Preservation and Place

Historic Preservation by and of LGBTQ Communities in the United States

Katherine Crawford-Lackey, Megan E. Springate, Katherine Crawford-Lackey, Megan E. Springate

• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781800736429
  9781789203066
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781789203073
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

Significant historic and archaeological sites affiliated with two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer history in the United States are examined in this unique volume. The importance of the preservation process in documenting and interpreting the lives and experiences of queer Americans is emphasized. The book features chapters on archaeology and interpretation, as well as several case studies focusing on queer preservation projects. The accessible text and associated activities create an interactive and collaborative process that encourages readers to apply the material in a hands-on setting.

CHAPTER 1

Invisibility and Representation

An Introduction to LGBTQ Historic Preservation

Gail Dubrow

Introduction

The LGBTQ Theme Study released by the National Park Service in June 2016 is the fruit of three decades of effort by activists and their allies to make historic preservation a more equitable and inclusive sphere of activity. The LGBTQ movement for civil rights has given rise to related activity in the cultural sphere aimed at recovering the long history of same-sex relationships, understanding the social construction of gender and sexual norms, and documenting the rise of movements for LGBTQ rights in American history. This work has provided an intellectual foundation for efforts to preserve the tangible remains of LGBTQ heritage and make that history publicly visible at historic sites and buildings, in museum exhibits, and on city streets. This essay traces the history of the movement to identify, document, designate, interpret, and preserve elements of the built environment and cultural landscape associated with LGBTQ heritage.

Undocumented LGBTQ History at National Historic Landmark Properties and Those on the National Register of Historic Places

Sites with queer associations made their way onto the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and roster of National Historic Landmarks (NHL) not long after the passage of the 1966 Historic Preservation Act; however, their connections to LGBTQ heritage almost always went undocumented in inventory-nomination forms and the subject went unmentioned—or was referred to only in euphemisms—when visitors toured places open to the public. Only in recent years, with rising public acceptance of differences in sexual orientation and gender expression, wider public support for LGBTQ civil liberties, and the creation of a robust body of scholarship in LGBTQ studies, has it become possible to document and convey the full significance of these “lavender landmarks.” Yet much work remains to be done to fully integrate the histories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people into local, state, and federal cultural resources management programs.

Not all historic places are open to the public. Among those that are, many—including historic house museums—were established at a time when any discussion of sexuality and gender nonconformity was impermissible in public venues, but especially in the context of LGBTQ issues.¹ Historic houses associated with individuals noted for their literary or political achievements constitute the majority of listed properties with untapped potential to address LGBTQ themes. Because gay-positive public attitudes have evolved more quickly in major metropolitan areas, historic house museums that lie outside of urban centers have been slower to broadcast their LGBTQ associations.

In some cases, those charged with managing historic properties have been aware of relevant LGBTQ content, but have suppressed it within their interpretive programs. Despite persistent inquiries about LGBTQ connections to the properties, they have resisted taking action, sometimes hesitant to “out” historical figures who worked overtime to hide their sexual orientation. Some managers of historic properties have been mired in uncertainty about how to make sense of documented same-sex affections that do not neatly fit into contemporary categories of sexual orientation and identity. Others are grappling with residual social stigma and shame attached to homosexuality, bisexuality, and gender nonconformity, fearing these labels might color the reputation of notable individuals at the sites they manage. Finally, in the context of the nation’s culture wars, in which the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people became one of the most divisive issues in American politics, few mainstream organizations relished the idea of actively courting controversy by bringing LGBTQ content to the fore at historic places. For all of these reasons, there are many designated NHLs and properties listed on the NRHP whose connections with LGBTQ history are just beginning to be articulated, including historic properties associated with Walt Whitman, Willa Cather, Eleanor Roosevelt and her associates, and Frances Perkins.

The small two-story, wood-framed house in Camden, New Jersey, that Whitman occupied from 1884 until his death in 1892, is open to the public, managed by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry.² Whitman’s homosexuality is neither mentioned in the NHL nomination for his home, nor on the museum’s website, despite the homoeroticism in his work, including his masterpiece, Leaves of Grass (the final version of which he wrote at this location), and evidence of his relationships with other men.³ Likewise, although the NHL nomination for Willa Cather’s childhood home in Red Cloud, Nebraska, recognized the home as a source of inspiration for her fiction, it was silent on Cather’s transgressive gender expression in adolescence and her adult romantic and sexual ties with women (figure 1.1).⁴ Existing interpretation at the historic house museum, as well as the official website, also skirts these aspects of her life history, referring only briefly to Cather cropping her hair short, calling herself Willie or William, and adopting male attire as examples of her unusual degree of independence, rather than her defiance of social norms regarding sexual orientation and gender expression.⁵ Changing ideas about Cather’s place in American literature are mirrored in the evolving interpretation of her Red Cloud childhood home, except for the treatment of her personal life—and its implications for her work—which remain outdated by three decades.

As scholars have uncovered evidence of same-sex intimacies in connection with some of the most prominent figures in American history, including Eleanor Roosevelt and her circle, the managers of landmark destinations such as the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site in Hyde Park, New York, known as Val-Kill, have had to weigh competing pressures to tackle the subject head-on or deflect potential controversy by addressing it only when visitors make inquiries.⁶

Figure 1.1. Willa Cather’s childhood home in Red Cloud, Nebraska, 2010. Photo by Ammodramus (public domain: Wikimedia Commons).

