OutHistory.org Prizes

The American Historical Association's Committee on LGBT History issued the following press release:

"The Allan Bérubé Prize, underwritten by the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco, is awarded for outstanding work in public or community-based lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer history.

This year’s inaugural Bérubé Prize is awarded to OutHistory (founded by Jonathan Ned Katz, staffed by Lauren Gutterman, produced by the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the City of University of New York Graduate Center, and funded by individual donations and grants from the Arcus Foundation), and to the Polk Street Oral History Project (produced by Joey Plaster with the support of the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco, the California Council for the Humanities, and the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies).

OutHistory.org is an extraordinary website that features a wide range of LGBT historical materials and exhibits generated and produced by a diverse and ever-growing collection of students, scholars, and others interested in LGBT history. With impressive accomplishments during its short life and even greater potential for growth in the future, OutHistory is a deserving recipient of the inaugural Bérubé Prize.

For different reasons, the Polk Street Oral History Project (www.glbthistory.org/PolkProject<) is equally deserving. Based on a study of a San Francisco neighborhood in transition, this project has consisted of a multimedia exhibit, a radio documentary, an oral history component, and a set of community-based conversations. The well-designed web-based elements provide ample evidence of the project’s sensitive explorations of race, class, gender, and sexuality; its focus on homelessness, poverty, drugs, and AIDS; and its interest in the voices and experiences of LGBT youth, immigrant, transgender, poor, and working-class cultures.

Part of the Polk Street Oral History Project is featured on OutHistory.org as well. Check it out here!

Many thanks to all our contributors for making OutHistory.org a success!