Collection Initiative, the Orange County Regional History Center will be doing another exhibit on the history of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender community. The exhibit is called Pride, Prejudice, and Protest: GLBT History of Greater Orlando. The exhibit will tell about the progress and also the setbacks the Central Florida GLBT community has faced over the past five decades of change. The exhibit will be open from October 1, 2016 through January 26, 2017.

These memorials, The One Orlando Collection Initiative and Pride, Prejudice, and Protest: GLBT History of Greater Orlando, are very important to the LGBTQ+ community. It shows them that the rest of the community care about them and it also gets the word out about what has been happening to them for many years. There are even people who aren’t a part of the LGBTQ+ community are excited about the exhibits because it would enlighten them on what people in the LGBTQ+ community go through. In the future there will be more events, exhibits, speeches, and parades in memory of the people who went through the Pulse shooting, who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community, and the other generations who went through the trials and tribulations of being a part of the LGBTQ+ community