New D.C. Transgender Oral History Project launched

Cooper Joslin, a local D.C. web developer and multimedia artist, has announced the launch of a D.C. Transgender Oral History Project aimed at recording oral histories of members of the transgender community in the local area.

Joslin, who identifes as nonbinary, said the project is being funded by a grant from Humanities D.C., a local grant making organization affliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities. Joslin said the project would also be carried out in collaboration with the D.C. Oral History Collaborative, which will support efforts to line up interviews with local trans residents.

“These interviews will eventually end up with the D.C. Public Library, but they will also be featured on a website called the DC Trans Guide, which will feature both oral histories and resources on changing your name, accessing gender affrming care, and fnding support groups in the area,” Joslin said in a statement.

The interviews for the project will be conducted both in person and virtually, according to Joslin.

Joslin’s trans oral history project comes about six months after the D.C. Rainbow History Project announced it had received a $15,000 D.C. government grant for a project called the Trans History Initiative that, among other things, would also obtain oral histories from local transgender residents.

“The Trans History Initiative will help Rainbow History Project deepen its connections with the Trans community through expanded efforts to preserve the history and cultural contributions of Washington-area trans communities,” a statement released by the group says.

Vincent Slatt, Rainbow History Project’s director of archiving, told the Blade he was glad to learn of Joslin’s trans oral history project. He said in this type of history gathering there is “no such thing” as competition or duplication of efforts.

“More history, more research, more collecting is good for everyone—we support an ‘all hands-on deck’ approach,” he told the Blade. “I’m glad to hear this project has begun.”

LOU CHIBBARO JR.