Located in Edgewater above a clinic of the LGBTQ-focused Howard Brown Health, Gerber/Hart contains about 160 collections in an estimated thousand linear feet of shelving, according to Brant. “I don’t know how they got around the Rolling Stones trademark,” jokes Wil Brant, the director of Gerber/Hart, of the Carol’s tongue. Now it is located in the Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, which collects and preserves items, papers, and books related to the culture and history of LGBTQ peoples in Chicago and the Midwest. The insouciant mouth used to hang in Carol’s Speakeasy, a legendary Old Town gay bar opened by the “mother of all drag queens,” Mother Carol, who was known for brashly sticking out her tongue. It’s sort of like the Sistine Chapel, same thing.”
Nor do you expect to hear the director of a library and archive explain that he once cleaned accumulated smoke and dirt off said tongue, “somewhat ironically with a toothbrush and soapy water. You don’t expect to see an outrageously sized fabric tongue greet you from between sparkly plastic lips when you enter the staid shelves of an archive. Plus, stream Out & Proud in Chicago, a history of Chicago’s LGBTQ communities. Explore LGBTQ stories in Midwestern and rural America in Out in Rural America, which airs on WTTW and at /live Thursday, June 24 at 9:30 pm.
