This Women’s History Month, the GLBT Historical Society is thrilled to present Directory of Dreams: Bay Area Lesbian Economies and Radical Care, 1970–1995—a new exhibition tracing the everyday efforts of Bay Area lesbians who refused erasure and built community networks rooted in care, solidarity, and economic self-determination.
Curated and co-presented by the Bay Area Lesbian Archives (BALA), the exhibition documents a remarkable chapter in Bay Area history—one built from the ground up through women-run cafés, bookstores, credit unions, and print shops that became networks of mutual aid sustaining entire communities.
“We felt this was a timely exhibition because we are once again living in a moment when queer and lesbian communities are being asked to survive systems that were not built for us,” says BALA Executive Director Kerby Lynch, PhD. “These histories are not just stories from the past. They are blueprints for how we build, care for one another, and sustain our institutions now.”
At the heart of the exhibition are self-published directories, photographs, maps, flyers, menus, and ephemera connecting people to jobs, housing, political spaces, and affirming services in a society that often denied them all.
“This exhibition offers a vivid picture of how lesbians sustained one another and their communities through ingenuity, collaboration, shared purpose, and care for one another,” says Elena Gross, Director of Exhibitions & Public Programs at the GLBT Historical Society. “Our partnership with the Bay Area Lesbian Archives has been invaluable in surfacing materials that reflect both the everyday labor of these women and their steadfast collective vision for a brighter, more prosperous future.”
Directory of Dreams opens Thursday, March 12, at the GLBT Historical Society Museum in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood. For hours, admission, and visitor information, visit https://bit.ly/3NuCRaJ
Community Treasures From the GLBT Historical Society Archives
Published on March 12, 2026
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