Eleanor Roosevelt was close friends with many influential and powerful women who were likely lesbians, including couples Nancy Cook and Marion Dickerman, and Esther Lape and Elizabeth Read. Roosevelt credited Lape and Read as playing an important role in her development as a political activist; Cook and Dickerman were frequent visitors to Val-Kill, ultimately residing in a stone cottage there for three decades.⁷ Eleanor herself had a lengthy and intimate relationship with journalist Lorena Hickok (whom she called “Hick”): they vacationed together, Hickok had a bedroom in the White House, and the two wrote extensive and sensual letters to each other daily.⁸ Evidence of this passionate relationship challenges long-standing stereotypes of Eleanor as “cold, remote . . . ugly, terminally insecure, dry-as-dust.”⁹

As to whether Eleanor Roosevelt and “Hick” were physically intimate, historian Blanche Wiesen Cook writes, “We can never know what people do in the privacy of their own rooms. The door is closed. The blinds are drawn. We don’t know. I leave it up to the reader. But there’s no doubt in my mind that they loved each other, and this was an ardent, loving relationship between two adult women.”¹⁰ Neither the NHL nomination for Val-Kill nor the NPS website mentions the same-sex relationships of either Eleanor Roosevelt or Cook and Dickerman. Concerns about the erasure of these aspects of Val-Kill’s history have been long-standing, dating to Paula Martinac’s 1997 observations in The Queerest Places that, despite the evidence, “you won’t hear even a hint about Eleanor’s lesbianism [or bisexuality] in the official Park Service interpretation and film, in which Nancy and Marion are painted as ‘good friends,’ and Hick—one of the major relationships of her life—isn’t mentioned at all.”¹¹ In this case and many others, the ambiguity of evidence surrounding same-sex sexual intimacy, as opposed to intense emotional or romantic attachments, frequently has been used as a rationale for avoiding the issue. Established as a National Historic Site in 1977, Val-Kill would benefit from refreshed interpretation that brings insights from the past twenty-five years of scholarship into the presentation of Eleanor Roosevelt’s life and legacy.

Likewise, nominations and interpretations of places associated with Frances Perkins, another major figure in Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s New Deal circle, neglect to mention her same-sex relationships.¹² The first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet, Frances Perkins was Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945. While married to Paul Caldwell Wilson, Perkins maintained a long-standing romantic relationship with Mary Harriman Rumsey, who had founded the Junior League in 1901. Both women made their mark advancing the Progressive movement’s labor and consumer reform agenda and subsequent New Deal initiatives. They lived together in DC until Rumsey’s death in 1934, after which Perkins shared her life and home in DC with Caroline O’Day, a Democratic congresswoman from New York.¹³ Building on her many accomplishments, Perkins went on to fight for the Social Security Act.

The interpretation and understanding of these places—and all of the others with silenced LGBTQ history—would benefit from representing the full complexity and histories of those who lived there. Part of this process is making amendments to the existing nominations, and ensuring that LGBTQ history is incorporated into future nominations. Since anyone can prepare and submit an NHL nomination, the coverage of LGBTQ-related content depends on the author’s awareness, comfort level, and facility. Review of draft nominations by NHL and NRHP program staff is therefore key to ensuring quality control. But these programs have, for many years, been chronically understaffed. One way to help ensure successful representation of LGBTQ places in these programs is by more fully engaging LGBTQ scholars in the review process at the state, regional, and federal levels.¹⁴

Strategies for Improving the Documentation and Interpretation of LGBTQ History at Existing Landmarks

Similar to past efforts to improve the presentation of American women’s history at historic properties and museums, designated landmarks open to the public might benefit from a coordinated program of consultation with experts in LGBTQ history to develop more accurate and complete interpretive programs. At the federal level, planning grants to museums, libraries and cultural organizations from the National Endowment for the Humanities are an underutilized source of support to plan for reinterpretations of historic sites and districts that improve the coverage of previously neglected aspects of history and expand the diversity of public history audiences.¹⁵ A 1992 project by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, aimed at improving the interpretation of women’s history at the state’s historic sites and buildings, offers one model for bringing the staff at multiple historic properties into an extended dialogue with scholars to mine the possibilities for improved interpretation.¹⁶ As LGBTQ sites are identified in systematic surveys and theme studies, it is important to designate overlooked properties and improve both the documentation and interpretation of places already listed on landmark registers.

Scaling Up: Illuminating LGBTQ Presence in National Register Districts

Individual buildings—often historic houses—constitute the vast majority of properties listed on landmark registers with unexplored connections to LGBTQ history. But many historic districts also have unrealized potential to address LGBTQ themes, including those designated at the local, state, and federal levels. Greenwich Village was designated a local historic district by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1969.¹⁷ Completed in the same year as the Stonewall uprising, the designation report for Greenwich Village reflects the preservation movement’s contemporary emphasis on documenting the architectural significance of buildi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1. Invisibility and Representation: An Introduction to LGBTQ Historic Preservation
• Chapter 2. The History of Queer History: One Hundred Years of the Search for Shared Heritage
• Chapter 3. Taking Action: An Overview of LGBTQ Preservation Initiatives
• Chapter 4. Beyond Identity: An LGBTQ Archaeological Context
• Chapter 5. Interpreting LGBTQ Historic Sites
• Chapter 6. Teaching LGBTQ History and Heritage
• Chapter 7. San Francisco: Placing LGBTQ Histories in the City by the Bay
• Chapter 8. Preservation of LGBTQ Historic and Cultural Sites: A New York City Perspective
• Chapter 9. Tradition, Community, and Grungy Secret-ness: What Preservationists Can Learn from the Story of Phase One
• Engaging LGBTQ Pasts and Preservation: Historic Preservation Activities
• Index