How do historians unearth and preserve trans and queer histories? Eli Erlick (NYC Trans Archives/New York Public Library) and Meg Metcalf (Library of Congress) have uncovered hundreds of lost histories of queer and trans people spanning centuries. This interactive workshop will introduce attendees to a fascinating cast of trans ancestors while providing step-by-step guidance for discovering our queer and trans past.
Our community has been forced into the margins, meaning tracing our narratives requires unique methods. Attendees will learn how to use historical newspapers, magazines, legal publications, medical records, court proceedings, government documents, and more to tell the stories of forgotten figures.
This workshop will address a host of questions about historicism: how do we know whether a subject was queer or trans? How do we find transcestors who weren’t from white, middle/upper-class, and geographically privileged backgrounds? Do different time periods and locations require different sources? How were records of queer love destroyed? What about the lives that were never documented in the first place?
While queer and trans histories are often accounts of violence, they are also full of joy, humor, and love. Eli and Meg will introduce attendees to a cast of overlooked figures and resources, including Ted Jenson (who Meg thinks is the original toxic masc), iconic Black trans teen Ida Fewclothes, and trans woman lion tamer Aimmee Blondell.
Finding Transcestors is organized by Meg Metcalf and Eli Erlick (New York Trans Archives) as part of the 2026 Circa: Queer Histories Festival, presented by One Institute.
Feminist Center for Creative Work nurtures an ever-evolving, intersectional, intergenerational, and joyful collaborative feminist praxis—modeling ways of working and living through art, programming, media, publishing, and the redistribution of resources, from Los Angeles, within the world. The process is the product.