Our exhibits are always free and open to the public. We graciously ask for a suggested $5 donation or a give-what-you-can to support our ongoing mission and free access to all.
Do Say Gay: Banned Books & LGBTQ+ Freedom
This exhibit was curated by twenty-one DePaul students who worked with Gerber/Hart librarians throughout the Spring 2024 semester to honor the history of LGBTQ+ expression and ensure the continuation of queer stories.
The students were all enrolled in Do Say Gay: Banned Books and LGBTQ+ Freedoms, a DePaul University Spring Quarter 2024 Experiential Learning course about contemporary book bans and their relationship to the democratic role of LGBTQ+ libraries and archives in the preservation, celebration, and continuation of intersectional queer lives. The course was taught by Dra. Heather Montes Ireland (WGS) and Prof. Barrie J Borich (ENG/LGBTQ Studies) and was a part of DePaul’s HumanitiesX Collaborative, a program aiming to reimagine Humanities education through experiential, hands-on learning and community engaged project work.
The exhibit highlights four topics areas: Save Our Children, Silence=Death, Open Books, Open Minds, and We Have Always Been Banned. Queer books represent the possibilities, traumas and beauties of LGBTQ+ lives often in spite of forces attempting to remove these works from libraries and schools queer archives like Gerber/Hart preserve and enhance voices that are too often silenced.
On display in the Sandfield Exhibition Gallery through Summer 2024
A Dreamhouse of Our Own: An Examination of Dolls, Play, and Queer Identity
In early 2023, volunteers Olivia De Keyser and Steven Russell surveyed LGBTQ+ communities about their experiences with dolls and action figures and how these experiences informed their queer identities. Survey responses were collected and incorporated into a “Queer Dreamhouse” using donated and loaned dolls, furniture, and artwork from community members. A reception for the exhibit opening was held on August 5th featuring an artist talk from GNAT Glitter Kink and a screening of Life Size at The Leather Archives & Museum.
A Dreamhouse of Our Own was curated by Olivia De Keyser. Graphic Design by Steven Russell. Supporting Artist and Photography by Wren Lively.
On display in Howard Brown’s waiting room (1st floor)
Past Exhibits
Art from the Archives
Celebrating art inspired by people and stories from Chicago queer history, this exhibit features three artists who create new works from our archive, including print materials and oral history interviews.
The exhibit features four artists: Jose Luis Benavides, Amanda Cervantes, James Hosking, and Sam Kirk and celebrates work that has been inspired by materials in Gerber/Hart’s collections. The exhibit consists of three displays – Amigas Latinas Forever (Jose Luis Benavides & Amanda Cervantes), The Personals (James Hosking), and Portrait of Marge Summit [Sam Kirk, commissioned by Queer In(n), a curated, generative public arts program founded by Kelli Simpkins and Adithi Chandrashekar].
Learn more about the artists and each display here.
Each display is accompanied by archival materials from Gerber/Hart.
On display in the Sandfield Exhibition Gallery October 2023-Spring 2024
De-Coded: Surviving the Law as a Sexual Deviant
[De]Coded: Surviving the Law as a Sexual Deviant is curated by Anna Mason, Whit Sadusky, and Jess Smoot. Graphic design by Kurt Conley.In 1961, Illinois became the first state in the US to decriminalize sodomy, one of many legal codes meant to classify homosexuals as outlaws. Crimes of sodomy, crossdressing, and even vagrancy were expressly used to target the community, making them second class citizens seemingly unworthy of protections under the law. Forced to choose between safety and authenticity, queer Chicagoans still found ways to thrive in the face of these shifting forms of oppression.
Q: Activism at the Margins of Identity
Emerging as an outgrowth of the AIDS pandemic and the activism it brought forth, the 1990s saw a new wave of advocacy sweep through queer communities in Chicago and across the country. Political hostility, gay-for-pay media representation, and ongoing threats of physical violence pushed queer identities to the margins of society. Embracing otherness, they discovered strength in radical activism and artistic expression, transforming the concept of Queer.
Lavender Women & Killer Dykes: Lesbians, Feminism, and Community in Chicago
In the 1970s and 1980s, as the women’s liberation movement was gaining momentum, lesbians worked both within and outside of the feminist movement to create a better, more inclusive world for all women. In Chicago, lesbians organized community centers, music festivals, bookstores, newsletters, publishing presses, and health centers that created spaces to benefit and centered women’s issues. While conflicts arose over what both a feminist space and a lesbian space meant (and who would be included or excluded), the vast number of spaces in this period of Chicago’s history reflects a truly diverse group of women fighting to create a better world.
Co-sponsored with Chicago Women’s History Center
Comic Books
The exhibit displays comics from a span of nearly 50 years, examining three themes in particular: style and identity, AIDS, and anger. The exhibit includes work from cartoonists like Alison Bechdel and Howard Cruse, as well as comics produced by government agencies and mainstream publishers. The exhibit is on display through March 2022 in the Library Reading Room.
Organization Pins
Organizations are a foundation for LGBTQ communities. A selection of local and national organization pins from political, service and performance organizations are on display.
Was on display in the Walgreens waiting area through late 2022.
Exhibits in Howard Brown waiting room and Walgreens are viewable during their open hours: Mon-Thur 9 am–6 pm, Fri 9 am–5 pm, and Sat 9 am–3 pm.