Overview and Context

For centuries, men in the arts have been cross-dressing through different mediums. Whether it be a woman role in a play or an underground drag show, cross-dressing has existed in many forms. In recent years, however, it has become significantly more celebrated and represented in the media.

Due to the controversial history of drag, however, very little is documented of its history. What is documented is very hard to access. The hope of WC Drag Queens is to answer the question, How can we develop an archive that documents the history of the drag community in West Chester?

This project relies heavily on the West Chester Drag community itself. We plan to access most of drag memorabilia through word-of-mouth marketing, asking West Chester University organizations like SAGA and LGTBQA to provide any documents and other content they may have.

Significance

As said before, the history of drag is a controversial one. It initially began as a way to keep women from participating in live performances. When it evolved into a pageant-like performance, it was not widely accepted by the general public. It wasn’t until recent years that Drag Shows became heavily advertised and documented.

Due to the difficulty in accessing drag memorabilia, and the history of it’s controversiality, WC Drag Queens hopes to make Drag education easily available to encourage the acceptance of these communities. We also hope to celebrate the rich history of such a beautiful revolution.