Event

Hidden in Plain Sight: Documenting Queer Stories in Archives

Wednesday, June 29, 2022 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM EST
At MHS

Tripp Evans, Wheaton College; Heather White, Harvard Divinity School; and Jen Manion, Amherst College

This program is co-sponsored by The History Project

This is a hybrid event. The program will began at 6:00. Register for how you plan to attend below.

Register to attend online

Register to attend in person

Researching Queer history in archives poses unique challenges. Where written records survive, a person’s sexual life or desires may not be included in the records or might be veiled. In other scenarios, descendants of LGBTQ+ people have censored or destroyed records. In the face of these issues, how do we create inclusive and accurate histories? Panelists will reflect on methods they have used to navigate the archives and highlight Queer stories. The panel also asks, how do you write LGBTQ+ history when the records are not enough?

Hybrid Event

The program will begin at 6:00.
Masks are now required in the building. Learn more about our COVID-19 protocols.

The virtual program begins at 6:00 PM and will be hosted on the video conference platform, Zoom. Registrants will receive a confirmation message with attendance information.

Upcoming Events

Social Reform and Identity Formation in the 17th Century - A Panel Discussion
Social Reform and Identity Formation in the 17th Century - A Panel Discussion
Hybrid / NOTE: times are shown in EST
Tuesday, April 1, 2025 5:00 PM - 6:15 PM EST
This panel investigates forms of social control in 17th century New England. Arthur George Kamya’s paper examines the regulation of distilled liquor in 17th century Massachusetts Bay Colony, exploring how authorities navigated competing moral, economic, and security imperatives. Initially targeting a cross-section of colonists, liquor laws evolved to focus on servants, Native Americans, and eventually African Americans. The colony's approach shifted from moral censure to pragmatic revenue generation, with officials using fines and licenses to fund government operations. Kamya’s study illuminates how alcohol regulation became a tool of social control, state-building, and the construction of racial hierarchies in colonial New England, offering insights into the complex interplay between commerce, governance, and identity formation in early America. As discussed in Alice King’s work, Connecticut adopted a notable strategy towards certain Indigenous populations during the initial decades of settlement, attempting to control and exploit Native communities by turning them into colonial tributaries who would provide essential supplies, wampum, and military aid. King’s paper considers the evolution of tributary politics at the end of the seventeenth century after the Dominion of New England and Glorious Revolution had destabilized colonial authority and left colonists vulnerable to attack by French and Native forces, including the Wabanaki Confederacy during King William’s War, 1689-1697, when Connecticut leaders sought to raise soldiers for New England’s defense from these historic tributary communities.
see all events

The Latest

Blog
Video
Podcast