Browse material on the OutHistory website by time period.
A chronology of references to same-sex desire and sexual activity in the life of Walt Whitman and in the works of Whitman's biographers and critics. This timeline is a collaborative work-in-progress. Some of the language used and concepts…
Two historians, Jonathan Ned Katz and Tavia Nyong’o, present and analyze the story and visual depiction of Peter Sewally/Mary Jones, a Black transgender person in New York City, in 1836. First published on OutHistory in 2017.
The growth of gossip magazines and tabloids during the first half of the twentieth century was partially fueled by the industry's embrace of sensational topics such as murder, violence, crime, and corruption. But no subject seemed to attract…
On the publication of Jen Manion’s book Liberty's Prisoners: Carceral Culture in Early America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015), OutHistory featured an original essay by Manion. It discusses how sex between men in early Philadelphia…
During Black History Month in 2016, OutHistory presented original research discoveries about parties organized by cross-dressed African American men in Washington, D.C., in the 1880s and 1890s.
This four-part entry, based on Jonathan Ned Katz's original research, details a scandal that erupted in Württemberg, Germany, in 1888, involving its king and three American men, Richard Mason Jackson, Charles Woodcock, and Donald Hendry. This…
The Stone Wall, the autobiography of Ruth Fuller Field, was published under the name "Mary Casal" in Chicago in 1930. The text presents the extraordinarily frank sexual and affectional life history of an American lesbian. OutHistory…
This exhibit introduces Carhart's 1895 novel, with a title character who utters the most affirmative defense of genital-orgasmic love relations between women published in English in the nineteenth century.
The story of the German sexual emancipation pioneer and his references to the United States. Adapted from Jonathan Ned Katz's column, "Katz on History," The Advocate, April 25, 1989, pages 47-48. The essay was titled "The First…
This exhibit, published originally on OutHistory in 2014, explores a series of stories published in children’s books and magazines in antebellum America. Some portray children being punished for transgressing gender roles, others expose the range of…
An exhibit on the often overlooked queer history of Newark, New Jersey, a history that is "tragic at times, but also bold, defiant, and resistant." First published on OutHistory in 2014.
An exhibit on the life of Sara Josephine Baker, a pioneering figure in the history of public health. Published originally on OutHistory in 2014.
Profiles of ten LGBT social justice activists by Rich Wilson. First published December 10, 2013. Last edited: May 28, 2017.
Containing unique items from the personal collection of Rich Wilson, this exhibit focuses on 19th-century queer experience in the United States.
A collection of biographies written by the students in Catherine Jacquet's Fall 2012 class at the University of Illinois, Chicago. The class was titled "Gender Non-Conformity in Historical Perspective."
Richmond is an old place, at least in American terms. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people have always been a part of its history. This exhibit, published originally on OutHistory in 2013, is dedicated to all those who challenged the norms…
An introduction to the 2010 discovery by historian Randall Sell of Riddle of the Underworld (1921), a long-missing trans memoir by Jennie June/Ralph Werther/Earl Lind, with thanks to Ted Faigle for his transcription work. See also Who Was Jennie…
A searchable edition of Barbara Grier's 1981 bibliography The Lesbian in Literature. Republished in 2013 with the permission of Barbara Grier.
Primary documents about the lives of persons identified at birth as female, who later lived and sometimes identified as male. Documents reprinted from Jonathan Ned Katz, Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A. (NY: Crowell, 1976).…
These documents about LGBTQ+ Native Americans present years of testimony from a wide variety of observers: military men, missionaries, explorers, trappers, traders, settlers, and later, medical doctors, anthropologists, homosexual emancipationists,…