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Gerber/Hart Library and Archives
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Gerber/Hart Library stacks
42°00′00″N 87°40′18″W / 41.999970°N 87.671641°W / 41.999970; -87.671641
Location	Rogers Park, Chicago, United States, United States
Scope	LGBTQ materials
Established	1981; 44 years ago (1981)
Other information
Director	Erin Bell
Website	www.gerberhart.org

The Gerber/Hart Library and Archives (or "The Henry Gerber–Pearl M. Hart Library: The Midwest Lesbian & Gay Resource Center"), founded in 1981, is the largest circulating library of gay and lesbian titles in the Midwestern United States. Located in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood, it houses over 14,000 volumes, 800 periodical titles, and 100 items in the archival collection. The Gerber/Hart Library and Archives were inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 1996.

Although a private non-profit, the library has received public funding for its continuing operation from Illinois' "Fund for the Future," including a $25,000 grant in 1999.

Location

Gerber/Hart was originally located in the offices of Gay Horizons (now known as the Center on Halsted). In 2012, the library moved into its current location in Rogers Park, a neighborhood in northern Chicago, IL. It is housed in the Howard Brown Health building on Clark Street, where the organization rents several rooms on the second floor.

Alongside a reading room and free circulating library, Gerber/Hart also has a physical exhibition space, which rotates throughout the year.

References

1. "The Illinois Department of Human Rights commemorates LGBT Pride Month". Illinois Department of Human Rights. 2006-06-19. Archived from the original on 2007-12-03. Retrieved 2006-08-09.
2. "Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame". glhalloffame.org. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
3. "Enrolled Act SB630". State of Illinois 91st General Assembly Legislation. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2006-08-09.
4. "Center on Halsted History". Center on Halsted. Retrieved Nov 5, 2024.
5. "A Brief History of Gerber/Hart Library". www.lib.niu.edu. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
6. Tribune, Hannah Edgar | Chicago (2022-03-30). "At 40, Gerber/Hart, the Midwest's independent LGBTQ library and archive, is on the move — again". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
7. Tribune, Chicago (2012-04-26). "Historians up in arms about archives future". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
8. "Hours and Location". gerberhart. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
9. "Exhibits". gerberhart. Retrieved 2024-11-05.

Further reading

• Michael McCaslin. "A Brief History of Gerber/Hart Library". ILLINOIS PERIODICALS ONLINE.
• Leslie Baldacci (2006-01-08). "Gerber/Hart: The library that rescues Chicago's gay history". Chicago Sun-Times.
• "Gerber/Hart Library and Archives". Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame. 1996. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2006-08-09.
• SIMONETTE, MATT (2014-06-25). "Gerber/Hart updates public on progress, gift". Windy City Times. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
• "Gerber-Hart will reopen in Rogers Park". Chicago Tribune. 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2016-06-18.

External links

• Official Gerber/Hart Library web site

• 1981 establishments in Illinois
• LGBTQ culture in Chicago
• LGBTQ museums and archives
• Libraries in Chicago
• Libraries established in 1981
• Library associations based in Chicago
• Research libraries in the United States
• LGBTQ history in Illinois
• LGBTQ organizations based in Chicago