OutHistory is grateful to historian Kevin J. Mumford for creating this bibliography, and for research assistance he sends special thanks to Olivia Hagedorn, a doctoral candidate in history at the University of Illinois at Urbana—Champaign. First…
A historian recalls the life of an early lesbian activist. First published on OutHistory in 2020.
This exhibit features notes from an anonymous OutHistory contributor about a Civil War officer and biographer of U.S. President Ulysses Grant.
Adapted from an essay about Henry Melville's novel in The Village Voice Literary Supplement, April 1982, pages 10-12. Copyright Jonathan Ned Katz. First published on OutHistory in 2020.
First published on OutHistory in 2020.
Thomas Glave was a student at Bowdoin College when he published what turned out to be an inflamatory essay in the Bowdoin student newspaper, The Bowdoin Orient, on February 19, 1993 (p. 15). OutHistory reprinted that essay with Glave's…
See also: The Standard Model of the Social-Historical Universe, by Jonathan Ned Katz
A theater piece, first performed in 1989-1992 and authored by OutHistory's founder, about love between men in the life of Walt Whitman, adapted from the words of Whitman, John Addington Symonds, and others, condensed from their letters, diaries,…
An interview with the author of a groundbreaking 1975 essay on lesbian history.
This exhibit addresses the homosexuality of Arthur Kingsley Porter, who chaired Harvard University's Art History Department. An earlier profile of Porter, authored by Jonathan Ned Katz, was published by OutHistory in 2021 and revised in 2024.…
In 1864, John William Sterling graduated from Yale College. About 1870, in his mid-twenties, Sterling met James Orville Bloss, who was three years younger. The two formed a relationship of almost 50 years, and lived together in New York City for most…
In 1864, John William Sterling graduated from Yale College. About 1870, in his mid-twenties, Sterling met James Orville Bloss, who was three years younger. The two formed a relationship of almost 50 years and lived together in New York City for most…
For Women's History Month in 2016, OutHistory republished an interview by Jonathan Ned Katz with Alma Routsong. On January 20, 1975, the author of Patience and Sarah spoke to Katz about discovering her lesbianism and her development as a…
Cathy Cade is a photographer who has been documenting the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since the 1970s. Based in Berkeley, California, she is the author, publisher and photographer of A Lesbian Photo Album: The Lives of Seven…
An introduction to artist Mary Ann Willson and her farmer partner Miss Brundage, who lived together in Greenville, New York. Their relationship became the basis of the novel Patience and Sarah by Alma Routsong/Isabel Miller. First published on…
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…
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 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 collection John Ibson's images of African American men with other men that appear in his 2002 book, Picturing Men: A Century of Male Relationships in Everyday American Photography. First published on OutHistory in 2015.