Writing about queer bars and drag culture in the 1972 classic Mother Camp, Esther Newton observed that queer communities had “an economics but no economy.” In this exhibit, Jeffrey Escoffier and Christopher Mitchell address the economics of gay bars…
This is a 90-minute illustrated talk narrated by Allan Bérubé (1946-2007) on the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union. Introduced by historians John D'Emilio and Estelle Freedman, the talk tells the surprising and inspiring story of how ship stewards…
Following the death of historian Horacio N. Roque Ramírez in December 2015, OutHistory published a memorial by Nan Alamilla Boyd.
Reed Erickson used the wealth which his class privilege provided to support public education and activism about transgender lives and issues at a time when very little public attention was focused on the topic. Ada Bello, who wrote this account of…
OutHistory presents 92 pages of previously unpublished documents on the hunt for homosexuals, sex “deviates,” and “perverts,” 1955-1965, by the president and deans of Mississippi Southern College (now the University of Southern Mississippi),…
On the publication of Jen Manion’s book Liberty's Prisoners: Carceral Culture in Early America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015), OutHistory featured an original essay by Manion. It discusses how sex between men in early Philadelphia…
During Black History Month in 2016, OutHistory presented original research discoveries about parties organized by cross-dressed African American men in Washington, D.C., in the 1880s and 1890s.
The subject of a famous Nan Goldin photograph, Jimmy Paul, speaks about his life, and about encountering an inaccurate caption on that photograph in a major queer history art show. Published originally on OutHistory in 2015.
In recognition of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Luisitania on May 7, 1915, OutHistory presented an original research report on one of its fascinating women passengers. First published on OutHistory on May 4, 2015.
A collection of love letters to Emma Goldman, the anarchist leader, vividly conveys the emotions and varied life experience of Almeda Sperry, their complex author. The letters detail and evoke Sperry's tender-brutal relationship with her husband…
In 1965 Drum magazine called it “the first sit-in of its kind in the history of the United States.” To honor the fiftieth anniversary of this major act of LGBT resistance, Marc Stein presented reports of the sit-in at Dewey’s restaurant in Center…
A memoir detailing the struggles of Gary Miller's childhood and youth in San Diego and Kansas City before turning to his subsequent political and community service in San Francisco, Sacramento, and Roseville, CA. Published originally on…
An exhibit on sexuality in Denver, focusing on crackdowns on "sexual immorality" and the rise of a flourishing gay culture. First published on OutHistory in 2015.
An introduction to the 1937 case history of “Mary Jones,” who scholars have identified as African American actress Edna Thomas. First published on OutHistory in 2015.
A gay teacher, born in 1959, recalls the bullying he suffered as a child, and how he came through it.
The Las Vegas OutHistory project. This exhibit was a winner of OutHistory's 2010 Since Stonewall community history contest!
This exhibit, published originally on OutHistory in 2014, explores a series of stories published in children’s books and magazines in antebellum America. Some portray children being punished for transgressing gender roles, others expose the range of…
An exhibit on the often overlooked queer history of Newark, New Jersey, a history that is "tragic at times, but also bold, defiant, and resistant." First published on OutHistory in 2014.
An exhibit focusing on the strains of activism that dominated the LGBT political scene in New York City and across the country from 1969 to 1973.
A French lawyer and politcian, Moreau de Saint Méry, who lived in the United States from 1793 to 1798, mostly in Philadelphia, provided one of the earliest comments on sex between women in the new American nation. First published on OutHistory in…