Ways of Interpreting Queer Pasts

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-43
Author(s):  
Susan Ferentinos
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Historic Sites ◽  
Digital History ◽  
Historical Interpretation ◽  
Special Events ◽  
Interpretive Methods ◽  
Monuments And Memorials ◽  
Arts Programming

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) historical interpretation is an increasingly common feature of museums and historic sites, while at the same time one that often pushes beyond the physical boundaries of historical organizations. This article considers various interpretive methods as tools for delivering LGBTQ history and offers multiple examples of each type of interpretation. Methods discussed include exhibits (both temporary and permanent); special events; arts programming; youth programming; monuments and memorials; historical engagement with the built environment; and digital history projects. The author acknowledges that, in 2019, these efforts still tend to favor the experiences of white cisgender men and to focus on the realm of political activism and offers some suggestions for how LGBTQ interpretation might develop in coming years.

Vandalism and Resistance in Republican Rome

2019 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-24
Author(s):  
Penelope J. E. Davies
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Broad Spectrum ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Dominant Class ◽  
The People ◽  
Republican Rome ◽  
Political Unrest ◽  
Violent Acts ◽  
Elected Representatives

As political unrest seethed in late Republican Rome, a series of violent acts were perpetrated against well-known buildings, public and private, by the people (the plebs) and their elected representatives, the tribunes. On the rare occasions when scholars mention these events, they tend to treat them as random, isolated acts of vandalism; conspicuously missing is any accounting for them in commentaries on Rome's built environment. In Vandalism and Resistance in Republican Rome, Penelope J. E. Davies assesses these acts against a broad spectrum of political activism over the ages, as well as in the narrower context of contemporaneous politics, when strict, exclusionary norms governed the sponsorship of public architecture. She argues that the destructive acts were, in fact, deliberate, ideologically driven attempts by Rome's less powerful to defy and circumvent the language of power established by the dominant class.

The Queerest House in Cambridge

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-69
Author(s):  
Hilary Iris Lowe
Keyword(s):  
Public History ◽  
Historic Sites ◽  
Historic Site ◽  
Historical Interpretation ◽  
House Museums ◽  
The Past ◽  
House Museum ◽  
Historic House ◽  
History Of

One of the great challenges for public historians in LGBTQ history is finding and developing interpretation of the history of sexuality for public audiences at current historic sites. This article answers this challenge by repositioning historic house museums as sites of some of the most important LGBTQ public history we have, by using the Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as a case study. At this house museum, we can re-see historical interpretation through a queer lens and take on histories that have been until recently “slandered, ignored, and erased” from our public narratives of the past.1

Making Labor Visible in Historic Charleston

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-73
Author(s):  
Leah Worthington ◽  
Rachel Donaldson ◽  
Kieran Taylor
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
Fast Food ◽  
Public History ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Labor History ◽  
Social Activism ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Digital History ◽  
Historical Interpretation ◽  
History Of

Charleston, South Carolina, is a city that markets itself as a center of heritage tourism. With millions of tourists visiting each year to see its historic architecture and landscaped gardens, how can public historians and public history professionals in Charleston and the Lowcountry accurately share the stories of workers, both enslaved and free, who built and fundamentally shaped the regional cultural landscape? The authors of this collaborative essay explore different avenues for ensuring that labor history and heritage—past and present—becomes integrated in the public history of the city and region. Through her work in historical interpretation at the McLeod Plantation Historic Site and the Lowcountry Digital History Initiative, Leah Worthington explores ways of publicly interpreting how enslaved people shaped the natural and structural landscapes of the Lowcountry—landscapes that are at the heart of the historical tourism industry. Rachel Donaldson examines the significance of the places of labor history and the importance of recognizing and preserving these sites as integral features of the region’s built environment. With the assistance of oral histories conducted with Leonard Riley Jr., a longshoreman and member of the International Longshoremen’s Association, her focus on the historical and contemporary significance of International Longshoremen’s halls in downtown Charleston sheds light on how sites like these have facilitated, and can continue to facilitate, labor and social activism. As Kieran Taylor argues, Charleston has a rich history of protest that fuses traditional labor demands for better wages and working conditions with demands for racial equality and black power. His project examines the efforts of African American workers in recent years to harness those traditions to build worker power at fast food restaurants, in hospitals, and in public services throughout the region.

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