LGBTQ+ American History before 1830, by Jonathan Ned Katz

To mark the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, this exhibit reprints pre-1830 materials from Jonathan Ned Katz’s books Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A. (1976; New York: Crowell, 1992) and Gay/Lesbian Almanac: A New Documentary (New York: Harper & Row, 1983). The exhibit also features pre-1830 materials that Katz prepared for Gay American History (circa 1972-1975) but did not use because of size restrictions. These unpublished manuscript pages are presented here as Katz wrote them in the early 1970s. Published originally on OutHistory in June 2026.