Workshop on Oral History and Digital Humanities

Joseph Plaster is an interdisciplinary scholar trained in queer studies and public humanities, with teaching and research fields at the intersections of U.S. 20th century urban history, oral history, performance studies, public history, and LGBTQ studies of religion. He is a Lecturer in the Program in Museums and Society and Director of the Winston Tabb Special Collections Research Center at Johns Hopkins University, where he develops cross-departmental, community-based research initiatives in collaboration with Baltimore’s ballroom and voguing scene, grassroots trans and non-binary activists, and local artists of color. His book Kids on the Street: Queer Kinship and Religion in San Francisco’s Tenderloin (2023) was awarded the Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction by The Publishing Triangle, the Joe William Trotter, Jr. Book Prize for best first book in urban history by the Urban History Association, and the Oral History Association Book Award.