How Can We See and Talk about Sexual, Gender, and Relationship Diversity in History?
Kaksi 1800-luvun esimerkkiä arkistosta
Abstract
In our article, we discuss ways historians can queer nineteenth-century sources produced by socially active, upper-class cosmopolitan Finnish Swedes. First, we examine three sexually suggestive caricatures that amateur artist August Mannerheim (1805–1876) created between the 1830s and 1850s. We show that Mannerheim’s work is linked to the European tradition in which gender and sexual diversity were strongly represented. Second, we look at the emotional correspondence between the unmarried women’s rights activist and philanthropist Cely Mechelin (1866–1950) and unmarried French teacher Marie de Verneuil (1859–1897) in the 1880s and 1890s. In the context of the fin de siècle asexual feminine ideal and role, we discuss the possibility of a cultural free space fostering women’s intense mutual relationships.
Keywords: Queer history, August Mannerheim, Cely Mechelin, Marie de Verneuil, caricatures, letters, nineteenth century
