South Street Seaport Museum announces Queer History: Polar Exploration. Learn all about queer maritime and polar history in this evening of free talks in this mini-symposium presented by the South Street Seaport Museum and the polar social club, Terror and Erebus Society.
Allegra Rosenberg, the founder and director of the Terror Camp virtual polar conference, will kick off the evening with a look into the true love story between naval officers on Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s 1910 Antarctic expedition, also known as the Terra Nova Expedition, which aimed to reach the South Pole to further scientific exploration.
Dr. Seth Stein LeJacq, an assistant professor at Hunter College CUNY, will continue the dive into the queer history of polar exploration with a presentation focusing on sexual and gender differences in the historical British Navy. And, Eva Molina, a PhD candidate at Princeton University, will close the evening with a discussion on how sexuality amongst Antarctic penguins became the subject of an academic cover-up in the early 20th century.
A wine reception will follow the program. Advanced registration is encouraged. Walk-ups will be accommodated as space allows.
The speakers
Eva Molina is a historian, science communicator, and writer of fiction and nonfiction. She is currently a PhD candidate in the History of Science at Princeton University. Her research focuses on British naturalists at the poles, from 19th century attempts to find the Northwest Passage to the end of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. She is currently working on a book based on her dissertation research titled TOWARD NO EARTHLY POLE: An Unnatural Natural History of Polar Exploration. As an outdoorsperson, she maintains a personal interest in the history of mountaineering– primarily in the Himalayas –as well as all things maritime.
Allegra Rosenberg is a writer and editor based in New York City, currently the Community Editor at Atlas Obscura. Her writing has appeared in National Geographic, WIRED, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Atavist, and more. Her debut nonfiction book, a cultural history of fan culture, is forthcoming from WW Norton. Since 2021 she has been the director of the annual Terror Camp virtual polar fan conference.
Dr. Seth Stein LeJacq is a teacher and historian. He has presented and published widely on queer maritime history, and he is the editor of the sourcebook Sexual and Gender Difference in the British Navy, 1690-1900(Routledge, 2024). He is an assistant professor at Hunter College CUNY.
Queer History: Polar Exploration
South Street Seaport Museum • 12 Fulton St, New York, NY 10038
July 31, 2025 at 6:30pm
Free event
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