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 electric mix of culture, art, politics, sports, health, and street reporting, all filtered through a proudly lesbian, feminist lens.

Produced by: Hannah Viti, Edited by Bill Healy

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 Williams, Edited by Mara Lazer

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 joys that those relationships bring.

Produced by: Chijioke Williams

Edited by Bill Healy

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 in this episode through an online exhibit -see here.

Produced by: Quinn Rose

Edited by: Mara Lazer

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 archival deep dives with conversations, weaving them into audio experiences, sharing our living history with you!

Episode One, Lost and Found: Lesbian Bars and the Music Box Lounge, drops on Tuesday September 22nd, 2025. Stay tuned for more!

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 exhibit opening was canceled and the library was closed for several months during shelter-in-place. While the curators were able to do an in-person closing event with Homocore Chicago members, most of the exhibit programming was done online.

What work goes into making an exhibit at Gerber/Hart? What does Queer Activism in the 1990s in Chicago look like? What was the “Homocorner”? Listen in to hear more from the curators about the Q exhibit - from Homocore Chicago, zines, Joan Jett Blakk, Queer Nation Chicago, The Pink Angels, and more.

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 Danny Robles! And special thanks to Jules Gordon for co-producing the episode on People Like Us books and Alyssa Edes for producing the episode on Lorrainne Sade Baskerville!

Special thanks to RAILS (Reaching Across Illinois Library System) for the "My Library Is... " grant that funded this project!

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 in on June 14th to the penultimate episode of Unboxing Queer History!

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 Danny Robles! And special thanks to Jules Gordon for co-producing the episode on People Like Us books and Alyssa Edes for producing the episode on Lorrainne Sade Baskerville!

Special thanks to RAILS (Reaching Across Illinois Library System) for the "My Library Is... " grant that funded this project!

“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 decided to form a fishing club and advertise in the gay papers.

At its largest, GALS boasted over 60 members. Anybody who they got their name and address, they sent out a “dear Jane” letter welcoming them. They set up a voicemail network where you could call in to leave messages about where you were fishing so other people could join. GALS grew to include fishing trips, training seminars, and various other activities. The GALS newsletters are a wonderful insight into the group, and are incredibly funny. This episode profiles one of the smallest but most beloved collections at Gerber/Hart. Why are small collections like GALS so important? How did this collection end up at Gerber/Hart? What did GALS mean to the women that were part of it? This episode includes an interview with co-founders Susan McCann and Sherry Pethers. Listen in to learn more!

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 Danny Robles! And special thanks to Jules Gordon for co-producing the episode on People Like Us books and Alyssa Edes for producing the episode on Lorrainne Sade Baskerville! Special thanks to RAILS (Reaching Across Illinois Library System) for the "My Library Is... " grant that funded this project

“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 her time in Chicago, she served on the boards of the Test Positive Aware Network (TPAN) and the Chicago Police Department’s 23rd District Gay and Lesbian Advisory Group. Bringing transGenesis to life was Lorrainne’s dream, and its impact on Chicago’s trans community remains part of her legacy. In 2000, Lorrainne was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame.

In this episode Lorrainne shares her story with Gerber/Hart, many years after donating her collection to our archive. Her incredible collection of awards, transGenesis ephemera, and artwork sparked the interest of many volunteers, including archivist Whit Sadusky and Gerber/Hart Programs and Social Media Coordinator Jennifer Dentel. Listen to them discuss the importance of outreach and diversity in archival collections.

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 Danny Robles! And special thanks to Jules Gordon for co-producing the episode on People Like Us books and Alyssa Edes for producing the episode on Lorrainne Sade Baskerville! Special thanks to RAILS (Reaching Across Illinois Library System) for the "My Library Is... " grant that funded this project

"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 segregated into women’s or men’s spaces. Carrie and Brett did not separate lesbian and gay male literature, but instead shelved everything together by genre. Erotica was separated out, but otherwise the collection was integrated. This created an overlap; an interaction between two cultures that were often polarized even within the queer spectrum.

Of course, People Like Us became much, much more than just a bookstore - it was a cultural center: an everyday anchor for Chicago’s queer community, a tourist hotspot for queer visitors to Chicago, and a foundation for the development of queer literature by publishers. PLU even hosted an incredible number of queer legends and icons–polaroid photos from events show speakers from Alison Bechdel and Lea DeLaria to Rupert Kinnard, John Preston, Leslie Feinberg, Greg Louganis, Rita Mae Brown, and beyond.

Listen in to learn more about this incredible space and to hear from Carrie, Brett, and patrons of People Like Us on why having an exclusively LGBTQ bookstore was so important for the Chicago LGBTQ community, as well as where to find that touchstone today.

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 Danny Robles! And special thanks to Jules Gordon for co-producing the episode on People Like Us books and Alyssa Edes for producing the episode on Lorrainne Sade Baskerville! Special thanks to RAILS (Reaching Across Illinois Library System) for the "My Library Is... " grant that funded this project