January Lunch with NEMA

WHEN:  Wednesday, January 27, 2021, Noon- 1pm
WHAT: Reopening The Archives: Telling Queer Stories
WHO:  Nicole Mello,  National Park Ranger, Longfellow House—Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site
FORMAT: Webinar

 

Throughout your time as an interpreter, there have doubtlessly been figures you’ve researched who never married, or who lived with someone of the same gender. On countless tours, visitors ask, “Well, were they gay?” and interpreters have only been able to say that we just don’t know. However, by re-examining material left behind by those we interpret with a fresh eye, we can find so many stories of queer people who have existed for years and years, whose histories can now finally be told in full. Guests are excited to hear these new stories, and local communities can find themselves fitting into pieces of the puzzle at a site they may never have thought to visit before. Revisiting histories and telling queer stories are not only vital to being accurate as historians, but, more and more, it’s clear that these are the stories that are most important to tell right now.