Chicago Collections at the Newberry

 propose to present the Chicago related collections available at the Newberry Library. Chicago oriented material is evident in nearly all of our core collections. Collection examples are:

• Railroads – Pullman Company, CB&Q, Illinois Central, including operations, employee

records, board meeting minutes, etc.

• Writers – authors, journalists, poets

• Performing Arts – theater programs, music, Chicago Dance

• Genealogy and Local History - City Directories, neighborhood histories, biography and

industry, labor history, newspapers, church and cemetery records, architecture, pre-fire

photographs, maps, World’s Columbian Exposition, activism

• Wing Foundation – Chicago-based publishing houses and type foundries

• Ayer Collection – maps of local indigenous peoples (Potowatami, Ojibwe, Sauk) and

linguistic material

• Postcards – Curt Teich and others

The audience will take away a deeper understanding of the Newberry’s collections as they

relate to Chicago, and have a greater appreciation of the diverse offerings available in Chicago

studies.


Graham Greer (Newberry Library)