Louis "Studs" Terkel, 1912–2008

Distinguished Scholar-In-Residence, Chicago History Museum, 1998–2008

• In the Spirit of Studs Terkel
• Studs and the Chicago History Museum
• The WFMT/Studs Terkel Archive
• A Studs Terkel Gallery on Flickr
  

In the Spirit of Studs Terkel

Studs Terkel is regarded as the great spiritual father of oral history. A self-avowed Luddite, who was never technically proficient with a tape recorder, his ongoing legacy is built instead on his interview style and two powerful convictions that informed them: First, that the common person had profound experiences in everyday life and could speak about them in a compelling and illuminating fashion if they were asked; and second, that the American people deserved to have a voice and share with their fellow citizens their different perspectives about social injustice, civic issues, intolerance, and personal struggles.

This notion of having everyday people speak about their lives and comment about America's unfulfilled promise makes Studs Terkel unique as an observer and documenter of the 20th and 21st centuries. Stud's brand of oral history was to marry the approach of the Federal Writer's Project life histories with the events that define a generation—Hard Times, The Good War—or the enduring issues that every generation has to grapple with—work, race, family, aging, and death. Guided by his eclectic interest in culture and society and his burning curiosity about the world, Studs engaged in a lifelong conversation with America that has earned him accolades far and wide as the nation’s most prolific oral historian.

Studs and the Chicago History Museum

In 1995 the Chicago History Museum honored Studs Terkel with the Joseph Medill History Maker Award for Distinction in Journalism and Communication. His achievements as a radio news commentator, sportscaster, disc jockey, radio program host (he received the Prix Italia, three Armstrong Awards, and the George Foster Peabody Award for the Studs Terkel Show on WFMT Radio), and as a Pulitzer Prize-winning author have distinguished Studs as one of Chicago's most accomplished citizens. His distinctive voice and his eloquent use of language commanded respect and inspired affection from all quarters of Chicago, his adopted city.

The WFMT/Studs Terkel Archive

The Museum owns approximately 5,500 reels (more than 6,000 hours) of sound recordings of the Studs Terkel Program (1952–97), donated to the Chicago Historical Society by Studs Terkel and WFMT and the Radio Networks in 1998, as well as office files related to his work at WFMT. These recordings and archives comprise the WFMT/Studs Terkel Archive. The Museum also has typed transcripts of interviews by Studs that he used in writing his books Division Street, Hard Times, and Working, as well as edited drafts of the manuscripts for these books. The Studs Terkel Collection also includes correspondence, press clippings, miscellaneous office files, and approximately 2,150 sound recordings of interviews excerpted in the books Division Street, Hard Times, Working, The Good War, American Dreams Lost and Found, and Coming of Age. After donating his radio interviews and his book project papers and interviews, Studs served as Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at the Museum until his death at age 96.