OutHistory
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 Screenshot of OutHistory.org homepage | |
| Available in | English |
|---|---|
| Owner | University of Illinois at Chicago |
| Created by | Jonathan Ned Katz |
| URL | outhistory |
| Commercial | No |
| Launched | 2004 |
| Current status | Online |
OutHistory.org is a public website about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and heterosexual history, with a non-exclusive focus on the US and Canada. Historians contributing to the site are especially interested in documenting under-represented histories and fostering historical research that contributes to positive social change. The site features digital exhibitions on various topics of LGBTQ+ history, built from primary sources and contextualized by brief texts written by guest scholars, who have curated each exhibition. A “bookshelf” features books written by historians on LGBTQ+ topics. OutHistory is increasingly being used by teachers to introduce students to primary sources and historical analysis relating to the LGBTQ+ past.[1]
OutHistory.org was founded in 2004 by Jonathan Ned Katz, author of several groundbreaking books in US gay and lesbian history.[2] The site, officially launched in 2008, was designed originally by Cidamon, a New York-based web design and development company, using open-source MediaWiki software.[3]
OutHistory.org was produced in its first four years by the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS), located at the City University of New York Graduate Center.[4] In 2011, John D'Emilio, Professor of History at the University of Illinois, Chicago and an OutHistory director, led a redesign of the site using Omeka, an open-source web publishing platform developed by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.[5] This new version of OutHistory launched in September 2013. In 2013, Claire Bond Potter, Professor of History at The New School, joined Katz and D'Emilio as a director. D'Emilio and Potter continued serving as OutHistory directors until 2019. Randall Sell and Kimon Keramidas served as directors from 2017-2020.[6] Historian Marc Stein has been the director since January 1, 2023.[7] Since 2023, OutHistory has been supported by an Advisory Board composed of academics and community-based historians. OutHistory.org has collaborated with other LGBTQ history sites, archives, newspapers, magazines, museum projects, and art galleries, as well as interested researchers. OutHistory.org has partnered with the Arcus Foundation to award recipients of the LGBTQ Local Histories Contest for excellent contributions to OutHistory.org on local history topics.[8]
The content of OutHistory.org is provided by volunteers. In 2023, OutHistory launched a Fellowship Program which supports the creation of digital exhibitions by fellows, who receive modest stipends for this work.[9]
OutHistory.org was awarded the 2010 Allan Berube Prize in Public History by the Committee on LGBT History of the American Historical Association.[10]
References
[edit]- ^ Lauren Jae Gutterman, "Hyperlinking LGBTQ History: Teaching with OutHistory.org," Transformations: The Journal of Inclusive Scholarship and Pedagogy 22, no. 1 (July 2011): 114-118; Catherine O. Jacquet, "'Queer History Goes Digital': Using Outhistory.org in the Classroom," in Understanding and Teaching U.S. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History, ed. Leila J. Rupp and Susan K. Freedman (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2014), 352-363
- ^ See for example Jonathan Ned Katz, Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A. (1976); Gay/Lesbian Almanac: A New Documentary (1983), The Invention of Heterosexuality (1995), Love Stories: Sex Between Men Before Heterosexuality (2001), and The Daring Life and Dangerous Times of Eve Adams (2021).
- ^ Lauren Jay Gutterman, "OutHistory.org: An Experiment in LGBTQ Community History-Making," Public Historian 32, no. 4 (2010): 96-109
- ^ Chan, Sewell (22 June 2009). "Police Records Document Start of Stonewall Uprising". New York Times – City Room. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
- ^ https://outhistory.org/about-outhistory
- ^ "About OutHistory · OutHistory". outhistory.org. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
- ^ "About OutHistory · OutHistory". outhistory.org. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
- ^ Comer, Matt (29 June 2010). "OutHistory.org awards local LGBT projects". QNotes. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
- ^ https://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/fellow/fellintopp
- ^ "Allan Bérubé Prize | The Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History". Retrieved 4 January 2022.