Outing the Past at Charleston


Fun day at Charleston Farmhouse exploring hidden aspects of LGBT+ history as part of the Outing the Past an international celebration of the subject.

I went to three of the talks starting with Jane Traies, telling the story of a possible Lesbian love triangle in Sussex, and not part of the Bloomsbury Group. She was a super speaker leading us to conclusions and them subverting what she’d told us. It was an interesting study in how we often can’t always know people’s stories from the past and whether we should of draw conclusions with modern sensibilities.

Next was Andrew Lumsden talking about how the Labouchere family both enable Forster to wrote and held him back. I found this a bit tenuous but still fascinating to learn more about Forster, a regular visitor at Charleston.

Finally I went to hear Dan Vo talk about queer curating in museums and galleries. Vo leads queer tours of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum and the National Museum of Wales. He talked about hidden stories he’s found and how he works with volunteers to develop these tours. I’ll definitely be looking out for the V&A one.

I also fitted in a queer tour of the house. I’ve been round the house a number of times but it was interesting to hear the story told from a slightly different viewpoint although to be honest, if you are a Bloomsbury nut like me, there wasn’t much that was new. Still it was an opportunity to go round with a different audience and our guide was fun and knowledgeable.


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