Feb. 5-7 | LGBTQ Tourism in the Lowcountry - College of Charleston Libraries
The National Federation of Tourist Guide Associations’ conference begins today in Charleston, running through February 7th.
Harlan Greene, the College Libraries’ Scholar-in Residence, is among the invited speakers. He will discuss challenges facing the city’s tourism industry as it strives towards inclusiveness.
“The city of Charleston makes millions of dollars off of tourism and has an expanding gay population of tourists,” Greene said. “But there is only one program in the city that is actively documenting LGBTQ life and history that can be used not just for educational purposes, but for economic ones as well.”
Through Special Collections’ LGBTQ life in the Lowcountry project, Greene and colleagues work to save and share the stories of these oft-forgotten individuals.
“For too long history has been an exclusive club in Charleston.”
The project collects oral histories and physical materials documenting LGBTQ life from before the Civil War to the present.
The first of its kind in the region, the project was seeded with a $200,000 grant from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation and now relies on private support to continue its mission.
To sign up for an oral history, donate your materials, or support the project, click here.
