Richmond has a longstanding history of queer sports teams.

While Stonewall Sports is one of the predominant LGBTQ+ social groups in Richmond today, there were local queer kickball and softball leagues going as far back as the streetcar days of the 1940s. Many of those early games were played at Humphrey Calder Field in the Museum District.

Since queer history is not the stuff of local history lessons, it can be challenging to know where to start researching previously hidden history. To address that, the Library of Virginia will offer a research workshop Sept. 28 on “Uncovering Queer History.”

Leading the workshop will be Blake McDonald, the grants and survey specialist at the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and significantly, since 2016 the coordinator of DHR’s LGBTQ+ heritage initiative. Joining him is Amanda Davis, project manager with the New York City LGBTQ Historic Sites Project. At the workshop, they’ll discuss their work documenting and uncovering queer history and queer spaces and share their approach to queer research, from resources and tips to overcoming obstacles.

DHR’s LGBTQ+ heritage initiative began in 2015 following the release of the National Park Service’s LGBTQ heritage theme study.

Initially, the purpose of the group was to use the theme study as a guide to begin identifying Virginia’s LGBTQ+ historic resources and sharing those underrepresented narratives through program areas. “Over the last nine years, we’ve recorded over a hundred places in the Commonwealth with connections to our queer past,” McDonald says. “We’ve convened scholars from across the state working on this topic, and shared information through presentations, walking tours, and by tabling at Virginia Pridefest.”

While the workshop was the brainchild of Library of Virginia staff members, McDonald sees it as being offered not a moment too soon given how rapidly the field of LGBTQ+ historical research is expanding.

The array of new sources available make it possible finally for LGBTQ+ people to look to the past to understand who they are in the present. “Every community deserves to know their history. I never saw queer perspectives represented as a young gay person visiting museums or historic sites, and that was a really isolating experience,” he says. “This work endeavors to strengthen LGBTQ+ identities by showing that queer people have always existed, and providing tangible evidence of this presence by uplifting places where LGBTQ+ history happened across Virginia.”

While it may not be common knowledge, Richmond has a rich queer past and thanks to the city’s longstanding commitment to historic preservation, many of the spaces that embody these stories still exist. A major overlooked queer Richmond hero is Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the renowned singer known as the “Godmother of Rock & Roll.”

Tharpe lived in Richmond at the height of her career and her Northside home still stands on Barton Avenue. “Tharpe’s bisexuality was an open secret, and she was romantically linked to singer Marie Knight, who lived with her in Richmond for many years,” McDonald says. “Tharpe loved Richmond and played a free concert at the Mosque Theater [now Altria Theater] in 1949 to celebrate the second anniversary of her time here.”

Major music figures aside, there are challenges to uncovering queer history and queer spaces. All research takes time, but LGBTQ+ historical research requires an extra dose of patience and resourcefulness. “You often rely on nontraditional source materials, which might include rumors, word-of-mouth, or even police arrest records,” McDonald explains. “LGBTQ+ people haven’t been able to live openly for fear of discrimination, and queer narratives have been purposefully erased by those trying to hide our existence. So we lack the type of historical record you find in other communities.”

Not surprisingly, the biggest challenge when researching queer history is knowing where to look for information and figuring out how to access it. As an underrepresented history, source material is often still scattered and difficult to locate. At the workshop, Library of Virginia staff members will present information on collection resources available for learning more about queer history. Participants will have time to ask questions concerning their own research and browse identified resources.

The Department of Historic Resources’ primary goal with the LGBTQ+ heritage initiative is to make the information they’ve gathered available to the public so that it can engage, inform and support additional work on the topic. Now that they’ve developed a rich inventory of LGBTQ+ historic places across Virginia, they’re hoping to expand their identification effort by encouraging the designation of queer places on the National Register of Historic Places, and through their historical highway marker program.

In the meantime, those with an interest in LGBTQ+ history are invited to attend the free workshop and learn how to best research previously hidden history.

“I’m hoping that this workshop inspires more LGBTQ historical research by providing tools and resources to help folks begin their own projects,” McDonald says. “Every new effort to raise awareness about queer history highlights our presence and our belonging in the past, present, and future.”

“Research Workshop: Uncovering Queer History” will be held on Saturday, Sept. 28 at 2:30 p.m. at the Library of Virginia, 800 E. Broad St. Registration required