Public Humanities

Coordinator, Trans Histories Lab, Johns Hopkins University, 2022-present

The Trans Histories Lab supports non-extractive research related to trans history and cultural production in Baltimore and Washington DC. Coordinated by the Tabb Center and composed of grassroots organizers, artists, students, faculty, and curators, we sponsor courses, oral history initiatives, lectures, workshops, archival acquisitions, and fellowships. We are committed to collaborative knowledge production and transformative justice within and beyond the academy. 

Media, Oral Histories, and Events:

• Baltimore Queer Oral History Collection

• Read about the Tretter Transgender Oral History Project talk and workshops

• A screening of Framing Agnes at the Baltimore Museum of Art

• Learn more at the project webpage

Director, The Peabody Ballroom Experience, Oct 2018-present

The Peabody Ballroom Experience is a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and the ballroom scene, a counterpublic composed primarily of queer and trans artists of color. The project cultivates an exchange of knowledge between JHU and ballroom, bringing together faculty, students, and performers as partners in education. The project approaches performance as a repository for history and knowledge, expanding what “public history” can look and feel like. Components include film screenings, panel discussions, dance workshops, oral histories, a documentary film, and ball performance competitions at the opulent Peabody Library.

Winner, National Council on Public History's Outstanding Public History Project Award, 2023. 

Essays and Media Coverage:

• Ten-minute film profiling the project, produced by the Johns Hopkins Film & Media Studies MA program.

• “Ballroom Blitz,” Johns Hopkins HUB, Oct. 15, 2019.

• “No Glitter Allowed: Ballroom 101,” Bmore Art, Apr. 18, 2019.

• Rose Wagner, “Baltimore Was One of the First Cities to Celebrate Drag Culture,” Washington Post, June 2021.

• “Hard Histories” review by Dr. Martha S. Jones, 2023. 

Director, Winston Tabb Special Collections Research Center, Johns Hopkins University, Oct 2020-present

The Tabb Center advances original research and public humanities scholarship by connecting faculty, students, and the broader Baltimore-Washington DC community to the Sheridan Libraries special collections of rare books, manuscripts, and archives.

As director, I have launched a public humanities fellowship program, a grassroots trans oral history project in collaboration with Baltimore-based artists and activists, a public humanities postdoctoral position in collaboration with the Alexander Grass Humanities Institute. I have also organized oral history workshops and taught undergraduate community-based learning courses.

Images, Fellowships, and Media Coverage:

• “How Public Humanities Programs Break Down Barriers,” JHU HUB, Dec 19, 2023

• Student and Community Fellowships

• "Retelling Baltimore Stories," JHU Hub, May 6, 2022

• "DSAGA Explores Baltimore's Queer History," Johns Hopkins News-Letter, Oct 30, 2022

Director, San Francisco ACT UP Oral History Project, July 2017-July 2018

This project documented San Francisco’s AIDS direct action movement by recording oral histories with people who were involved in Enola Gay, the ARC/AIDS Vigil, AIDS Action Pledge, ACT UP/Golden Gate, Prevention Point, and ACT UP/San Francisco, a highly visible and influential group of militant AIDS activists associated with a national network of independent organizations that shared the name AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. ACT UP/San Francisco emerged from earlier AIDS direct-action efforts in the city starting in 1984 and remained active into the mid-1990s. Project outcomes include oral histories with ACT UP veterans; an exhibition at the GLBT History Museum; a multimedia Internet presence; and a forthcoming monograph.

Media Coverage and Oral Histories:

• “Saving the Stories of San Francisco’s ACT UP Heroes,” The Advocate, Aug 18, 2017.

• Oral histories available here.