Join us for an archive party at Dorothy to help add to the Dorothy Living Archive Collection! Enby Night attendees can bring zines, poems, pictures, or anything else they’d like to contribute to the collection. Gerber/Hart will have a display of trans and non-binary materials from the library and materials for attendees to create zines and artwork at the event.
The Dorothy Living Archive collection is a collaboration with Gerber/Hart Library and Archive that celebrates Dorothy’s culture of live performance, queer art, and indelible existence as a lesbian bar.
Doors at 6pm at Dorothy (2500 W Chicago Ave) with a one hour happy hour until 7pm. Dorothy remains open until last call at 11pm.
About the Dorothy Living Archive Project:
Led by Gerber/Hart volunteer Kaitlyn Griffith, this innovative collection encompasses physical artifacts like menus, event flyers, matchbooks, and photobooth photos, along with digital records, including performance photos, promotional graphics, and event planning materials. A team of volunteers has been recording performances, preserving Dorothy’s unique blend of burlesque, live music, stage performance, open mics, and more. These recordings will serve as a rare and invaluable resource in queer history, especially in the growing face of anti-drag and anti-trans legislation.
This event, and future events like it, will help this collection grow. We’re beginning to crowdsource contributions from Dorothy’s community, inviting patrons to share their memories, reflections, photos, and personal artifacts to paint a multidimensional portrait of this cherished institution. The archive will take shape over the next few months, hopefully establishing a sustainable model for documenting queer performance spaces like Dorothy and potentially inspiring similar collections with other venues. This project, and your contribution it, ensures the story of Dorothy and its community remains accessible for generations to come.