Amelia Smith
@nturavrgcistory.bsky.social
Transgender Museum Professional
Bridging the Gap Between Trans Studies and Museum Studies
https://linktr.ee/notyouraveragecistory
She/Her
Bridging the Gap Between Trans Studies and Museum Studies
https://linktr.ee/notyouraveragecistory
She/Her
So incredibly grateful that I got to attend the book launch for the new edition of Gendertrash from Hell. The energy fills me with so much emotion that it is difficult to put into words. Excited to finally read Gendertrash as well, now that I have a physical copy! A read is long overdue.
November 13, 2025 at 3:42 AM
So incredibly grateful that I got to attend the book launch for the new edition of Gendertrash from Hell. The energy fills me with so much emotion that it is difficult to put into words. Excited to finally read Gendertrash as well, now that I have a physical copy! A read is long overdue.
I love buying used books because it often means I'll get a small inscription from the previous owner. Like a thread connecting queer communities across time.
October 17, 2025 at 10:54 AM
I love buying used books because it often means I'll get a small inscription from the previous owner. Like a thread connecting queer communities across time.
When you go to a wedding next to a railway museum, you are obligated to get some photos on the trains.
October 5, 2025 at 12:04 AM
When you go to a wedding next to a railway museum, you are obligated to get some photos on the trains.
Got a big interview which could take me to the other side of the world, but requires business attire. Wish me luck! And hopefully I don't melt, considering it is supposed to feel like 38° all day 😅
August 10, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Got a big interview which could take me to the other side of the world, but requires business attire. Wish me luck! And hopefully I don't melt, considering it is supposed to feel like 38° all day 😅
Checking my website's analytics and saw someone supposedly came from German Wikipedia? Am I linked on a German wikipedia page or something??? I know the tracking for Weebly is often very wrong, but I am so curious about this.
July 21, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Checking my website's analytics and saw someone supposedly came from German Wikipedia? Am I linked on a German wikipedia page or something??? I know the tracking for Weebly is often very wrong, but I am so curious about this.
Historian at work!
July 13, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Historian at work!
All set up at Peel Pride to take about queer and trans history! Brought a bunch of my personal library to show off and chat!
July 12, 2025 at 5:31 PM
All set up at Peel Pride to take about queer and trans history! Brought a bunch of my personal library to show off and chat!
A few suggestions that I don't think I saw amongst your shelves.
July 6, 2025 at 1:10 PM
A few suggestions that I don't think I saw amongst your shelves.
This isn't connected to Sargent but I just adore this comment.
![Trevor Fairbrother: Has your background in advertising made it easier to do portraits, because in one sense they're like products?
Andy Warhol: Well, I just did shoes. When you worked in an advertising agency did you write better dialogue -- better copy -- after you left?
[TF: Warhol knows I've not worked in advertising]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:njvlerdm2waq5lvqum2bdfeh/bafkreiaidlvfkptrjmxasf2botls4tgqfsuwkzahc4imcklj7zusmke6ue@jpeg)
June 30, 2025 at 11:47 AM
This isn't connected to Sargent but I just adore this comment.
Thinking once again about the time Andy Warhol toured a John Singer Sargent exhibition in 1986 and absolutely read Sargent's gay ass.
Happy Pride Month!
(Trevor Fairbrother, "Warhol Meets Sargent at Whitney" Art Magazine no. 61, February 1987)
Happy Pride Month!
(Trevor Fairbrother, "Warhol Meets Sargent at Whitney" Art Magazine no. 61, February 1987)
![Trevor Fairbrother: Well that's what they say -- it's a study for one of his mural projects.
Bodyguard: I think he liked the guys though.
Andy Warhol: What are you trying to say? That's a gang-bang, why did he paint that? [Hell]
TF: It's a study of the final composition for a mural in a public library.
AW: But it was never done, right?
