Events

ABOUT PQHP EVENTS

The PQHP offers a variety of programs for community engagement with archives, artist collaboration, and skill sharing.

MS89 is a series of in-person nightclub archives screening events organized by Pittsburgh Queer History Project and co-hosted by LGBTQ elders with first hand experience of never-before or rarely seen archival materials. MS89 is redesigning community archival practice, driven by a collective desire for a shared history, creating diverse and intergenerational audiences who reinterpret this history through theatrical and participatory social events. 

MOST RECENT

May

02

Fri

2025

MS89: “Lesbian Punk Pgh” in collaboration SHAG

DM Instagram @SHAGPGH for Location

MS89+SHAG co-hosted by HARRIET STEIN! Join us in one of Pittsburgh’s favorite DIY clubs for live animation by Lauren Hortie and Sonya Reynolds, illustrating Harriet’s stories about lesbian punk filmmaker ecstasy and endurance in the Steel City….

PAST EVENTS

Oct

18

Fri

2024

Miss 89: “GOGO” in collaboration with Fungus Books

700 1/2 Trenton Avenue

A Very Special Screening of “Amateur Strip Night” from the Scott Noxon Video Collection at the Pittsburgh Queer History Project. This event is dedicated to the dancers on the second floor of Lucky’s where there are no cameras allowed while they’re on the bar.

Apr

25

Thu

2024

MS89: “Queen of the Megamix with special guest host Milan Tre’Zur”

Carnegie Museum of Art Heinz Architectural Center

This event celebrates the friendship between Milan and DJ Jimmy Lewis in a step towards recognizing the broad impact of performance and music generated by Pittsburgh’s Black LGBTQ artists in nightlife.

Nov

02

Thu

2023

MS89: WENDI MILLER NIGHT!

Harris Theater, 809 Liberty

Wendi Miller Night is one-night only screening and exhibition tracing the impact of the Owner of Miller Frame, trans-activist, filmmaker, and loving parent Wendi Miller. 

Jul

14

Fri

2023

Miss 89: Norm Tapes

Contemporary Craft @sccpgh

Being played for the first time, the Norm Tape Collection is an autobiographical erotic audio project documenting discreet anonymous sex between men in Pennsylvania and New York through the 1980s. 

Jun

29

Thu

2023

Miss 89: MS.PITTSBURGH LEATHER 1997

Warhol Museum

MS 89 returns to the Warhol Theater on Thursday June 29th at 6pm with a screening of Ms Pittsburgh Leather 1997.
Featuring an appearance by the contest winner herself, Tammy Resnick. 25 years since her year of service to community and kink, the PQHP are sharing one of many local leather stories.

Feb

24

Fri

2023

Miss 89: Miss Fifteen Minutes of Fame with Jezebel D’Opulence

Warhol Museum

MS 89 is BACK with a special screening of the Andy Warhol Museum’s 1995 Miss Fifteen Minutes of Fame Pageant, co-hosted by Harrison Apple (Pittsburgh Queer History Project) and former contestant Jezebel Bebbington D’Opulence (The Puerto Rican Princess of Pittsburgh). Join us for a once in a life-time community nightclub archives event, taking place in the Warhol Museum Theater where the pageant played out almost 30 years ago.

Dec

5

Fri

2022

MS89: Gay Cable Network + Tara Mateik

Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University

The MS89 screening series with the Pittsburgh Queer History Project is back! Join us for a screening of the 1988 City Council fight for anti-discrimination laws in Pittsburgh.

Oct

13

Fri

2022

Miss 89: Cold Hearted Snake with Jazmine Butterfly

Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University

Join us in the STUDIO on October 13 at 6PM for “Cold Hearted Snake” a screening of the 1995 Valentines Day Fundraiser at Lucky’s in the Strip for the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force (now known as Allies Health). This screening’s featured guest host is Pittsburgh-based HIV/AIDS awareness advocate and Trans rights activist Jazmine Butterfly. All are welcome to join us for popcorn, history, and a chance to learn from Jazmine who also happens to be on tape setting the air on fire with her performance of Paula Abdul’s “Cold Hearted Snake.”

Sep

9

Fri

2022

MS’ 89: Screening Series with the Pittsburgh Queer History Project

Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University

Join us in the STUDIO on Friday September 9th at 6:30 PM for the first in a series of nightclub community archives screenings supported by the STUDIO and the Pittsburgh Queer History Project. Motivated by a critical approaches to community archives prioritizing in-person and intimate environments for passing on knowledge, the STUDIO is hosting public and free screenings beginning with the Miss Pittsburgh 1989 Pageant.

Oct

26

Sat

2013

One More Time: Old School Ball

Bulgarian Macedonian National Culture and Education Center

On October 26th 2013 at 7pm, a crowd of 70+ gathered into the warm social hall in West Homestead to honor a little known lineage in Pittsburgh. The event was a drag ball, and the honorees, a pair of senior citizen female impersonators.