Difference between revisions of "Main Page"

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=OutHistory.org: Recall the Past, Comprehend the Present=
 
=OutHistory.org: Recall the Past, Comprehend the Present=
  
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==Link to OutHistory, OutHistory will link to you!==
 
==Link to OutHistory, OutHistory will link to you!==
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For Immediate Release
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==OutHistory.org, Innovative LGBT History Website, to Launch Tuesday, October 21==
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OutHistory.org, the new website on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and, yes, heterosexual history, will make its official debut on Tuesday, October 21. The public is invited to celebrate OutHistory's launch that evening, from 6 to 8 pm, in the second-floor Cyber Center of the LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th Street, New York City.
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The catered event is free and all are invited to hear the remarks of OutHistory’s Director Jonathan Ned Katz and to explore the site on the Center's computers.
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Historian Katz describes OutHistory.org as "a dynamic, developing website that makes the history of sexuality newly accessible to a diverse audience. It has the potential to reach a wide group who never before had access to reliable work on LGBTQ history." In its early stages the site will focus on the United States, but OutHistory is working to expand its geographic scope.
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Currently OutHistory features several historical "exhibits," among them a colorful collection of postcards from the early-twentieth century depicting "masculine women and feminine men." In the words of a popular song from the turn of the century these postcards ask: "which is the rooster which is the hen?" (Users can hear the song on the site.) The postcards were provided to OutHistory by an avid collector, Marshall Weeks, and the website expects other collectors of LGBT artifacts to contribute to future exhibits.
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OutHistory contains two types of articles. Entries by named authors are marked as "Protected" and may not be edited by the public. "Protected entries provide the credibility associated with the naming of a particular author," said Lauren Gutterman, the website's Coordinator.
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OutHistory also contains articles marked as "Open" to additions and edits by any logged-on users with data, documents, and citations. "These collaboratively created entries," says Katz, "are an innovative experiment in history by the community."
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In addition to the postcard exhibit, protected entries include Ron Schlittler’s original photographic exhibit: “Out and Elected in the USA:1974-2004,” several Blogs on History by Joan Nestle, cofounder of the Lesbian Herstory Archives, and C. Todd White’s exhibit on some of the first homosexual rights organizations in the US.
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Several protected exhibits were jointly created by professors and their students. "Queer Youth: On Campus, in the Media, 1947-2007," was written by students at Bryn Mawr and Haverford colleges, under the guidance of Professor of History Sharon Ullman.
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“OutHistory is an ideal forum for teachers to get students involved with and excited about history," says Gutterman. Anthropologist Esther Newton also worked with her students at the University of Michigan to produce an exhibit on "Lesbians in the Twentieth Century."
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A fascinating group of documents on transgender American history are republished from Jonathan Ned Katz's out-of-print books Gay American History and Gay/Lesbian Almanac. "OutHistory hopes to republish lots of authors' out-of-print but still valuable historical works," says Gutterman. Documents from Martin Duberman's out of print About Time: Exploring the Gay Past, will also be added to the site.
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OutHistory  is collaborating with ChicagoGayHistory.org , a website founded by Tracy Baim, editor of the Windy City Times, and both sites are presenting original essays on Chicago LGBT history by Professor John D'Emilio. "We are also discussing a partnership between OutHistory and The National Archive of Lesbian and Gay History, founded by Richard Wandel," said Lauren Gutterman. "And we've met with the Coordinator of LGBT Collections at The New York Public Library to discuss future collaborations."
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OutHistory is produced by the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS), a research institute at the City University of New York Graduate Center. The creation of the site was funded by the Arcus Foundation under a two-year grant that ends December 31, 2008. CLAGS is seeking funds to continue the site. “To fund the site in 2009 we’re turning to individuals with a special interest in LGBT history and the ability to foster its development,” says Katz.
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"In an election year and in the midst of an economic meltdown," Katz explains, “foundations tell us they are focused on human and civil rights issues, not history. But knowing the history of present struggles makes today's activists more effective." OutHistory is, in fact, seeking funding for several illustrated "Histories of the Present," on the movement for LGBT marriage and domestic partner rights, on AIDS activism, on the law reform movement, and on the issue of homosexuals in the U.S. military. "Publicizing the history of LGBT activism is a form of activism," Katz stresses, "so keeping OutHistory alive and kicking is important."
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Contact:
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Lauren Gutterman,
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OutHistory Project Coordinator
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Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies
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e-mail: outhistory@gc.cuny.edu
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cell: (718) 974-3436
  
 
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Revision as of 21:05, 19 October 2008

Documenting the LGBTQH past in the U.S.A.

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