Introduction
Ulysses (white man, short brown hair and beard, brown plaid shirt) standing at a podium and staring in awe at a presentation slide on a TV screen. Goodhue County History Center (Red Wing, Minnesota), June 2025.
Hello there!My name's Ulysses H. Swanson. I'm an independent/community historian based out of New Brighton, Minnesota.I assist GLAMs and other institutions with research, writing, archiving, and digital design tasks. In my free time, I create independent research guides and bibliographies and publish them online.I enjoy looking into culinary histories of the Americas; queer and trans histories of the United States; and cultural histories of the Upper Midwest and Northern Plains.
Links
This is a partial list! Visit my living CV on Google Docs for more.
Culinary history:
• "A Comparative History of Casseroles and Hot Dishes in American Foodways, 1912–1952," a poster comparing the histories of casserole and hotdish in the first half of the twentieth century
Queer and trans history:
• Midwestern Queer History Bibliography, a list of works on queer and trans histories within the borders of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin
• Greater Minnesota Two-Spirit & LGBTQIA+ History Map digital exhibit for the Minnesota Historical Society (co-creator)
• Transgender Ancestors, a research guide hosted on the collaborative genealogy site Wikitree
Other history:
• A digital archive of the Northstar/Northstarr/Twin City Speedway (1950–1979) in Mounds View and Blaine, Minnesota, hosted on Omeka.net
Interviews:
• Family Histories podcast, Season 11, Episode 3, "The Salesman" (May 19, 2026)
Contact
Certificate of Recognition from the Dane County Board of Supervisors (Madison, Wisconsin), awarded in 2024