TF: No, it was. It's in Boston. Can you believe that?](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:njvlerdm2waq5lvqum2bdfeh/bafkreifllk3dgvkieho7w7lajsvoq7yeykyszluk6chvwgud5226m5mqna@jpeg)
![Title: Charles Stuart Forbes, 1889 (Fig. 11), and Henry Cabot Lodge, 1890
Andy Warhol: God, that's beautiful. [Reads Sargent inscription on painting] "To my friend Forbes." Oh!
Bodyguard: {Reading Whitney's wall label] He was "a close friend of Sargent's cousin Ralph Curtis."
AW: What does that mean? You know that story don't you? Wouldn't it be a good thing for you to go through, since you're a historian, to go through to find if any of these people were his true friends.
Trevor Fairbrother: When he died his sisters destroyed his papers.
AW: Oh, you mean they were hot?
TF: I don't know.
AW: Why would they destroy his letters?
TF: I don't know.
AW: WHy can't you ask? -- I mean people talk. Why hasn't anybody](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:njvlerdm2waq5lvqum2bdfeh/bafkreigkttdvy5tnrqomplelodjhammehgn23ej2butthqzd4lyk56cwmi@jpeg)
June 30, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Thinking once again about the time Andy Warhol toured a John Singer Sargent exhibition in 1986 and absolutely read Sargent's gay ass.
Happy Pride Month!
(Trevor Fairbrother, "Warhol Meets Sargent at Whitney" Art Magazine no. 61, February 1987)
Happy Pride Month!
(Trevor Fairbrother, "Warhol Meets Sargent at Whitney" Art Magazine no. 61, February 1987)
Went through some microfilm for research and managed to find exactly what I was looking for! From February 1972 in Guerilla newspaper.
June 14, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Went through some microfilm for research and managed to find exactly what I was looking for! From February 1972 in Guerilla newspaper.
I do have a copy of Out of the Closets though! Maybe my most prized book in my collection, next to Becoming Visible.
June 1, 2025 at 5:49 PM
I do have a copy of Out of the Closets though! Maybe my most prized book in my collection, next to Becoming Visible.
Internet seems to be out, so I guess time to do more reading. Started this autobiography about Canada's first gay activist this morning.
May 21, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Internet seems to be out, so I guess time to do more reading. Started this autobiography about Canada's first gay activist this morning.
The more you read into trans history in the 1960s, the more it all connects back to Reed Erickson in some way. It is actually fascinating.
For example, Dianna Boileau connected with Dr. Leo Wollman through the EEF. Dianna would become the Clarke Institute GIC's first patient.
For example, Dianna Boileau connected with Dr. Leo Wollman through the EEF. Dianna would become the Clarke Institute GIC's first patient.
April 16, 2025 at 12:18 PM
The more you read into trans history in the 1960s, the more it all connects back to Reed Erickson in some way. It is actually fascinating.
For example, Dianna Boileau connected with Dr. Leo Wollman through the EEF. Dianna would become the Clarke Institute GIC's first patient.
For example, Dianna Boileau connected with Dr. Leo Wollman through the EEF. Dianna would become the Clarke Institute GIC's first patient.
For Trans Day of Visibility, I want to highlight this photograph I found recently. It comes from 1972, inside The Body Politics' first offices. TBP was a major force of gay liberationist politics in Canada, and this was where it started. And on the wall is a poster for a trans event.
March 31, 2025 at 4:50 PM
For Trans Day of Visibility, I want to highlight this photograph I found recently. It comes from 1972, inside The Body Politics' first offices. TBP was a major force of gay liberationist politics in Canada, and this was where it started. And on the wall is a poster for a trans event.
Got to give a talk on Trans History last night for a group in Peel region! Talked about research I've been doing into Canada's first trans organization, the Association of Canadian Transsexuals.
March 29, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Got to give a talk on Trans History last night for a group in Peel region! Talked about research I've been doing into Canada's first trans organization, the Association of Canadian Transsexuals.
Two more books to add to my library! And I just so happened to meet Donald McLeod while at the ArQuives today!
March 25, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Two more books to add to my library! And I just so happened to meet Donald McLeod while at the ArQuives today!
