With the start of February comes LGBT+ History Month in the UK, which was founded by the LGBT+ education charity Schools OUT in 2004. You can learn more about their history and work on their official website.

Here in the Radcliffe Camera, we have put together a display to celebrate this important period of observance, focused on the theme of ‘Science & Innovation’.

Our display covers multiple aspects of this theme: spotlighting the lives of queer scientists and other intellectuals, showcasing their work, as well as considering the harm and other discrimination LGBT+ people have faced in the medical world and beyond due to bias and prejudice or even just inadequate research. Therefore, our selection features varying topics.

You will find several biographies, as well as compiled letters, first-hand accounts and other writings from queer voices in these relevant spaces. There are stories from AIDS activists, collections of medical and social research over the years, and the published works of LGBT+ writers.

Examples include: gay rights activist Frank Kameny, an astronomer who was fired for his sexuality during the Lavender Scare; marine biologist Rachel Carson, the nature of whose relationship with Dorothy Freeman has been debated as a result of them destroying many of their letters before her death, and the contents of the correspondence that remains; Florence Nightingale and Leonardo da Vinci, two widely renowned figures who are believed to have been queer in some way.

Of course, most historic figures can only be speculated as LGBT+, given that the times and societies they lived in did not have the same standards and definitions we use today. Until recent years, it would be rare to find records of anybody identifying with specific queer terminology.

Interpretations are made based on their words and actions and relevant cultural context, and it’s important to remember that we can appreciate and identify with those that were likely queer without needing to assign strict labels. We encourage readers who are interested to have a look into these fascinating people themselves!

Books featured on the display above, from left to right:

Florence Nightingale : the woman and her legend by Mark Bostridge | The New Negro edited by Alain Locke ; with an introduction by Arnold Rampersad | Turing : pioneer of the information age by B. Jack Copeland | The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall ; with an introduction by Maureen Duffy | Silent Spring by Rachel Carson ; with an introduction by Caroline Lucas | Let the record show : a political history of ACT UP New York , 1987-1993 by Sarah Schulman | How to survive a plague : the inside story of how citizens and science tamed AIDS by David France | Before AIDS : gay health politics in the 1970s by Katie Batza | The Transgender Studies Reader 2 edited by Susan Stryker and Aren Z. Aizura | I’ll stand by you : selected letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland with narrative by Sylvia Townsend Warner ; edited by Susanna Pinney | Leonardo : the artist and the man by Serge Bramly | Generation on fire : voices of protest from the 1960s : an oral history by Jeff Kisseloff

Accessing the following e-resource materials will require a Single-Sign-On Login for Oxford University members. External readers will need to log in with their Bodleian accounts while using the Bodleian libraries network (either with a device connected to the Bodleian Libraries Wi-Fi network or using the reader PCs within the library).