This week, I’ll be in Detroit participating in the American Association for State and Local History summit “Interpreting Historic House Museums Today.” I am serving as one of the facilitators of the event, and in addition, I’ll be moderating a workshop session on Interpreting Sexuality at Historic Sites.
My co-presenters in the workshop are Kenneth Turino of Museum Search and Reference; Kristine Allegretti, director of collections and operations at the Alice Austen House; and Patrick Hollis, executive director of the Mabry-Hazen House. Together, we’ll be sharing are own experiences and workshopping future directions and best practices in conversation with session attendees. In addition, I’ll be making an argument for the importance of interpreting the history of sexuality and giving some tips on how to get started. Toward that end, I’ve put together a list of resources for getting started in the interpretation of sexuality. I include it below, or readers can access the same information in hand-out form here.
Resources for Interpreting Sexuality at Historic Sites
- Joshua G. Adair and Amy K. Levine, Museums, Sexuality, and Gender Activism (New York: Routledge, 2020).
- Rebecca L. Davis, Fierce Desires: A New History of Sex and Sexuality in America (New York: W.W. Norton, 2024).
- Kevin P. Murphy, Jason Ruiz, and David Serlin, eds. The Routledge History of American Sexuality. (New York: Routledge, 2020.)
- Kenneth Turino and Max Van Balgooy, Reimagining Historic House Museums: New Approaches and Proven Solutions (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019).
- Susan Ferentinos, “Where the Magic Happened: Historic Homes as Sites of Intimacy”
AASLH Member Resources
- Getting Sexy at Historic Sites, AASLH Recorded Conference Session, 2018.
- Hidden in Plain Site: Finding and Telling Queer History, AASLH Recorded Conference Session, 2020.
- Interpreting LGBTQ History at Historic House Museums, AASLH Recorded Conference Session, 2020.