Unboxing Queer History

by Gerber/Hart Library and Archives

Unboxing Queer History is a podcast from Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, one of the largest LGBTQ libraries & archives in the world. Each of the 8 episodes in Unboxing Queer History focuses on a different story from the LGBTQ history inside of Gerber/Hart’s collections and archives. The episodes range from discussions of the importance of a LGBTQ circulating library to Chicago drag history and include interviews with communi... Read more

Podcast episodes

  • Season 1

  • S01 E08 - QUEERS READ THIS: 90s Queer Activism and Exhibits at Gerber/Hart

    S01 E08 - QUEERS READ THIS: 90s Queer Activism and Exhibits at Gerber/Hart

    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 ...

    24:01
  • S01 E07 - Bill Kelley: A Lifetime of Chicago Activism

    S01 E07 - Bill Kelley: A Lifetime of Chicago Activism

    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 m...

    19:24
  • S01 E06 - GALS Just Want to Have Fun: A Lesbian Fishing Group for Chicago

    S01 E06 - GALS Just Want to Have Fun: A Lesbian Fishing Group for Chicago

    “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...

    22:16
  • S01 E05 - Lorrainne Sade Baskerville: Joy, Survival, Legacy

    S01 E05 - Lorrainne Sade Baskerville: Joy, Survival, Legacy

    “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 servic...

    21:39
  • S01 E04 - People Like Us: So Much More than a Bookstore

    S01 E04 - People Like Us: So Much More than a Bookstore

    "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 ...

    26:41