Unboxing Queer History

In 2024, Gerber/Hart Library and Archives partnered with DePaul University’s HumanitiesX fellowship program to run an undergraduate class. The goal: create an exhibit showcasing the ways members of Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community have historically fought back against homophobic censorship. That semester was an eventful one – faculty and students faced their own threats of censorship, and the class got...

Chicago has a rich history of queer religious groups. This episode explores the layered, often-hidden spiritual lives of queer and trans people with a special focus on voices from Chicago. Through oral histories and archival fragments, this episode chronicles the rituals we've remade, the faiths we've reclaimed, and the traces of spirit we continue to carry. Produced by: Hannah Viti, Edited by Bil...

Answering the call to fill the archives, several heroes take matters into their own hands to address the shortcomings of larger institutions. Interviewees include Frencia Stephenson (We Are Everywhere), Antonio Santos (Gage Park Latinx Council), Patric McCoi, Rainn Thomas, Caryn Robinson, and Parker Haines. Through grassroots archiving initiatives and partnerships, community history projects engag...

Archives are meant to be places where history and facts are preserved for future generations – these records educate the community, remind us of our roots, and validate our existence. But there are gaps in the archives; a loss and a deafening silence from the missing voices. How do we address this? And what are LGBTQ+ historical repositories like Gerber/Hart, ONE Archives, and the GLBT Historical...

Just as we’ve always been here, queer people have always created our own media to get the word out! This episode tells the story of a radical public-access show that demanded visibility for queer women and nonbinary people in media — and gave them the tools to see themselves on their own terms. Through archival tape, original interviews, and personal reflection, this episode revisits Dyke TV’s ele...

In this episode, Gerber/Hart volunteers, staff, and sex toy shop Early To Bed owner Searah Deysach discuss the importance of queer erotica. Why should an LGBTQ+ archive preserve erotica and pornographic materials? What is and is not included in the Gerber/Hart erotica collection, and why? Join us on our quest to solve the riddle: where’s all the femme / sapphic / trans porn? Produced by: Chijioke...

The LGBTQ+ Intergenerational Dialogue Project (IDP) kicked off in 2019. The project pairs Queer Elders with Queer “Youngers” over art-making, conversation, and shared meals. The materials from this project are now being donated to Gerber/Hart. This episode investigates the wide gaps between LGBTQ+ generations, why connection between young and old queers is important, and some of the tensions and j...

Folks in Chicago love the Music Box Theatre for its curated programming and bevy of film festivals. But did you know the adjacent Lounge was once a lesbian bar? However, finding evidence of the bar is another story. In this episode, our community reminisces over past lesbian bars and queer women’s spaces, and shows how these spaces thrive today. Learn more about the subjects and history discussed...

Welcome back to Unboxing Queer History ! In this season, we dive back into the collections of Gerber/Hart, one of the largest LGBTQ+ Library & Archives in the world. We explore grassroots archiving, public access media, religious self-discovery, and heartfelt dialogue with community leaders, volunteers, researchers, and local historians. Just like last season, Unboxing Queer History combines a...

Every year, groups of volunteers at Gerber/Hart work for months researching for two large yearly exhibits. In 2019, five volunteers, Whit Sadusky, Veronica Rodriguez, Chase Ollis, Kurt Conley, and James Conley worked to create an exhibit on 1990s Queer Activism in Chicago. Q: Activism at the Margins of Identity was set to open at Gerber/Hart in April 2020. When the Covid 19 pandemic hit, the exhib...

Episode 7 of Unboxing Queer History is all about William B Kelley - a lifelong Chicago LGBTQ activist. The William B. Kelley and Chen K. Ooi collection is the cornerstone collection of Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, taking up more than an entire wall of the archives. Want to know more about Bill Kelley and his activism? And about how his collection ended up at Gerber/Hart? Stay tuned and listen...

“It was just an idea and we just went for it, and it turned out to be a heck of a lot of fun.” GALS (the Great Angling Lesbian Society) was founded in 1994 by Sherry Pethers and Susan McCann. Sherry and Susan met in the late 1980s at a house party in the late 1980s. Sherry moved up to Chicago where she worked at a law firm while Susan worked in corporate America. Looking for ways to destress, they...

“I did not come out of the closet. I stepped out on the scene.” Lorrainne Sade Baskerville is a Black trans woman who founded Chicago’s first trans-run, trans-serving social agency called transGenesis. Between 1995-2003, its services included street and community outreach, education, social support, counseling, and a HIV prevention program called T-PASS (Trans People Advocating Safer Sex). During...

"An Exclusively Gay and Lesbian Bookstore for Chicago" Time travel with us to a very special place in episode four of Unboxing Queer History! Between 1988 and 1997, Carrie Barnett and Brett Shingledecker founded and ran People Like Us: Chicago’s only exclusively LGBTQ bookstore, located just north of Belmont at 3321 N. Clark Street. The bookstore was unique at a time when many queer spaces were se...

"What Does It Mean To Be Latina And Lesbian?" Founded in 1995, Amigas Latinas was a volunteer-run organization that specifically served the LBTQ Latina community through monthly discussion groups, support groups, workshops, educational training, public programs, and events. Amigas Latinas was founded by Evette Cardona and Mona Noriega. The group began as a small discussion group and grew to a larg...

“Finding our history is going to be a tool for our liberation” On January 30th, 1981, Gerber/Hart Library and Archives opened its doors to the public. It was the first LGBTQ library in the Midwestern United States, brought to life through the efforts of the Chicago Gay and Lesbian History Project and Gay Horizons. The starting collection was entirely donated and managed mostly by volunteers. Volun...

In 2014, Gerber/Hart received a collection of photo albums that belonged to a performer named Miss Tillie “The Dirty Old Lady of Chicago.” The collection is incredibly rich, with over a thousand images of Miss Tillie performing throughout the 1940s-1990s as well as a VHS tape with a short documentary created by Daniel Lee that aired in 2002 at the Reeling Film Festival. Much of Miss Tillie’s life...

Teaser trailer for Unboxing Queer History. Episode One - The Dirty Old Lady: Chicago Drag History and the Mystery of Miss Tillie is released February 1st, 2022. Unboxing Queer History is a podcast from Gerber/Hart Library and Archives. Unboxing Queer History is created by Ari Mejia, Jen Dentel, and Erin Bell. Produced by Ari Mejia with Hannah Viti. Artwork by Mere Montgomery & theme music by D...