The Histories We Hold:
Self-fashioning Queer Community

A day-long celebration of the activists and artists who have made Westchester queer!

April 26, 2025
The Loft LGBTQ+ Community Center, White Plains, NY

The Histories We Hold was curated by members of my “Queering the Library” practicum course at Sarah Lawrence College in collaboration with the Westchester LGBTQ+ History Project from 1:00pm-5:30pm at the Loft LGBT+ Community Center.

Event Highlights:

  • Archival scan-a-thon: bring documents and photos to digitize

  • Black-out-poetry, buttons, and zine-making using archival documents from Westchester history  

  • Traveling altar installation honoring our LGBTQ+ ancestors, with live portraits and polaroid statement

  • Westchester in Their Own Words exhibit featuring the Westchester LGBTQ+ history project

  • Oral histories with The Carabiner Project

From 3-4:30pm, a star-studded panel discussed the diverse ways we have used fashion, art, and performance to thrive, featuring:

  • Artist Shanequa Benitez, 

  • Author Haley Jakobson, 

  • Historian Allee Manning, and 

  • Journalist Dennis Richmond, Jr.

From 9pm-late, Sarah Lawrence’s Scandal Revue burlesque troupe and Drag Union performed at Mazzy’s Bar. 

The Histories We Hold was produced with generous support from Sarah Lawrence College, the Endeavor Foundation, and the Yonkers Public Library.