Rainbow Community Heritage Project

A magnifying glass highlights the symbol for multiple genders in rainbow colors to the left of the words in purple, "Rainbow Community Heritage Project"

The Oklahoma Community Heritage Project (OKCHP) is back and more fabulous than ever! Beginning in 2023, OKCHP will host the Rainbow Community Heritage Project (or RCHP for short!).

While there are many wonderful queer history resources on the coasts and in big cities, RCHP is a space to celebrate LGBTQ+ heritage from everyday lives, especially in Oklahoma and other states in America's heartland. At the heart of the project is a digital exhibit that archives photos of objects and stories shared by people just like you.

Submit Your Artifact to RCHP Today!

View

To view the RCHP Exhibit, click the link below!

View

Learn

Learn how to "read" our community story through our objects, just like an archaeologist!

Learn

FAQs

Have questions about the project? Check out the frequently asked questions link below!

FAQ

Why Objects? Why Queer Archaeology?

Have you ever visited a museum, and seen the objects or artifacts on the shelves? Broken pots, glued back together? Projectile points next to bones of animals? They are cool, right?

Before they ended up on a shelf with a label under a little light, they were an ordinary, everyday object in someone's home and tell a story about who those people were. A glued-together pot you saw may have been a woman's favorite cooking pot for family meals before it accidentally got knocked on the floor. The projectile point is made from a rock that maybe father and son quarried together last spring.

Just like historians read primary documents to learn about the past, archaeologists "read" these objects or "artifacts" to learn more about people and life in the past.

Meghan Dudley (she/her) created RCHP as a part of her dissertation at OU to use the power of everyday objects in our lives to tell our story and celebrate our heritage as LGBTQ+ people - for those who came before us, for us here now, and for those yet to come.

How Can I Participate?

This project is powered by the community and people just like you! To participate, pick an object that either you:

have inherited from a LGBTQ+ family member in your family tree (biological or choosen),
have inherited from a family member (biological or choosen) that represents your sexual, gender, and (or) relationship identity, or
just have and represents your sexual, gender, and (or) relationship identity; an object that you wish the next generation to inherit from you (at least inherit virtually in this space!).

With your object in hand (or in mind), answer the 15-minute survey to share your object and story with the project! Then check back here or on our Facebook page and Instagram account to see weekly updates.

Don't want to contribute yourself? No problem! We will update the gallery weekly with each new submission. So stop by and see the amazing stories and heritage objects shared here!

Submit Your Artifact and Story to RCHP Today!

Learn About Meghan Dudley's Queer Heritage Research

Polaroid photograph of two ciswomen, standing behind a table outside, smiling. Meghan Dudley, the project's manager, is on the left.

RCHP also supports Meghan Dudley's (she/her) dissertation research. A long-time OKPANer and OU PhD candidate, Meghan's research explores what queer material culture heritage looks like across the nation. She especially is interested in what this looks like in Oklahoma: in the past, present, and what we hope it to look like in the future. For those interested, you can contribute to her research through the same RCHP survey above and (or) through an 20-90 minute ethnographic, object interview.

You can chose to participate in Meghan's research only, the educational website only, or both (or neither)! For more information, email Meghan at meghan.dudley@ou.edu.

Acknowledgements

Dissertations, like children, need a village to be “raised” in – and mine has certainly benefited from the best village a graduate student could ask for. Thank you to everyone below for your help and being a part of my village:

Dr. Bonnie Pitblado and the Oklahoma Public Archaeology Network,
OKPAN interns, Lauren Jablonski, Jace Hill, and Jovie Taylor, and my partner, Evan Clark for staffing RCHP’s Pride booths,
Artists, Ameris Poquette and Evan Clark, for creating the project’s logo,
Oklahoma Anthropological Society for awarding me OAS Grant Spring 2023, and
last, but not least, all the community members who have supported this project through surveys, interviews, and (or) your words of encouragement and support.