For nearly a decade, the Missouri Historical Society has been amassing objects, oral histories, and other ephemera to tell the story of LGBTQ+ St. Louisans. Now, this collection is finally getting its time in the spotlight.
Beginning June 8, the Missouri History Museum will open the exhibit Gateway to Pride. It is one part of the MHS’s larger Gateway to Pride Initiative, which seeks to remedy the omission of LGBTQ+ history in the MHS collections.
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“The Missouri History Museum has been around for more than 150 years, and for all that time it’s been the custodian of the history of the St. Louis region,” says Ian Darnell, the museum’s assistant curator of LGBTQIA+ Collections. “But until recently the Missouri History Museum didn’t really do a good job of sharing [LGBTQ+] stories. This [exhibition] is a way of addressing that oversight and really making sure we’re telling a truer, more complete history of St. Louis.”
The upcoming exhibit, which will remain on view through July 6 of next year, tells the story of St. Louis’ LGBTQ+ community and history through a wide array of artifacts, including wedding outfits, periodicals, protest signs, flags, photographs, and items gathered from bars and nightclubs. A highlight among the items on display is a first edition copy of The Story of a Life. Written in 1901 by a St. Louisan who went by the pseudonym “Claude Heartland,” it is recognized as the first American autobiography of a gay man. The publication will be brought to life by an accompanying media installation featuring performed excerpts from the book, photographs of locales mentioned in the account, and an imagined portrait of the author.
Darnell emphasizes that while the local LGBTQ+ community should certainly be excited to see the stories of their elders and contemporaries reflected in the museum’s galleries, Gateway to Pride offers something for everyone.
“I hope that [visitors] learn that St. Louis is a more complicated, exciting, and, in some ways, challenging place than some people might expect,” says Darnell. “I hope that they learn that LGBTQIA+ people have, for a long time, been making space for themselves in the city. They’re a part of St. Louis’ story, and you can’t really understand the history of this place without taking into account the LGBTQIA+ experience.”
Living History
Gateway to Pride summer events offer chances to learn, listen, and let loose.
June 6: “5 On Your Side” Pride Special
June 8: Cuentos en el Museo
June 8 & 9: Gateway to Pride Opening Weekend Celebration
June 15: Yoga + Pride at the Missouri History Museum
June 27: Queer Writes
June 29: See STL: Gay Liberation in the Gateway City
August 1: Rainbow Restaurants
