The exhibit also explores the consequences faced by male instructors caught in vice raids of the 1940s, the founding of Chicago Gay Liberation in 1970, the impact of AIDS on the University of Chicago community and anti-gay violence in the 1980s, activism for partner benefits for same-sex couples, and initiatives to improve the campus climate for genderqueer and transgender students. The oldest material documents relationships between the first generation of female faculty and graduate students at the University at the start of the 20th century.
![historical gay bars in chicago historical gay bars in chicago](https://interactive.wbez.org/curiouscity/makingboystown/media/loop3-mr_ez0hciu.jpg)
From lesbian relationships in the 1900s to the founding of Chicago Gay Liberation in 1970, LGBTQ individuals have long been part of the University’s history. Some archival finds are highlighted on our project Tumblr: The Exhibitionįrom March 30 – June 15, 2015, the project exhibition in the gallery of the Special Collections Research Center at Regenstein Library brought together the oral histories and archival research to trace the complex history and lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer and questioning individuals and communities at the University of Chicago. The project presented initial findings at Humanities Day 2013 (video available below) and in Spring 2014, CSGS hosted a preview to the library exhibition, showcasing the work of the Center's student oral history researchers and highlighting our first year of collecting. Student groups donated t-shirts, flyers, and meeting notes from their own archives. Additionally, oral history narrators, alumni, faculty and staff enthusiastically donated materials, photos and ephemera. Sources include UChicago student newspapers, University Archives and Special Collections at the Regenstein Library, the Chicago History Museum, Gerber-Hart Library and Archives, Northwestern University, the Kinsey Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Archives of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago. Student researchers mined local and regional archives to expand on the oral histories and build a material collection for exhibition. Selections of these oral histories were featured in the exhibition and the audio and transcripts have been archived at Special Collections. The project trained UChicago graduate and undergraduate students in oral history practices and they have collected more than 90 histories from alumni, faculty and staff. The Oral Historiesīy collecting oral history interviews with LGBTQ alumni, faculty, and staff, and mining local and national archives, students and faculty involved with this initiative have built on the Center's highly successful project 'On Equal Terms': Educating Women at the University of Chicago, which ran from 2004-09 and culminated in a popular campus exhibition and 48-page publication. In Spring 2015, Lauren Stokes, project co-coordinator and exhibit curator taught a course on global sexualities (GNSE 22804) that coincided with the exhibition in Special Collections. Over the past four years, the project has offered a yearly undergraduate course, training students in the practice of oral history and archival research in gender and sexuality and exploring LGBTQ history. In addition to producing new scholarship, the project has contributed to building community and expertise around the history of sexuality across disciplines by providing undergraduate and graduate students at the University space for research and intergenerational mentorship.
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#HISTORICAL GAY BARS IN CHICAGO ARCHIVE#
In Spring 2015, the project culminated in an exhibition in the Special Collections Research Center at Regenstein Library and a permanent oral history archive that can be accessed by future generations of researchers and community members.
![historical gay bars in chicago historical gay bars in chicago](https://cdn.choosechicago.com/uploads/2019/05/AbA_Big_Chicks-1-900x599.jpg)
In 2011, the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality launched Closeted/Out in the Quadrangles, a project documenting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) life at the University of Chicago from the early twentieth century through the present day. A History of LGBTQ Life at the University of Chicago View the Web Exhibit