Gerber/Hart LGBTQ+ Library & Archive

Gerber/Hart Library & Archives is one of the largest LGBTQ+ repositories in the world. Founded in 1981, Gerber/Hart has moved several times but has been at its present location in Rogers Park since 2012. The library and archives holds an extensive collection of LGBTQ+ materials with more than 26,000 volumes in its library and over 170 archival collections focused on the LGBTQ+ history of Chicago and the Midwest. The collections include individuals like Miss Tillie, “The Dirty Old Lady of Chicago,” a drag performer who began performing drag in the 1940s in Ohio, and records of organizations like Howard Brown Health, founded in the 1970s and which became the Midwest’s leading provider of support services to, and for, people living with HIV/AIDS throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Gerber/Hart’s mission is to collect, preserve, and make accessible LGBTQ+ history and culture. The physical space includes a library, reading room, community room, exhibit space, and two cold storage rooms to house archival and special collections materials.