Browse Items (103 total)

"Among the most popular Dill Pickle Club events were its frequent masquerade balls. These events appealed to a broad range of partygoers, allowing wealthy residents of the Gold Coast to mingle in relative anonymity with working people and artists.…

Stead's If Christ Came to Chicago opened with a foldout juxtaposing an image of Christ and the money changers with this map of the block bounded by Clark, Dearborn, Harrison, and Polk Streets in Chicago's First Ward. The map both illustrated many of…

View of the Jewel Box Revue, a traveling drag review held at Robert's Show Lounge, 6622 South Park Way (now King Drive), Chicago. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

View of the Jewel Box Revue, a traveling drag review held at Robert's Show Lounge, 6622 South Park Way (now King Drive), Chicago. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

View of the Jewel Box Revue, a traveling drag review held at Robert's Show Lounge, 6622 South Park Way (now King Drive), Chicago. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

View of the Jewel Box Revue, a traveling drag review held at Robert's Show Lounge, 6622 South Park Way (now King Drive), Chicago. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

View of the Jewel Box Revue, a traveling drag review held at Robert's Show Lounge, 6622 South Park Way (now King Drive), Chicago. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

View of the Jewel Box Revue, a traveling drag review held at Robert's Show Lounge, 6622 South Park Way (now King Drive), Chicago. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

View of the Jewel Box Revue, a traveling drag review held at Robert's Show Lounge, 6622 South Park Way (now King Drive), Chicago. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

View of the Jewel Box Revue, a traveling drag review held at Robert's Show Lounge, 6622 South Park Way (now King Drive), Chicago. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

View of the Jewel Box Revue, a traveling drag review held at Robert's Show Lounge, 6622 South Park Way (now King Drive), Chicago. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

View of the Jewel Box Revue, a traveling drag review held at Robert's Show Lounge, 6622 South Park Way (now King Drive), Chicago. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

View of the Jewel Box Revue, a traveling drag review held at Robert's Show Lounge, 6622 South Park Way (now King Drive), Chicago. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

View of the Jewel Box Revue, a traveling drag review held at Robert's Show Lounge, 6622 South Park Way (now King Drive), Chicago. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

A speakeasy, little bohemia that attracted "free-thinking" people and was the site of a lot of prostitution and female impersonation

An image of Garrick Theatre (May 1958, Chicago Tribune) where Vesta Tilley, male impersonator, performed male and female roles in the play "Algy" in October 1903

A layout of Haymarket Theatre, a place where Vesta Tilley, male impersonator, was voted best dressed man in Chicago (1903) but also performed here in March 1898.

an image of male impersonator Hetty King

Female impersonator appearances (1882)

Opened in 1969 and still in service, this one of the oldest drag bars in the city (cited in a publication in 1975 for having "female impersonators")

View of the Jewel Box Revue, a traveling drag review held at Robert's Show Lounge, 6622 South Park Way (now King Drive), Chicago. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

View of guests attending the Beaux Arts Ball at the Ambassador West Hotel, 1300 North State Parkway, Chicago, 1958. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

View of guests attending the Beaux Arts Ball at the Ambassador West Hotel, 1300 North State Parkway, Chicago, 1958. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

View of guests attending the Beaux Arts Ball at the Ambassador West Hotel, 1300 North State Parkway, Chicago, 1958. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

View of guests attending the Beaux Arts Ball at the Ambassador West Hotel, 1300 North State Parkway, Chicago, 1958. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

View of guests attending the Beaux Arts Ball at the Ambassador West Hotel, 1300 North State Parkway, Chicago, 1958. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

View of guests attending the Beaux Arts Ball at the Ambassador West Hotel, 1300 North State Parkway, Chicago, 1958. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

View of guests attending the Beaux Arts Ball at the Ambassador West Hotel, 1300 North State Parkway, Chicago, 1958. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.

View of guests attending the Beaux Arts Ball at the Ambassador West Hotel, 1300 North State Parkway, Chicago, 1958. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago's gay community.