Windy City Times is celebrating 40 years of publishing LGBTQ+ news with an exhibit at Gerber Hart Library & Archives showcasing how the paper has evolved over time and survived in an ever-changing media landscape.
The exhibit titled “Windy City Times @ 40: Breaking News, Breaking Silence” opened May 30 and it will be on display at Gerber Hart Library & Archives, 6500 N. Clark St., through January 2026.
During the exhibit’s opening reception, owner and co-founder of Windy City Times, Tracy Baim, spoke with historian John D’Emilio about the paper’s longtime role in capturing the “first draft of LGBTQ+ history,” in spite of funding difficulties, evolving news mediums, and health crises ranging from HIV/AIDS to COVID-19.
Baim said she has always felt she has no choice other than to do what she can to preserve the stories of queer Chicagoans and she sees that same dedication in the hundreds of contributors who have worked for the paper since its inception.
“It’s pretty overwhelming to see everything in one room,” Baim said. “It feels like many different lifetimes of mine in that 40 years. I think of all the people who didn’t make it, who helped co-found the paper, who wrote for it, photographed for it, the people we covered over the years. I feel very fortunate to be around and to be able to acknowledge all of the people who played a role in it.”
Founded in September 1985, thousands of issues of Windy City Times helped to document the rise of Chicago’s LGBTQ+ movement, from the fight for gay rights to the battles against HIV/AIDS, the rise of trans organizing, to the push for visibility by lesbians and people of color, Gerber Hart’s website reads.
The exhibit highlights dozens of covers from Windy City Times and its associated newsletters, including Outlines, BLACKLines, En La Vida and Nightlines. There are also iterms that have never been displayed publicly, including photos from the 1987 March on Washington and some of the first major responses to HIV/AIDS in Chicago as well as buttons, posters, t-shirts and other artifacts.
“I would say the exhibit is a culmination of about five years of work trying to get this stuff digitized, and then we had about six months to put it all together,” Baim said. “The folks at Gerber Hart have been amazing to work with, they were really helpful in making it work. The exhibit has a touch of everything, like it’s a taste of the last 40 years.”
To learn more about the exhibit, visit Gerber Hart’s website.
Photos by Kayleigh Padar
The post Gerber Hart showcases 40 years of Windy City Times’ ‘first draft of history’ appeared first on Windy City Times.