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Winter Closure

Multiple Danforth campus libraries will be closed and inaccessible to patrons from December 21 until January 2. Read on for more details. 

Chris Jackson standing in the back of a theater.
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John M. Olin Library, Level 1, Julian Edison Department of Special Collections Reading Room

Chris Jackson and Chrystal Jackson: Somewhere in the Stars

Washington University in St. Louis alumnus (1981) Chris Jackson authored and produced numerous musical shows and productions in St. Louis, the Midwest, and New York. His theatrical work drew heavily on his life experiences, emphasizing St. Louis. By the mid-1980s, more of Jackson’s productions had begun to focus on LGBTQ topics, such as Three Boys, staged at St. Marcus Theater.

A prolific composer, many remember Chris for his popular cabarets, including Normal Is The Setting On My Dryer, held in 2000 at Balaban’s. Many productions were offered as fundraisers for St. Louis Effort for AIDS (EFA) and similar organizations.

Close friend Ed Golterman salvaged and saved Chris’s materials after his death in 2007, and the WashU Libraries are grateful for his efforts to ensure that this history of LGBTQ culture and musical theater is preserved.

Chris Jackson standing in front of the Edison Theater.
Chris Jackson standing in front of the Edison Theater.

This exhibition is dedicated to Ed Golterman, Chris’s fellow performer and close friend, who preserved the collection and donated it to Washington University in 2022.

This exhibition was curated and organized by Curator of Local History Miranda Rectenwald for WashU Libraries and designed by Exhibitions Graphic Designer & Preparator Ian Lanius. Special thanks go to: Curator of Art at Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Carolyn Russo, WashU Libraries Music and Special Collections Catalog Librarian Mark Scharf, and WashU Libraries Music Librarian Brad Short.