Tim Jerrome

My PhD aims to be the first comprehensive study of gay and lesbian histories in rural England, c.1800-1950. Although the practise of queer history has come a long way in the last few decades, it has focused almost exclusively on the urban sphere, given the greater availability of archive evidence. However, we know that gay and lesbian people must have lived and worked in the countryside, and I intend to demonstrate this.

For this project, building a methodology is just as important as uncovering biographical information about individuals. Using farm diaries and correspondence, national surveys, newspaper archives, genealogy databases, court records and LGBTQ+ archives, I will recover something of the fabric of queer life in rural England, and perhaps even an element of gay culture in the countryside.

Additionally, I know that many archive services and rural museums struggle to create content on queer histories, given the lack of obvious connections between their holdings and LGBTQ+ narratives. Given my collections background, I would like to provide guidance to these instituions on how to curate these stories and present them to their audiences.