The International Resource Network is supported by the Ford Foundation and housed at the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies, City University of New York.
Hey, CLAGS members, have you been to OutHistory.org recently? If not, stop by the site and check out some of our newest additions! Highlights include a previously unpublished report documenting the suppression of LGBTQ themes in art shows in New York City museums between 1995 and 2007 initiated by art historian Jonathan David Katz, an early conversation between Joan Nestle and Jim Monahan about gay and lesbian archives reprinted from the pages of The Gay Insurgent (1978), as well as an exhibit about Peter Sewally/Mary Jones, a cross-dressing African American male arrested on June 11, 1836 for prostitution and pickpocketing in Manhattan.
OutHistory.org is continuing to gain recognition as a leading public LGBTQ history resource. OutHistory.org was featured in the most recent “Teaching Digital” issue of Transformations: The Journal of Inclusive Scholarship and Pedagogy. And OutHistory.org’s founder Jonathan Ned Katz will speak about OutHistory.org on a panel, “The Pleasures and Perils of LGBTQ Public History,” at the upcoming American Historical Association’s annual conference in Chicago alongside other scholars and activists involved with the Twin Cities GLBT Oral History Project, the GLBT History Museum and Vanguard Revisited Project in San Francisco.
This past spring OutHistory.org held its second annual fundraiser at Ann Snitow and Daniel Goode’s home. Scholar and activist Urvashi Vaid and political humorist Kate Clinton hosted the event and welcomed guests. Blanche Wiesen Cook, Professor of History at John Jay College, and Joan Nestle, co-founder of the Lesbian Herstory Archives, also spoke eloquently about the importance of LGBTQ history and OutHistory.org’s valuable contributions to it. Around forty guests attended, enjoyed wine and hors d’oeuvres and bid on a range of silent auction items such as first edition signed copies of Jonathan Ned Katz’s Gay American History and Gay/Lesbian Almanac, a wine tasting course at Astor Wines, a bag of goodies from Babeland, a membership to SonicYoga, tickets to the Museum of Sex and NewFest, to name a few.
If you were not able to make it to OutHistory.org.’s recent fundraiser, don’t worry: it’s still not too late to donate! OutHistory.org is currently seeking funding for an oral history of the Fire Island Pines, and a major redevelopment of the website itself. We invite you to become an OutHistory.org Storyteller, Researcher, or History-Maker today for a donation of $100, $200, or $500. For questions, please contact the Project Coordinator at outhistory@gc.cuny.edu.