Join us Saturday, March 2, from 1pm-4pm for the 7th Annual Transylvania Liberal Arts + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon!

For the last seven years, Transylvania University students, faculty, staff, and community members have come together to collaboratively edit Wikipedia to increase the presence of people from marginalized communities on the online encyclopedia. This year, Transylvania University is partnering with the Faulkner Morgan Archive to collectively add the histories of LGBTQIA+ Kentuckians to Wikipedia!

Editors of all experience levels are welcome to join, and we will provide training materials, research guidance, and snacks as we engage the collective power of collaborative history writing.

Faulkner Morgan Archive invites you to join us as we celebrate Henry Faulkner's 100th Birthday!! Kentucky Poet Laureate and FMA Board Member Silas House will be reading the poetry of Henry Faulkner.

🗓️ Sunday, January 7
⏰ 3:30pm-5:30pm
📍 21C Museum Hotel

This free event will feature live music, hors d’oeuvres, a cash bar, and a pop-up Henry exhibit! Come learn about the archive, Henry’s legacy, and his impact on Lexington’s LGBTQ+ history as we celebrate! This fundraising event is free and open to the public, but please consider a donation to support our mission. 💚🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

We will also be unveiling our most ambitious campaign yet to save and share Kentucky's LGBTQ+ history!

Join the Facebook Event! https://fb.me/e/9vkU3II6U

Join us for a Gallery Talk at Institute 193 on October 19th at 6:30 PM with Bob Morgan, Dr. Jonathan Coleman, Paul Brown, and Cooper Gibson.

A SPECIAL, ONE-TIME-ONLY SCREENING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH INSTITUTE 193

Q&A with the filmmaker

Filmmaker Jean Donohue unravels the story of an underground gay, gender bending Lexington community rooted in the Civil War and on a continuum from closeted Old South homosexual society, 1960s gay liberation, and the ecstatic 1970s to the grip of fear at the rise of the religious right and AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. In 1970, as Old World Southern gay culture was changing, enter The Pagan Babies, a loose group of artists and drag queens who set out to challenge the hierarchical homosexual society with guerrilla theater and fantastic costumes. Before Robert Mapplethorpe's infamous photos, there was R. Michael Walker and John Ashley who documented the Pagan Babies.

Institute 193 is pleased to co-host the film The Last Gospel of Pagan Babies, presented in tandem with the publication of the book Pagan Babies by the Faulkner Morgan Archive and Institute 193 and distributed by the University Press of Kentucky.

A look at Lexington's LGBT history.

For LGBT History Month, join us for a showing of The Last Gospel of the Pagan Babies. Presented by the Lexington Public Library, the Faulkner Morgan Archive, and Institute 193.

An event 50 years in the making! A publication like no other.

In Robert Morgan, John Denny Ashley found his archetypal sexual outlaw, and in Ashley, Morgan discovered an artistic collaborator worthy of documenting the free-spirited, sexually adventurous rebels of the American South. Together, they brought forth a collective work that serves as a bracing testament to Morgan’s baroque imagination and Ashley’s talent for breathing life into his vision.

The result is this book. At last.

Join us as we celebrate the publication of Pagan Babies at INSTITUTE 193, September 14, 2023, 5-9pm.

Purchase your limited-edition copy.

We are grateful to the John Burton Harter Foundation for their generous support of this publication and exhibit.

Join us as we show the iconic film, The Last Gospel of the Pagan Babies at UK! Come and watch the unfolding of 150 years of local queer history. After the film, there will be a talkback where we will discuss queer performance art, drag, LGTBQ history in Lexington, and photos/videos as tools for preservation.

This event is free and open to the public!
Where: William T. Young Auditorium
When: Monday, April 10 from 6pm-8:30pm

Before the exhibition, check out "Here, Black, Femme, & Queer" at the Little Fine Arts Library!

One of Kentucky’s most famous artists, Henry Faulkner can also show us the fascinating history of LGBTQ Kentucky. Join us for light refreshments, a fun talk, and a rare chance to see some of Faulkner’s most cherished possessions.

Tickets are $5 and may be purchased at the door or in advance by clicking here.

The Paul Sawyier Public Library will host Dr. Jonathan Coleman of the Faulkner Morgan Archive as he presents an LGBTQ history of Kentucky, including artifacts, photos, and stories from the FMA collection.

Dr. Coleman is the Co-founder and President of the Faulkner Morgan Archive, Inc., a nonprofit that saves and shares the LGBTQ history of Kentucky. His first book, Anywhere, Together: A Queer History of Kentucky, is forthcoming from the University Press of Kentucky.

Please register at https://bit.ly/psplFromTheArchive to receive a link to this virtual event. For more information, contact Diane Dehoney at diane@pspl.org.

The Country returns, but for one night only!

Let’s celebrate The Country, Lexington’s first lesbian bar. Join us for a happy hour at The Lexington Diner (on the premises of The Country). Enjoy free hors d'oeuvres, a cash bar, and a disco playlist inspired by the bar’s famous jukebox. Best of all, meet friends old and new who love Kentucky’s LGBTQ History!

For the past year, Faulkner Morgan Archive has collected oral histories from The Country, Lexington’s first lesbian bar. We’ll have exciting new artifacts and stories to share that chronicle the important history of this space.

