On July 13-17, C of C Special Collections hosted an LGBTQ Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon. Using sources made available on the project’s LibGuide, participants expanded Wikipedia articles on Linda Ketner, John Martin Taylor, Alliance for Full Acceptance, the Candlestick Murder, C of C’s own Book Basement, and more. Watch this video to find out about some of the materials that are being collected by the LGBTQ Life in the Lowcountry project, and take a video tour of the city with Harlan Greene, the director of the project (also a novelist, historian, and fantastic tour guide). In this video he takes viewers to some sites that are on a Special Collections online tour called The Real Rainbow Row: Charleston’s Queer History. We also get to hear from Rebecca Thayer, Catherine Stiers, and Brandon Reid about what they’re learning from the archival materials they are processing and interpreting.
Congratulations to Special Collections and all the participants in this project. All of us who study the history and culture of Charleston and the Lowcountry will benefit from having all this new material available. As Harlan said at the end of his video tour, “And you know what? There’ll be monuments to Charleston’s LGBTQ history on the streets yet.” Thanks for bringing us closer to that day!
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