Public Historian Gregory Samantha Rosenthal ★ Lesbian cat fiction and a collected past in the Roanoke LGBT Memorial Library

Identity and Action: Season one of the BOOK CITY ★ Roanoke podcast continues with Gregory Samantha Rosenthal. Dr. Rosenthal, an assistant professor of public history at Roanoke College, has led the charge in reviving and building the Roanoke LGBT Memorial Library at the Roanoke Diversity Center.

Rosenthal says they learned of the pieces of past libraries even before moving to the region in 2015. "I wanted to see it," they said. The conversation highlights the power and community benefit of individual efforts, and explores the changing roles of books and technology in identity and self exploration. "The books seem anachronistic" to young volunteers, but oral histories show just how important they were for the community in the past.

Rosenthal founded the Southwest Virginia LGBTQ+ History Project, a community-based queer public history initiative. The effort has resulted in the LGBTQ History Collection at the Virginia Room of the Roanoke Public Library, as well as a digital archive. Students and community members have recorded oral histories with LGBTQ+ elders. And the group offers monthly walking tours of Downtown Roanoke and Old Southwest, Roanoke’s historic gayborbood.