At Gerber/Hart Library and Archives’ first annual symposium on Oct. 5, 18 panelists spoke about the ways they’ve utilized the archives’ resources to help the broader community connect with LGBTQ+ history, from leading historical walking tours to creating an online database of queer obituaries.
Located in Rogers Park, Gerber/Hart, 6500 N. Clark St., is the largest LGBTQ+ library and archives in the Midwest. It was founded in 1981. Its staff and volunteers focus on collecting, preserving and sharing LGBTQ+ content, like books, documents, research papers and historical artifacts. The library also regularly hosts exhibits and other events to share these resources with the community.
Jen Dentel, Gerber/Hart’s community outreach and strategic partnerships manager, said the symposium was designed both to showcase the wide variety of ways the community has interacted with Gerber/Hart in the past year and highlight the ways they’ve brought its collection to life in a more personal way than people are often taught about history.
“I think people get tired of history because they’re taught about presidents and big moments and told to memorize dates,” Dentel explained. “But then you hear about a tour group talking about a pulp novel in the neighborhood where it’s set, or see photos of a drag queen laughing with their friends at home in the 1960s, you can feel the footprints of your ancestors.”
Students, teachers and academic researchers were part of the speaking program, but it also included artists, community leaders as well as “people who are just curious about history.” Some speakers have been visiting the archive for more than a decade, while others discovered the space this year.
“We want people to know this is a community archive and you don’t have to have a reason for wanting to be here,” Dentel expressed. “You don’t have to be writing your dissertation or teaching a class. You can just be interested, and if you are, please come in.”
Gerber/Hart has long been a mostly volunteer-run organization, but in the past few years, three full-time staff members have been able to expand the archive’s offerings, which made the symposium possible.
“It’s been a dream of ours for several years, but this was the first time we felt we could swing it,” Dentel said.
The symposium was sponsored by LGBTQ+ owned businesses Ann Sather, Smack Dab and Whiskey Girl Tavern. It sold out quickly, but was recorded and will be available on Gerber/Hart’s website.
Between discussions, attendees could visit Gerber/Hart’s current exhibits, “GPLXC: Queer Organizing in Latinx Spaces” and “Do Say Gay: Banned Books & LGBTQ+ Freedom.”
Throughout the day-long event, panelists spoke about their research on a variety of topics, including LGBTQ+ academic resistance, queer religious life, Chicagoans’ experiences with HIV/AIDS in the early days of the epidemic, photo collections of LGBTQ+ ancesters and gaps in the archives.
The creators of Read and Run Chicago, a group that runs through areas of the city and discusses novels set there so participants can connect physical space to the neighborhood’s stories, spoke about how they use Gerber/Hart’s materials to inform their tours. For example, the group read The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai, a fictional account of Chicago’s response to the HIV/AIDS crisis, and ran a three-mile route through Lake View, stopping at various points to hear first-hand accounts from LGBTQ+ historians about the topics discussed in the book.
“The whole idea was to connect the fictionalized stories in this book with the real life people who were actually here doing this work in Chicago at this time,” said Read and Run Chicago founder Allison Yates. “People who’d lived in the neighborhood their whole lives were saying they never knew the specifics of this history … And they’re going to keep walking past these places for the rest of their lives and now they’ll remember the significance. And that’s the kind of thing that Gerber/Hart provides.”
To learn more about Gerber/Hart, visit its website: gerberhart.org.