Panel

Together these three papers explore the influences on and impact of LGBTQ heritage initiatives in the UK over the last two decades, and use this to contextualise potential future directions. They examine the conditions that gave rise to greater visibility of and engagement with LGBTQ histories, interrogate the goals and methods of a specific LGBTQ heritage project, and evaluate heritage sector programmes and policies to consider what’s actually ‘queer’ about LGBTQ heritage.

Matt Cook ‘Queer pasts in the LGBT present: archives, outreach and ‘public’ history in the UK’

Matt Cook is Professor of Modern History at Birkbeck, University of London and Birkbeck Director of the Raphael Samuel History Centre. His books include London and the Culture of Homosexuality (2003) and Queer Domesticities (2014)

Justin Bengry ‘Pride of Place: Crowdsourcing Queer Heritage’

Justin Bengry is an Honorary Research Fellow at Birkbeck College, University of London. He researches the social and commercial economies of LGBTQ life in twentieth-century Britain and histories of capitalism, media, and popular culture.

Alison Oram ‘“But that’s alright now, isn’t it?”: Changing Attitudes and Policies in LGBTQ Heritage Management in Britain‘

Alison Oram is Professor of Social and Cultural History at Leeds Beckett University. She has published widely on the history of sexuality and gender in 20th century Britain. Her current research examines how historic houses represent queer sexuality, gender and family.

Pride of Place: England’s  LGBTQ Heritage

 

Pride of Place is a Historic England initiative to identify the locations and landscapes associated with England’s LGBTQ heritage. We aim to uncover new locations associated with England’s LGBTQ past, and to revisit existing heritage sites to consider their LGBTQ significance.

Project Website: historicengland.org.uk/prideofplace

Interactive Map: mapme.com/prideofplace

Twitter: @LGBTQPlaces and Hashtag: #PrideofPlace

Project Facebook: Facebook.com/LGBTQPlaces

Queer beyond London: Sexuality and Locality since c.1965

Queer beyond London is an AHRC-funded collaboration between Birkbeck College, University of London and Leeds Beckett University to research histories of sexual identities and communities in Leeds, Plymouth, Brighton and Manchester since c.1965.

Project Website: www.QueerBeyondLondon.com

Twitter: @QueerBeyondLDN

Project Facebook: Facebook.com/QueerBeyondLondon

Matt, Justin and Alison will be speaking on day two of the conference.