Preservation Maryland has made uncovering LGBTQ history in Maryland a priority project through our Six-to-Fix program. Today, the 50th Anniversary of the riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York City that marks a major turning point in the fight for LGBTQ equality, Preservation Maryland is proud to share what we have found about Maryland’s LGBTQ history.
MAPPING LGBTQ+ HISTORY IN MARYLAND
Screenshot of the LGBTQ+ Maryland collection on HistoryPin, 2019.
The LGBTQ+ Maryland collection is available on the National Park Service’s LGBTQ America map hosted on HistoryPin. The pins on the map are sourced from a researched spreadsheet of sites associated with LGBTQ+ people and communities in Maryland that span the 17th century to the present. This collection has just shy of 300 items reflecting the places where LGBTQ+ people lived, gathered, and advocated for themselves and each other. From the home of Salisbury’s first gay mayor to a historic manor house that was the site of an AIDS hospice, to the filming locations from John Waters’ Hairspray, the list is varied and hopefully helps people understand more about how LGBTQ+ history and heritage fit into the physical spaces around them.
For the past six months, Benjamin Egerman, a recent graduate of the Master’s of Library Science from the University of Maryland, College Park has been conducting research about LGBTQ+ spaces in Maryland. Many sources were used to compile both the spreadsheet and the map, including standardizing previously recorded sites, researching in new locations, and entering crowdsources sites directly from LBGTQ community members across Maryland. There are now nearly 300 sites recorded on the map – this is one of the largest contributions to the LGBTQ America map ever made.
SHARE YOUR STORY
Preservation Maryland’s collection and project is collaborative. Individuals can create accounts on HistoryPin in order to add content to existing sites or add sites of their own. Additionally, if you have documents or physical items that you would like to donate; the Maryland Historical Society has an LGBT+ collection as do many local libraries and archives. For those interested in doing their own research, there are several important collections in Maryland. The GLCCB (now The Pride Center of Maryland) archives are at the University of Baltimore and there is microfilm of local LGBT newspapers at the Enoch Pratt Free Library.
MORE LGBTQ HISTORY RESOURCES
Interpreting LGBT History at Historic Sites and Museums
Susan Ferentinos, PhD
Looking for LGBTQ+ History on Your Campus or Other Small Archive
Benjamin Egerman
LGBTQ Heritage Theme Study
National Park Service
A Place to Start: A Toolkit for Documenting LGBTQ Heritage in Baltimore City (And Beyond)
University of Maryland, HISP600
Support Preservation Maryland’s Work today
Learn more about our LGBTQ history project
This post was written by Benjamin Egerman who recently completed a Master’s of Library Science from the University of Maryland, College Park. During his internship with Preservation Maryland, Benjamin has focused on researching and documenting LGBTQ heritage. He is interested in exploring the ways history can be used to inspire and assist LGBTQ+ communities and people today – and has long been an activist archivist. In his free time, he enjoys watching bad movies, reading good books, and finding weird stuff on the internet. Learn more about our Waxter Internship Program.