Museums, friends, and lovers in the New South: Laura's web, 1909-1931

J. Sears, L. Allen

Laura Bragg, a member of the first graduating class at Simmons College, journeyed to Charleston a New Woman in 1909. As the first woman director of a major scientific museum in the United States, Bragg transformed the Charleston Museum into a public education institution and became an innovative leader in museum education. This article documents Bragg's contributions within the context of antebellum culture where the Southern Belle was placed on a Victorian pedestal and Boston marriages were an unknown phenomenon. Using extensive and hitherto unpublished correspondence, the authors detail Bragg's lesbian relationships and describe her network within the homosexual male community during the era of the Charleston Renaissance.