The Museum's archives and manuscript holdings include records produced by individuals, businesses, and organizations in the Chicago metropolitan area. The collection documents many aspects of life in the city, from its earliest days to the present.

The collection is particularly informative on the Chicago area's early history, social conditions and problems, 20th-century neighborhood life, community organizations, African American history, ethnic history, women's history, civil liberties and civil rights, politics, religious-centered social action, labor unions, environmental concerns, teachers, and school reformers.

Types of Documents

Letters, account books, diaries, journals, certificates, genealogical charts, licenses, log books, membership lists, memoirs, memoranda, minutes, muster rolls, research notes, scrapbooks, scripts, sermons, speeches, subscription lists, and even telegrams are found in our collection.

Major Collections

Large collections include office files from:

• Claude A. Barnett, director of the Associated Negro Press, 1918-67
• Board of Lady Managers of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893
• Chicago Division of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, 1925-69
• Alderman Leon M. Despres, 1929-82
• Senator Paul H. Douglas, 1932-71
• Illinois Manufacturers' Association, 1893-1986
• Sterling Morton and the Morton Family, 1814-1953
• Open Lands Project, 1961-75
• District 31 of the United Steelworkers of America, 1934-79
• University of Chicago Settlement and Mary McDowell, 1894-1968
• Wieboldt Stores, Inc., and Mandel Brothers, 1892-1958
• Young Men's Christian Association of Chicago, 1853-1978

Sound Collections

The collection also includes a large number of sound recordings of radio programs, oral history interviews, speeches, and proceedings, including:

• Oral History Archives of Chicago Polonia interviews done in the mid-1970s
• Interviews of Chicago-area journalists by students in Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, 1975-present
• Problems of the City radio programs, 1970-91
• Bill Cameron's The Reporters radio shows, 1978-93

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