Rachel Hope Cleves (born 1975) is an American-Canadian historian, best known for her 2014 book ''Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America''."The improbable, 200-year-old story of one of America's first same-sex 'marriages'"
''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', March 20, 2015. The book, a study of historical documents concerning the

same-sex relationship A same-sex relationship is a romantic or sexual relationship between people of the same sex. ''Same-sex marriage'' refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil unions may exist in countries ...

Charity Bryant Charity Bryant (May 22, 1777 – October 6, 1851) was an American business owner and writer. She was a diarist and wrote acrostic poetry. Because there is extensive documentation for the shared lives of Bryant and her partner Sylvia Drake, the ...

and Sylvia Drake in the 19th century, was a shortlisted

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...

nominee for LGBT Studies at the

27th Lambda Literary Awards The 27th Lambda Literary Awards were held on June 1, 2015, to honour works of LGBT literature published in 2014.

. Born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1975, Cleves studied at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

and the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, and has been a professor at the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

since 2009. She is a specialist in early American history, with research areas including gender and sexuality, the American relationship with the French Revolution, and the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. She has also published the books, ''The Reign of Terror in America: Visions of Violence from Anti-Jacobinism to Antislavery'' (2009), as well as articles in journals such as ''

Early American Studies ''Early American Studies'' is a peer-reviewed history journal covering the study of the histories and cultures of North America prior to 1850. The journal is sponsored by The McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylva ...

'', ''

Reviews in American History ''Reviews in American History'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1973 and published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. It publishes reviews of new books on the topic of American history, as well as retrospectives on ...

'' and the ''

Journal of American History ''The Journal of American History'' is the quarterly official academic journal of the Organization of American Historians. It covers the field of American history and was established in 1914 as the ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review'', the o ...

''. In 2019, she was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Canada judges to have "made remarkable contributions in the arts, the humanities and the sciences, as well as in Canadian public life" ...

Works

Books

* Rachel Hope Cleves (2009). ''The Reign of Terror in America: Visions of Violence from Anti-Jacobinism to Antislavery''. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107403987. * Rachel Hope Cleves (2014). '' Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America''. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0190627317. * Rachel Hope Cleves (2020). ''Unspeakable: A Life Beyond Sexual Morality''. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226733531. * Rachel Hope Cleves (2024). ''Lustful Appetites: An Intimate History of Good Food and Wicked Sex''. Polity. ISBN 978-1509553631.

References

External links

Rachel Hope Cleves
21st-century American historians Writers from New York City Writers from Victoria, British Columbia Academic staff of the University of Victoria 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Canadian historians Living people American women historians Columbia University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni 1975 births 21st-century Canadian women writers Canadian women historians Historians from New York (state) Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada 21st-century American women writers {{US-nonfiction-writer-stub