Browse Exhibits (12 total)
"An Understanding...Held Them Together": John Sterling and James Bloss, 1870-1918, by Jonathan Ned Katz
In 1864, John William Sterling graduated from Yale College. About 1870, in his mid-twenties, Sterling met James Orville Bloss, who was three years younger. The two formed a relationship of almost 50 years and lived together in New York City for most of that time. What kind of relationship was this? Answering that question is a work in progress.
Katz's pioneering work on Sterling and Bloss is supplemented by the detailed, voluminous research of several volunteer content creators for which OutHistory is most grateful. See: John Sterling and James Bloss, 1870-1918, by Claude M. Gruener and Rick Wagner
"Chosen Girl," 2003, by Faith S. Holsaert
A short story set in 1950s Greenwich Village about the love between two women--one white, one black--as observed by the white woman's daughter. Reprinted with the permission of Faith S. Holsaert. Copyright (c) 2003 by Faith S. Holsaert. Published originally on OutHistory in 2011.
A Gay Youth Group, the FBI, and the Community, 1984, by Mitchell Halberstadt
An exhibit on Gay and Lesbian Youth of New York and its relationship to the FBI in the 1980s.
Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens, 1779-1782, by Jonathan Ned Katz
An exhibit on eighteenth century U.S. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton and his relationship with John Laurens. Multiple historians consider how to interpret the intimacy between Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens during the American Revolution. In 1976, Jonathan Ned Katz, in a first book documenting what he then called "Gay American History," presented letters between Hamilton and Laurens. Those letters are presented on OutHistory as Katz presented them in 1976. Since then Katz has studied what other historians have said about Hamilton's and Laurens' relationship and he presents excerpts from those historians here on OutHistory, along with his own later essay "Alexander Hamilton's Nose."
Alma Routsong, Author of "Patience and Sarah" (1967): A 1975 Interview by Jonathan Ned Katz
For Women's History Month in 2016, OutHistory republished an interview by Jonathan Ned Katz with Alma Routsong. On January 20, 1975, the author of Patience and Sarah spoke to Katz about discovering her lesbianism and her development as a novelist. The interview was originally published in Katz's Gay American History (1976).
Almeda Sperry to Emma Goldman, 1912, by Jonathan Ned Katz
A collection of love letters to Emma Goldman, the anarchist leader, vividly conveys the emotions and varied life experience of Almeda Sperry, their complex author. The letters detail and evoke Sperry's tender-brutal relationship with her husband Fred; her bitter-funny cash relationship with Carnegie Steel Company boss "Newt"; her loving relationship with Florence, a graphically described woman friend; her own poor working-class childhood, and her passionate, would-be affair of the heart with Emma Goldman. Adapted from Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A. (1976) by Jonathan Ned Katz. Republished on OutHistory April 29, 2015.
Barbara Gittings: Founding the New York Daughters of Bilitis in 1958, by Jonathan Ned Katz
Barbara Gittings interviewed by Jonathan Ned Katz in 1974 about her development as a Lesbian, and about the founding and early history of the New York Daughters of Bilitis.
Boutilier v. Immigration and Naturalization Service (1967), by Marc Stein
This was originally published to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1967 ruling in Boutilier v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, which upheld the deportation of Clive Michael Boutilier, a Canadian citizen and U.S. permanent resident classified by the INS as “afflicted with psychopathic personality” based on his homosexuality. First published by OutHistory on May 22, 2017.
Carl Schlegel: Pioneering U.S. Gay Activist, 1906-1907, by Jonathan Ned Katz
The proselytizing of one of the earliest U.S. homosexual emancipation activists (the earliest now known), the Rev. Carl Schlegel, was documented for the first time and published June 1, 2019, on OutHistory to honor the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion. Updated August 29, 2024.
Carroll Smith-Rosenberg and "The Female World of Love and Ritual," A 2021 Interview by Matthew Hauptman
An interview with the author of a groundbreaking 1975 essay on lesbian history.
Colonial America: The Age of Sodomitical Sin, 1607-1783, by Jonathan Ned Katz
The years from 1607 to 1783 constitute the founding era of what became the United States. In the early years of this era, in these American colonies, the penalty for sodomy was death, and a number of executions are documented. Sodomy was usually conceived of then as anal intercourse between men. But why was sodomy thought of as treason against the state and punished so harshly? And what do we know of sexual and intimate relationships between women in these years, and the laws and responses to such intimacies? This feature presents or references the original documents that Jonathan Ned Katz collected in his books Gay American History (1976) and Gay/Lesbian Almanac (1983), along with evidence that others subsequently discovered. Published originally on OutHistory in 2012.
Come Out! Newspaper, 1969-1972
This exhibit presents digital copies of Come Out!, the newspaper of New York City's Gay Liberation Front. Published originally on OutHistory in 2011.