New toolkit provides advice on integrating queer narratives in heritage spaces

A new guide has been launched to support heritage workers on how to introduce queer narratives to heritage sites.

How to Queer Your Historic House has been created by freelance researcher, writer and heritage professional Indigo Dunphy-Smith and builds on her experiences to curate helpful guidance on how queer narratives can be introduced to historic houses, even where there are no direct or obvious links to queer history.

Dunphy-Smith’s guide sets out a three-step method, though she emphasised during the toolkit's launch that telling queer narratives authentically meant remaining flexible.

“Queer history is not a single narrative,” she said during the guide’s online launch. “The toolkit supports an intersectional approach that reflects the complexity and diversity of queer lives in the past and today.”

The toolkit's method takes readers through Dunphy-Smith's own practice at The Georgian House in Edinburgh, emphasising wider social context, situating objects in the cultural context and bringing in direct or indirect relationships to queer individuals through these objects. 

Her advice for application addresses many common pitfalls in how queer narratives have been dealt with, including existing biases such as the “straight until proven gay” mindset and an overemphasis on “proof” of queerness.

By incorporating wider narratives of community, self-expression and social context, the toolkit encourages sites to take a more nuanced examination of queer history.

“Historic houses are not isolated; they are part of local landscapes and communities," Dunphy-Smith said, "The toolkit encourages linking the site to broader queer stories in the area. In doing so, the property becomes a platform for community memory.”

The toolkit has been endorsed by Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS).

Ellie Muniandy, senior museum development manager at MGS, said: “How to Queer Your Historic House offers heritage workers a range of approaches which will help them to tell more diverse and representative stories about the past. 

“The aims of Indigo’s fantastic guide align with our ambition for Scotland’s museums and galleries to achieve LGBTQ+ equity across their work.

"Our endorsement follows our recent survey on LGBTQ+ representation in the museum sector, which highlighted that museum organisations are seeking resources which will help them to build their knowledge and confidence in this area.” 

The toolkit has been supported by the Queer Heritage and Collections Network. More information is available online at Dunphy-Smith’s website, A Queer Was Here.