This 8th grade journal was an assignment for Englekirk's drama class. According to the collecting curator, "The journal was assigned to help encourage the students to become more self-aware actors. He was pretty honest in the journal and says it’s surprising looking back on it that no one ever reached out to him after reading it. But he always thought his teachers were supportive and available."
Jordan Max-Ryan Englekirk was born intersex in 1972 and because he looked like a girl, grew up as Jennifer. Englekirk has personally identified as male for most of his life and growing up struggled with this dichotomy. Often bullied in school and berated by teachers and adults in his life, Englekirk finally made the transition to male in 2012, at 40 years old. He now lives as a man but during high school, while still living as Jennifer, Englekirk became a member of the girls’ softball team and soon was a leader on the diamond. Sports was an important outlet for creating his identity. Englekirk kept sports in his life as an adult and eventually became the first woman to ump at Cooperstown Little Majors Stadium for Little League tournament games.
Black belt worn by Kayla Harrison during the 2012 London Olympic Games when she became the first American (male or female) to win a gold medal in the sport of judo. Harrison began her judo career at age 6 and quickly rose to the top of the junior level field winning the 2003, 2004 and 2005 Junior US Open. in 2008, she became the third American to win the Junior World Championships and in 2010 only the fourth American to win the Senior World Championship. Harrison went on to become the only American to ever win an Olympic gold medal in judo at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games.
The 2012 Summer Olympics, also known as the Games of the XXX Olympiad were held in London, England with 204 countries, 5,992 men and 4,776 women athletes participating. With the inclusion of women’s boxing, these Games became the first with female competitors in every sport and the first at which each country entered, had a female representative. Women’s boxing debuted and mixed doubles in tennis was held for the first time since the 1924 Games. American Michael Phelps won his 22nd medal making him the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time. Every athlete to win a medal at these Games was drug tested and as of 2017, 31 medals had been rescinded due to doping. The United States won the medal count with 104.
The 2016 Summer Olympics, also known as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with 207 countries and 11,238 athletes participating. These were the first Olympic Games held entirely in the host country’s winter season and the first to be held in South America. These Games were designed with sustainability in mind and many of the features of the Games were made from recyclable materials. The Refugee Olympic Team entered 10 athletes for competition made up of refugees from the European Migrant crisis. The Zika virus was a factor in competition as many athletes decided to forgo the Games for fear of catching the virus spread through mosquitos. Michael Phelps came out of retirement to compete in the Games and added more medals to his historic count. Katie Ledecky won four gold medals and teammate Simone Manual won two gold and two silver medals becoming the first African American to win an individual swimming gold medal. Simone Biles dominated gymnastics, winning four gold and the women’s team won the all-around competition. The United States won the medal count with 121.
Brown leather boots with brown laces and brown stitching. These were worn by the donor, Earl Shaffer, during his hike of the Appalachian Trail in 1948. This was the first of three times Shaffer was said to have walked the entire length of the 2,180 miles of the Trail. He hiked through again in 1965 and 1998. The Appalachian Trail is one of the longest continuously marked footpaths in the world, traveling through fourteen states along the Appalachian mountain range from Springer Mountain, Georgia, to the Trail’s northern end in Katahdin, Maine. The trail—completed in 1937 thanks to the cooperation of government agencies, private partners, and volunteers—continues to be sustained by public-private partnerships.