News from the John W. Kluge Center: George Chauncey, Historian of LGBTQ+ Life, Wins 2022 Kluge Prize

George Chauncey, Historian of LGBTQ+ Life, Wins 2022 Kluge Prize

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced today that historian George Chauncey will receive the 2022 John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity. Chauncey is the DeWitt Clinton Professor of American History at Columbia University, a position he has held since 2017, and he directs the Columbia Research Institute on the Global History of Sexualities.

Chauncey is the first scholar in LGBTQ+ studies to receive the prize. He is known for his pioneering 1994 history “Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940,” his 2004 book “Why Marriage? The History Shaping Today’s Debate over Gay Equality,” and his testimony and other work as an expert witness in more than 30 court cases related to LGBTQ+ rights.

Learn more about George Chauncey from the press release announcing him as Kluge Prize winner.

“Gay New York,” released in 1994 during the 25th anniversary of the LGBTQ+ rights protests at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, looks at the gay community in New York City before World War II, utilizing newspapers, police records, oral histories, diaries, and other primary sources to show that there was a much more vibrant and visible gay world than previously believed and to argue that there was a permeable boundary between straight and gay behavior, especially among working-class men.

“Why Marriage?” draws on Chauncey’s extensive research prepared for court cases in which he provided expert testimony. It traces the history of both gay and anti-gay activism and discusses the origins of the modern struggle for gay marriage.

Chauncey received a Bachelor of Arts and a doctorate from Yale University. He was the Samuel Knight Professor of History & American Studies at Yale from 2006 to 2017, and held posts as chair of the History Department, chair of the Committee for LGBT Studies, and director of graduate studies and undergraduate studies for the American Studies program. He was awarded Yale’s teaching prize for his lecture course on U.S. Lesbian and Gay History, which more than 300 students took the final time he taught it.  Chauncey taught at the University of Chicago from 1991 through 2006.  He is married to Ronald Gregg, a film historian and director of the MA program in Film and Media Studies at Columbia.

“I am deeply honored to receive the Kluge Prize,” Chauncey said, “and grateful that the Library of Congress has recognized the importance and vibrancy of the field of LGBTQ history.” 

The Library will collaborate with Chauncey to create programming to bring his expertise on LGBTQ+ history to the public and policymakers in an accessible, engaging way. Stay tuned to learn about future public programming as it is planned.

About the Kluge Prize

The Kluge Prize recognizes individuals whose outstanding scholarship in the humanities and social sciences has shaped public affairs and civil society. Awarded to a scholar every two years, the international prize highlights the value of researchers who communicate beyond the scholarly community and have had a major impact on social and political issues. The prize comes with a $500,000 award. Additional funds from the Library’s Kluge endowment, which funds the award, are being invested in Kluge Center programming.

George Chauncey joins a prestigious group of past prize winners that includes philosopher Jürgen Habermas, former president of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and scholar of African American history John Hope Franklin, among others.