About the Project
Documenting Desire: Queer Longings at Smith College explores historical queer desire at Smith College in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, depicted through student memorabilia books, diary entries, and letters stored in the College Archives. Materials are featured from several students during this time period, highlighting the ways in which they discussed and chronicled lesbian life, romantic feelings, and crushes while attending Smith.
A Note on Language
While the sexualities of these students were never explicitly stated, the terms “queer” and “lesbian” are used throughout this project to refer to the desire towards other women that these Smith students expressed. Had they existed in the present day, there’s a range of different ways that they could have identified in terms of sexuality and/or gender identity, but in the 1880s, these women did not use specific labels or identities to categorize their desires.1 Just the fact that these desires are documented, despite the having the words or a full understanding of them at the time, is an important addition to LGBTQ+ history.
Author’s Note & Background
Hi! My name is Isabel Aragon, Smith College Class of 2023–I am a part of the Archives Concentration, as well as a double major in the Study of Women & Gender and Film & Media Studies.
Journaling has been an integral part of the formation of my own lesbian identity, particularly in the mid-late 2010s. As a lesbian Smithie who has kept my own journals since age ten, I am particularly interested in this documentation of desire and formation of potential lesbian identity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries at a historically women’s college, which is why I chose this topic for my Archives Concentration capstone project.
If you feel like hearing more about this project/my archives discoveries:
My archives & libraries Instagram account: @isabel.inthearchives
Spotify playlist with songs that remind me of these 19th & 20th century (potentially) queer Smithies 🙂
Acknowledgements
Lastly, I wanted to extend a huge thank you to everyone who has helped me to complete this capstone project–Kelly Anderson, Sydney Nguyen, Becca Keyel, Nanci Young, Travis Grandy, Bena Williams, and all of the Smith College Special Collections student workers.
And to my friends and family, for both tolerating and supporting my constant obsession with these Smithies of the past.
References
- Martha Vicinus. Intimate Friends: Women Who Loved Women. (University of Chicago Press, 2004), xix.
- Page from Elizabeth Katharine Rusk’s memorabilia book, Early 20th Century, CA-MS-01018, Box 1894.7, Classes of 1911-1920 records, Smith College Archives, Northampton, Massachusetts.