What is ‘queering’ a museum collection?

08/22/23 • 5 min

Josh Adair, Professor of English at Murray State University, explains what is meant by the term ‘queering’ and gives the background to how museums and historians can ‘queer history’. He explains they reinterpret their collections to include LGBT stories or histories of people who don’t fit the typical gender roles of the time.

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'Queering' museums

The debate sparked by reviewing historic collections through a queer or LGBT lens.

A “queering the collection” blogpost from the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth was criticised for making what some saw as tenuous links between historic objects from the ship and the experience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. Supporters of “queering” museums and galleries say it’s needed to redress a traditional approach to history that has often ignored non-heterosexual people or stories. But it’s led to controversy and criticism that some institutions have gone too far by focusing on the LGBT angle at the expense of others or imposing a modern interpretation that wouldn’t have made sense at the time.

Guests: Dominique Bouchard, Head of Learning and Interpretation at English Heritage Mary Harrington, Contributing Editor at UnHerd Jackie Stacey, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Manchester. Josh Adair, Professor of English at Murray State University

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