Heather Munro Prescott, Central Connecticut State University
Proposal Type
Roundtable
Seeking
- Seeking Additional Presenters
- Seeking Specific Expertise
- Seeking General Feedback and Interest
Related Topics
- Museums/Exhibits
- Public Engagement
- Social Justice
Abstract
The importance of examining sites and collections through the lens of the history of sexuality. How do we incorporate “difficult” topics like gay/lesbian history or the history of abortion into the story we tell our visitors? What are the risks/benefits of telling these stories? How can these stories to make our sites relevant to current issues of social justice?
Description
I am in the preliminary stages of organizing a roundtable that combines public history and history of sexuality. I am looking for additional panelists and advice on how to focus the proposal. Topics include:
Heather Munro Prescott, History Department, Central Connecticut State University, will describe her work on incorporating Dr. Oliver Isham’s arrests for performing abortion into interpretation of Isham-Terry House in Hartford
Erin Malueg, Palmer/Warner Project, Connecticut Landmarks, will describe her work with International Coalition of Sites of Conscience in developing LGBT interpretation for the Palmer Warner House in East Haddam
Ilene Frank, Connecticut Historical Society, will discuss how to reinterpret material culture collections to include LGBT history.
If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to pass along someone’s contact information confidentially, please get in contact directly: Heather Munro Prescott, [email protected]
All feedback and offers of assistance should be submitted by July 1, 2018. If you have general ideas or feedback to share, please feel free to use the comments feature below.
Seems like you’ve got a strong group coming together here. I would just suggest two things: (1) Think about the breadth of the term “sexuality” as an umbrella concept here – it obviously can cover a lot, so having a center of gravity around LGBT histories seems to tug this proposal in one direction, while adding in the topic of abortion feels like something of an outlier. So if you do add another presenter, it would be good to bear that in mind – would it be best to recruit someone else working on histories of abortion and structure the panel as a kind of comparison of those two topics? or would more breadth via a third aspect of sexuality make a stronger mix? And (2) it has been occurring to me that one important act of repair that we might do as public historians is not to immediately frame certain topics and histories as “painful” or “difficult,” even if the terms are in scare quotes! Is there a way to approach these topics without assuming discomfort or risk? That in itself could be a useful exercise for a panel like this one.
Thanks for the comments, Cathy. I agree my topic is an outlier and am willing to cut or modify it. The story of Dr. Isham is about more than abortion — the court cases also say a lot about young female sexuality in early twentieth century Hartford.
Hi Heather,
I would also suggest to engage with repair work in your proposal directly, to think through some of the questions posed in the call for proposals and to incorporate some of the language. Otherwise, this is a very interesting topic!