Please join The History Project and Historic New England for a lecture about early 20th century lifelong female partnership.

A surprising number of turn-of-the-twentieth-century professional women joined together in lifelong female partnership. The explanation for this trend can be found in a combination of feminism, gender realities of marriage, work, and public space, and same-sex desire. Not all of these relationships had a sexual  component, but many did. All of them offered an interrogation of the choices available to women at the time and created socially acceptable space for women who were sexually involved to be together free of over censure. 

Susan Ferentinos, PhD, is a public history researcher, writer, and consultant helping cultural organizations share untold stories about women and LGBTQ people. She has recently worked with the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford, Connecticut, and the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site in Hyde Park, New York. She is the author of the award-winning book Interpreting LGBT History at Museums and Historic Sites.

Advance tickets are required, please RSVP with Historic New England. Please call 617-994-6678 for more information. 

The link for the webinar will be included in the order confirmation for this program.

"Polly Porter-Dewson at the wheel'" photo courtesy of Castine Historical Society