In the weeks and months following the Pulse nightclub shooting, makeshift memorials popped up throughout Central Florida.
- Orange County Regional History Center debuts online exhibit
- Exhibit showcases mementos collected from makeshift memorials
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Now, a year has passed, and historians have done what they can to preserve the mementos left behind.
The Orange County Regional History Center opened a special exhibition and an accompanying online gallery Monday showcasing about 200 of thousands of items from Pulse makeshift memorial sites.
Its hope is that people will come forward and tell stories about particular pieces.
"How small and how big they were is irrelevant. They were all really heartfelt," said Nicole Wilson, who came to see the exhibit with her daughter, who she says is part of the LGBTQ community. "I'm so grateful to the people who decided to collect all those mementos because they call came from someone’s heart."
Included in the tribute are 49 crosses made by a carpenter in Illinois. He created a wooden cross for each victim and then drove 1,200 miles to Orlando to place them in front of Orlando Regional Medical Center, where many of the Pulse shooting victims were treated.
"I remember (the crosses) being on the news, but to actually see them was really, really moving, really powerful," Wilson said.
More than 5,000 memorial and tribute items have been collected and preserved.
"We know nearly nothing about these items, why they left them and if there was a bigger reason behind it," History Center Manager Michael Perkins said.
The mementos were collected from the various makeshift memorials that sprang up around the Dr. Phillips Center, Pulse nightclub and Lake Eola. Although there are thousands of pieces, the historians only know the origin story for a few items.
"We are collecting and building this collection, collecting those stories, not even just for us but for the people who live 50 to 500 years from now so that they can better understand that horrible day on June 12," Perkins said.
The exhibit will be on display at the Orange County Regional History Center until Saturday; admission will be free until then.
"It's sort of a reminder of the best that some of humanity had to offer in those days after when we really pulled together as a community," he said.