History and Scholarship

Sites in this category relate to the historical, anthropological, psychological, political or cross-cultural study of non-sexual personal friendships. Sites in this category will overlap somewhat with sites in the Society : Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual : History category. The reason for this is that historical same-sex friendships were very intense compared with the modern American variety, and hence are often confused with gay sexual relationships. Owing to the lack of clear evidence about the types of relationships people had in the past, the question of "friendship or romance" is an unresolved debate among those who study these relationships.

Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology: Friendship - Short encyclopedia article about friendship.
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The Importance of Friendships - Scottish article about friendship and adoslescents.
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Sarah Orne Jewett and Annie Adams Fields: Boston Marriage and the Cultural Nexus - An article focusing on the Boston Marriage (19th-century practice of committed friendship) between Sarah Jewett and Annie Fields.
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Boston Marriage Links - A page with many links relating to Boston Marriage, the 19th-century practice of women friends living together long-term.
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Xena and Gabrielle: A Revisitation of the Classic Romantic Friendship - This site explores the history of "Romantic Friendship" (the 15th-through-19th-century practice of intense yet nonsexual same-sex love) and the possibility that television characters Xena and Gabrielle are practicing this custom.
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Epistolary Passions: Friendship and the Literary Public of Constance de Salm, 1767-1845 -
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Iolaus: An Anthology of Friendship - A reprint of a 1908 treatise on historical friendship customs.
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The Misguided Search for 'Homoeroticism': A Plea for Research on Friendship - An essay discussing the debate over whether same-sex relationships in historical documents were gay relationships or nonsexual friendships, and arguing that historians often label relationships "gay" when the label is not warranted.
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Web Search for History and Scholarship Friendship Relationships Society - News search for History and Scholarship Friendship Relationships Society - encyclopedia entries for History and Scholarship Friendship Relationships Society