The gay archival impulse: the founding of the Gerber/Hart library and archives in Chicago
| Date | 24 November 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/GKMC-02-2019-0023 |
| Published date | 24 November 2019 |
| Pages | 689-702 |
| Author | Aiden M. Bettine,Lindsay Kistler Mattock |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
The gay archival impulse: the
founding of the Gerber/Hart
library and archives in Chicago
Aiden M. Bettine
Department of History, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA, and
Lindsay Kistler Mattock
School of Library and Information Science,
University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the concept ofcommunity
archives, offering a critique of the communityarchives discourse through a historical case study focused on
the origins of the Gerber/HartLGBTQ library and archives in Chicago.
Design/methodology/approach –This study explores the archival collections of the founders of the
Gerber/Hart library and archives and the librarians that have worked there as a means for understanding
the origins of the archival impulse,the rationale for building the collections and the practices that shaped the
collectionsduring the first decade of the organization’s history.
Findings –The historicalanalysis of the Gerber/Hart library and archives situatescommunity archives and
LGBTQ collections within the broader historical context that lead to the founding of the organization and
reveals deep connections to the information professions not previously considered by those studying
communityarchives.
Originality/value –The paper offers a reconceptualization of community archives as archival projects
initiated, controlledand maintained by the members of a self-defined community.The authors emphasize the
role of the archival impulse or the historical origins of the collection and the necessity for full-community
control, setting clear boundaries between community archives andother participatory archival models that
engage the community.
Keywords Libraries, Community archives, Archival history, Archival impulse,
Autonomous collections, LGBTQ+collections
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
All over the place, folks were looking for ways to preserve a record of our past, of our history as a
people and as a community. We were driven in part by the conviction that knowing our history
would contribute to making us a people and a community [...] All of this was happening on the
margins of the academic world, outside the walls of the great libraries and archives in the United
States. –John D’Emilio, In A New Century.
Community archives have quicklybecome a new subject of study for archival scholars. The
literature abounds with case studies of collections housed within community spaces and
built in partnership with community members as participatory projects in institutional
archives. Many of these case studies are focused on LGBTQ collections. The Lesbian
Herstory Archives (Thistlethwaite, 2000), Canadian Gay Archives(Barriault, 2009), ruckus!
archive project (Campbell and Stevens, 2009) and the Lavender Library, Archives and
Cultural Exchange (Wakimotoet al., 2013b), serve as the exemplary case studies of LGBTQ
Gerber/Hart
library and
archives in
Chicago
689
Received15 February 2019
Revised20 April 2019
Accepted23 April 2019
GlobalKnowledge, Memory and
Communication
Vol.68 No. 8/9, 2019
pp. 689-702
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2514-9342
DOI 10.1108/GKMC-02-2019-0023
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