March 29, 2015: The Project is busy processing Connie Duncan's collection of sports and drag related photographs. Connie was a founding organizer of the Gay Rodeo Association in St. Louis and active on several sports teams, including bowling. He also has been instrumental in helping document the Project's working list of lesbian and gay bars that have served St. Louis since the 1940s. Connie also volunteers to help staff the Project's exhibit at Pride every year. Thanks Connie for your on-going support of the Project and sharing your rare images.

March 24, 2015: This past winter, the Project has updated the timeline section of the website. Far from complete (will always be a work in progress) several new discoveries have been added. As well, several new sidebar menu items in the timeline section go into great depth on several topics. We are always on the lookout for new information related to St. Louis' LGBT past. Please help us out. We especially need founding dates for St. Louis area LGBT organizations. Here are some of our most recent additions:

1832

• William Drummond Stewart, a member of the Scottish nobility, arrives in St. Louis to begin several years of travels to the far reaches of the unknown western frontier. According to the book "Men in Eden" by William Benemann, Stewart was gay. He would use St. Louis as a base for his "flamboyant" adventures.

1880

• Charles Hamilton Hughes (1839-1916) begins to publish a St. Louis-based medical journal - The Alienist and Neurologist. The journal was published from 1880 until his death in 1916, making him the sole editor for all 37 volumes. The Journal would feature several groundbreaking reports on homosexuality.

1892

• Lillie Rose Ernst is one of the first twelve women to graduate from Washington University. She began her life-long teaching career at Central High School the next year. She never married. It is clear that she was devoted to her female friendships. She was especially close to author Leonora Halsted who left a $20,000 estate to Ernst in "appreciation of her devoted care...and my abiding love." Further study needed.
• On February 23, Dr. Charles Breedlove, a young dentist, commits suicide at Hurst's Hotel. The story makes national headlines due to his infatuation with his "friend" Issac Judson. Upon his death, Dr. Breedlove was wearing a charm around his neck featuring a picture of Judson.

1904

• The Potters, a group of St. Louis women artists and writers begin to publish a monthly magazine called The Potter's Wheel from 1904-1907. The Potter's Wheel contained a variety of artistic output, including poetry and prose, photographs, calligraphy artwork, needlework and the like. The Potters were all young women in their late teens and early twenties and members included poet Sara Teasdale, artists Caroline Risque and Petronelle Sombart, photographers Grace and Williamina Parrish, and writers Vine Colby, Inez Dutro, Celia Harris, Edna Wahlert and Guida Richey. Their mentor, Lillie Rose Ernst, was a botany teacher at Central High School and later an administrator with the St. Louis Public School System. The Potters went their various way after 1907, some of them to marry, others for further study or to actively pursue careers in distant places. It is suspected that Ernst and other members may have been lesbian or bisexual. Further study needed. 

March 21, 2015: The Project recently received an email from a gentleman in Califorinia inquiring about donating some vintage LGBT St. Louis newspapers and magazines. Harold Osler told us that he had bought several items recently and discovered these St. Louis pieces mixed in. He generously mailed us a "goodie box" this week and we were excited to see it filled with rare issues of Moonstorm (a 1970s era lesbian magazine), Gaylife (a LGBT publicaiton founded in 1978); a rare 1976 Pegasus newsletter (from Columbia, MO), several issues of the Heartland newspaper (a 1990s pub that covered the midwest), a 1972 issue of Darmron (a gay travel guide that features St. Louis area bars), some 1980s beefcake items, and an issue of St. Louis Weekly featuring an interivew with Jim Thomas, founder of St. Louis' Gay News Telegraph. Thanks Harold for thinking of us in St. Louis and your donation.