The National Park Service has awarded the Providence Preservation Society nearly $75K “to research sites associated with LGBTQ+ history and to nominate a location for the registration over the next two years,” according to The Providence Journal.
Reports The Providence Journal:
“There are thousands of sites in Rhode Island that are on the national register,” said PPS Executive Director Marisa Brown. “But there is not one that was listed solely because of its history and relationship to LGBTQ+ histories.”
In collaboration with the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission (RIHPHC), PPS will build on existing efforts to document LGBTQ+ history that’s systematically underrepresented in the archival world and on the National Register.
The grant will pay for hiring a consultant with relevant research experience and for surveying up to 50 properties. This means researching the sites’ histories and documenting their locations and current appearances. The project will launch in March and go through October 2027.
“It really is early to say what might make the cut, but the kinds of properties that we probably are going to find ourselves looking at could be places associated with organizations of significance to the LGBTQ civil rights movement,” said RIHPHC Deputy Director Joanna Doherty. “They could be gathering places where people found community over the years, like a pub, or a bar or a residence where a lot of queer people lived or the route of the first gay pride march, which was in 1976.”
Brown and Doherty both noted that one of the project’s first phases will involve community engagement and hearing directly from people with lived experiences.
Read the complete story in The Providence Journal here.
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