An 1870s lesbian gunslinger. Extravagant 1930s drag balls. Mass protests of the 1980s and 1990s. All are a part of our story.
In 2018, Preservation Maryland engaged in a project to create the first comprehensive study of LGBTQ+ history and historic preservation across Maryland. In conducting the research for this project, Ben Egerman was able to identify a wide array of places associated with LGBTQ+ history and create a number of resources to help those interested in the subject learn more about our communities’ rich and vibrant history in the state.
Since then, he has presented with another librarian and community elders on the subject of local LGBTQ+ history to audiences across the state, as well as working with students, artists, and academics to promote and build awareness of Maryland’s LGBTQ+ past.
This talk will discuss these projects, what they tell us about Maryland’s history, and some of the difficulties in doing research in this area-all punctuated by amazing and eye-opening stories of LGBTQ+ people and life in the state stretching back nearly 200 years.
Ben Egerman (he/him) is a public librarian and researcher living in Baltimore. His work with Preservation Maryland on the Maryland LGBTQ Historic Context Study yielded a preliminary list of over 300 extant sites related to LGBTQ+ history in the state, and has been recognized by the American Historical Association’s Committee on LGBT History, who awarded the project the Allan Berube Prize for community history in early 2024. He has worked with a fellow librarian and two community elders to bring various stories from Maryland’s LGBTQ+ past to audiences in libraries across the state. He aims for his work to lie at the intersection of community building, advocacy, and public history.
ASL interpretation will be available for attendees.
Presented in partnership with The Maryland State Archives and The Maryland Four Centuries Project.