For Release: Immediately
PHILADELPHIA, May 14, 2019—Around the country, June is recognized as Pride Month in honor of the history and impact of the LGBTQ+ community. At The Rosenbach we are hosting a special series of Hands-On Tours during the month of June. Hands-On Tours allow visitors unparalleled access to rare and important items in The Rosenbach’s collections that are not usually on view to the public. Coming in June: 19th Century Gay Lives, or, Love Revealed; Love Letters; and 20th Century Lesbian and Gay Lives. Full details below.
Hands-On Tour: 19th Century Gay Lives, or, Love Revealed on Wednesday, June 5 and Wednesday, June 26 from 6:30-8:00 p.m. Bold, cautious, resolved, ambivalent, and sometimes all of the above, gay men of the 19th century strove for authentic identities in art, literature, and love. In this Hands-on Tour, we’ll look at the rise and fall of Oscar Wilde, follow John Addington Symonds path from self-acceptance to advocacy, fraternize with Walt Whitman and Herman Melville, and see the first use of the word homosexual in an English publication.
Hands-On Tour: Love Letters on Friday, June 7 from 3:00-4:00 p.m. Join us for this rare peek into some of the most personal and emotional writing in our collections. From the aching yearnings of poet John Keats to the dying wishes of a Civil War solider, The Rosenbach is home to a variety of love letters. Spend an hour getting up-close and personal with a variety of treasures, including correspondence from Marlene Dietrich to Mercedes De Acosta and handwritten pages from James Joyce’s Ulysses.
Hands-On Tour: 20th Century Lesbian and Gay Lives from June 19, 2019 from 6:30-8:00 p.m. Discover the hidden histories of 20th century queer luminaries through their writings and artwork–both published and private. From Marlene Dietrich’s passionate letters to Mercedes de Acosta, to Jean Cocteau’s gloriously gay illustrations for Jean Genet’s Querelle, and an exquisitely explicit poem in Isadora Duncan’s handwriting, we will have a gay old time exploring the erotic imagination of 20th century lesbian and gay artists.
Tickets are $15/general admission, $13/seniors, $10/students, free/members. Space is limited and advance registration is strongly recommended. Register at rosenbach.org/events.
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About The Rosenbach
The Rosenbach creates unique experiences for broad audiences through programs inspired by its world-class holdings of literature and history. The Rosenbach is located in Center City Philadelphia and is open to the public six days per week, with growing content available at all times on Rosenbach.org. The Rosenbach is affiliated with the Free Library of Philadelphia.