Opened in 1978 in a suburban strip mall, The Country was a hub of lesbian-feminist community making in Central Kentucky. 38 years after it closed, The Country remains a storied place in the LGBTQ history of the Commonwealth. More than a bar, The Country was a haven for queer women to find lovers, develop friendships, and organize for social and political change.

Celebrate while you socially distance! This event will take place outside on the patio of The Lexington Diner.

Thanks to The Lexington Diner for sponsoring The Country: A Celebration!

The Country: Remembering Lexington’s First Lesbian Bar is made possible thanks to funding by the Kentucky Oral History Commission.

Join Dr. Jonathan Coleman—co-founder of the Faulkner Morgan Archive, Inc., and author of the upcoming book Anywhere, Together: A Queer History of Kentucky—to explore the rich history of the LGBTQ community in the Commonwealth. During his presentation, Dr. Coleman will share several notable artifacts from the Archive’s collection. Then, after the opening discussion, we will open up for questions from members of our Facebook Live audience.

Enjoy the live presentation from the comfort of home via the BULLITT COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY page on Facebook. Can’t make it for the live event? That’s fine, too. The discussion will remain online to view, share, and enjoy.

Join us virtually as we team up with the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation for a special Pride Month deTour. FMA Director Dr. Jonathan Coleman hosts as we explore the history of some significant sites for Lexington’s LGBTQ community. These locations served a pivotal role as places for community, refuge, and celebration. 

If you would like to learn more about the historic structures of Lexington’s LGBTQ community, check out the recently released issue of Preservation Matters for Dr. Jonathan Coleman’s article Out of the Closet, Into the Streets: Lexington's LGBTQ Places.

Watch the tour by clicking here.

The Faulkner Morgan Archive and The History Project invite you to explore the Kentucky-Massachusetts LGBTQ connection with CD Collins.

CD Collins is a writer and spoken-word artist. She is the frontwoman and songwriter/storyteller in the band Rockabetty, a group influenced by country, bluegrass, blues, and jazz. This event will include a performance piece by CD, a joint interview with Joan Ilacqua, Executive Director of The History Project, and Jon Coleman, Executive Director of Faulkner Morgan Archive, and an opportunity for the audience to ask questions.

RSVP on Eventbrite, link to the Zoom will be sent out the day of the event. Email info@historyproject.org with any questions. For security purposes, Zoom meetings require an authenticated Zoom account, so please be sure to register with Zoom prior to the event.

This event is free and open to the public, any donations made will be split between The History Project and the Faulkner Morgan Archive. Thank you for your support!

RSVP here

Join FMA Co-founder, Dr. Jonathan Coleman, as part of the Southeastern Museums Conference for this lively, applicable, virtual panel discussion. Small groups will be given real-life scenarios from museum experiences and will be challenged to think creatively and brainstorm ideas to find a solution to the scenario. This collaborative, hands on session will provide a space for exploring ways to include diverse, sometimes conflicting, voices when building a public history platform.

Registration with the Southeastern Museum Conference required. To register for this event click here. Registration ends on September 6th.

Faulkner Morgan Archive, Inc. is proud to announce a call to artists for the Lexington LGBTQ History Mural. The Lexington LGBTQ History Mural Committee will select one winning design. The selected artist will receive a $500 design stipend and $2,500 for the execution of the mural, totaling $3,000. The artist and FMA may choose 1-3 assistants to help the lead artist, with an honorarium of $1,500 total. FMA will provide the materials for the project.

Application Requirements: Resume/CV, Project Description, Images (maximum of six)

Submissions due July 15, 2020

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE CALL TO ARTISTS PACKET

Pride of Place is Lexington's new self-guided LGBTQ history tour! Help us celebrate on June 25th, from 6pm-7:30pm. Grab your free copy of the walking tour at our table on East Main Street (we'll be outside the Kentucky Theatre), and explore the sites where your history happened!

From 6:00pm-7:30pm, special guests will be stationed outside of each stop ready to share even more stories and insights.

Show your pride while you social distance! This event takes place completely outside. Do the tour at your own pace and in your own order.

Join Dr. Jonathan Coleman—co-founder of the Faulkner Morgan Archive, Inc., and author of the upcoming book Anywhere, Together: A Queer History of Kentucky—to explore the rich history of the LGBTQ community in the Commonwealth. During his presentation, Dr. Coleman will share several notable artifacts from the Archive’s collection. Then, after the opening discussion, we will open up for questions from members of our Facebook Live audience.

Enjoy the live presentation from the comfort of home via the Bullitt County Public Library page on Facebook. Can’t make it for the live event? That’s fine, too. The discussion will remain online to view, share, and enjoy.

Join the Faulkner Morgan Archive as we explore Kevin Lane Dearinger's new memoir, Bad Sex in Kentucky, at the Lexington Public Library's Farish Theater. Sitting down with FMA President, Dr. Jonathan Coleman, Dearinger will rift on his experiences as a young, gay, Catholic man growing up in Central Kentucky, his recent return to his home state, and his new role as a memoir writer of sex and identity in Kentucky.

Farish Theater is in the Central Branch of Lexington Public Library, 140 East Main Street, Lexington, 40507

Bad Sex in Kentucky is Dearinger's latest book, published by Rabbit House Press in November 2019. To learn more and to purchase the book, visit rabbithousepress.com/product-page/bad-sex-in-kentucky