An exhibition celebrating the history of lesbian pulp fiction, along with a recognition on the continued harms of censorship with book bans, are part of upcoming showcases starting this week in Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Morris Library.
The collaboration recognizes both LGBTQ+ History Month in October and Banned Books Week, which is Oct. 5-11. All of the events are free and open to the public.
“As efforts to censor books continue, it is important for libraries to demonstrate our commitment to providing our patrons with access to all kinds of knowledge, especially materials that speak to lived experience,” said Anne Marie Hamilton-Brehm, associate dean for Library Affairs directing the Special Collections Research Center (SCRC).
The exhibition featuring gay literature through the years will be in the library’s Hall of Presidents and Chancellors throughout the month. On Saturday, Oct. 4, Juniper Oxford, program coordinator with SIU’s Paulette Curkin Pride Resource Center, will host a discussion on the exhibition “Of Love Forbidden: An Exhibit of Lesbian and Gay Literature.”
The event, from 1-3 p.m. in the Hall of Presidents and Chancellors, is designed for visitors to view the exhibition, which includes books and writings prior to a discussion on points of interest.
The talk will include “the historical significance and the importance of preserving queer literature” through the Pride Resource Center and SCRC, Oxford said.
The books in the exhibition, primarily lesbian literature of the 1950s and 1960s, are donated by Cheryl Broadie, a longtime local LGBTQ+ community member and Southern Illinois Queer Archive volunteer, Oxford said. Broadie is also working with the Curkin Pride Resource Center to scan and digitize photographs she had taken of Mainstreet East, a gay bar from Carbondale, from 1984 to 1988. The exhibition will also show books from another local community member, Wayne Larsen, who has donated gay comic books from the 1980s and 1990s, Oxford said.
The Curkin Center and SCRC “are really excited to be showing these recent acquisitions for the Southern Illinois Queer Archive,” Oxford said.
“This growing collection is a testament to the importance of preserving queer stories for future generations and gives an indication of what kind of information from outside Southern Illinois reached the eyes and ears of those who experienced queer life in the region in the 1980s and 1990s.”
Oxford also noted that another exhibition, “Queer Stories, Queer Spaces: Southern Illinois Histories and Queertographies,” is also available for viewing in Sharp Museum’s West Gallery through Oct. 31.
Challenges to books becoming organized
According to data from the American Library Association (ALA), in 2024, 2,452 unique titles were challenged in 5,813 documented incidents, with a majority of challenges targeting public and school libraries, said Hamilton-Brehm.
“Book challenges by constituencies have become 100 times more prevalent than the average number through 2020,” she said. And unlike previous years when the challenges “largely originated from individuals,” nearly 72% of censorship attempts in 2024 were organized campaigns to sway decision makers.
Here is ALA’s list of the most challenged books for 2024.
Hamilton-Brehm also said ALA reported that the most common arguments for censorship in 2024 were false claims of illegal obscenity for minors, inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters or themes, and topics of race, racism, equity and social justice.
In June 2023, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation outlawing book bans in Illinois, becoming the first in the nation to do so. Morris Library has incorporated the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights into its mission statement.
McCoy First Amendment Collection
Morris Library’s Freedom of the Press collection was established by the library’s first director and journalism professor Ralph E. McCoy. Preserved and made accessible by SCRC, the collection consists of thousands of books, pamphlets, manuscripts and letters that document the history of censorship in the English-speaking world over the last four centuries. Morris Library purchased McCoy’s renowned collection in 1981. Every year, challenged books and books that support underserved communities are added to the McCoy collection.
Hamilton-Brehm noted uncensored access to literature in the U.S. was supported by the landmark 1933 trial court ruling that James Joyce’s “Ulysses" was not obscene, allowing it to be published in the United States and opening up freedom of expression.” SCRC preserves two copies of the first printing of “Ulysses,” published in Paris by Sylvia Beach in 1922, a year after it was declared obscene and banned from the U.S., along with a copy that was smuggled into the country using a false cover labeled “Ulysses S. Grant.”
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