Currently doing some research which involves reading through issues of The Body Politic, and couldn't help but think about how relevant the last paragraphs are right now.
The pink triangle as "a symbol of the history that other hands have tried to obliterate, the history that we must recover."
The pink triangle as "a symbol of the history that other hands have tried to obliterate, the history that we must recover."
March 5, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Currently doing some research which involves reading through issues of The Body Politic, and couldn't help but think about how relevant the last paragraphs are right now.
The pink triangle as "a symbol of the history that other hands have tried to obliterate, the history that we must recover."
The pink triangle as "a symbol of the history that other hands have tried to obliterate, the history that we must recover."
What I find really interesting here is the additional footage of Dianna that I have not seen shared elsewhere. She is viewed, somewhat erroneously, as Canada's first "sex change patient" and even has a plaque dedicated to her in Fort Frances where she was a resident.
February 23, 2025 at 4:49 PM
What I find really interesting here is the additional footage of Dianna that I have not seen shared elsewhere. She is viewed, somewhat erroneously, as Canada's first "sex change patient" and even has a plaque dedicated to her in Fort Frances where she was a resident.
According to the Erickson Educational Foundation Newsletter from Fall 1973, the film is supposed to be 18 minutes long and include a "step-by-step process of actual surgery performed". This sequence is missing from the above video.
February 23, 2025 at 4:49 PM
According to the Erickson Educational Foundation Newsletter from Fall 1973, the film is supposed to be 18 minutes long and include a "step-by-step process of actual surgery performed". This sequence is missing from the above video.
My holy grail is one of these buttons. There's a few reproductions online, but a vintage one would be incredible.
There's a really good letter from the protests in Any Other Way: How Toronto Got Queer. Called "Out of the Cold, the Thousands Came". Highly recommend it if you want to learn more!
There's a really good letter from the protests in Any Other Way: How Toronto Got Queer. Called "Out of the Cold, the Thousands Came". Highly recommend it if you want to learn more!
February 20, 2025 at 2:10 PM
My holy grail is one of these buttons. There's a few reproductions online, but a vintage one would be incredible.
There's a really good letter from the protests in Any Other Way: How Toronto Got Queer. Called "Out of the Cold, the Thousands Came". Highly recommend it if you want to learn more!
There's a really good letter from the protests in Any Other Way: How Toronto Got Queer. Called "Out of the Cold, the Thousands Came". Highly recommend it if you want to learn more!
A couple primary sources I managed to find. The Toronto Public Library has a poster for the Sept seminar, and the ArQuives has previously digitized an ACT pamphlet. The EEF article mentions a Toronto Star column, but I have yet to find that.
digitalexhibitions.arquives.ca/files/origin...
digitalexhibitions.arquives.ca/files/origin...
February 19, 2025 at 9:51 PM
A couple primary sources I managed to find. The Toronto Public Library has a poster for the Sept seminar, and the ArQuives has previously digitized an ACT pamphlet. The EEF article mentions a Toronto Star column, but I have yet to find that.
digitalexhibitions.arquives.ca/files/origin...
digitalexhibitions.arquives.ca/files/origin...
I've never had such a fancy interview that I was given sparkling water and a wine glass when I asked for some water!
January 22, 2025 at 6:25 PM
I've never had such a fancy interview that I was given sparkling water and a wine glass when I asked for some water!
Are any other trans scholars getting pestered on linkedin about this random conference in India? It all seems so sketchy, especially considering how the person that contacted me won't take my rejection as an answer.
January 3, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Are any other trans scholars getting pestered on linkedin about this random conference in India? It all seems so sketchy, especially considering how the person that contacted me won't take my rejection as an answer.
After much finagling all morning, I finally have my CD copy of Civ 3 running on my computer! Very excited to lose the next days in nostalgia.
December 21, 2024 at 4:57 PM
After much finagling all morning, I finally have my CD copy of Civ 3 running on my computer! Very excited to lose the next days in nostalgia.