Page 12 – Chicago History Museum

Experience the duality of feeling a deep connection to two places at once through firsthand storytelling.

CHICAGO (April 19, 2023) – Through the lens of Chicago’s Polish communities, the Chicago History Museum invites guests to experience the journeys immigrants have taken to get to our city. Including the ways people established themselves as a community in area neighborhoods and the duality of feeling a deep connection to two places at once. Back Home: Polish Chicago opens at the Chicago History Museum May 20, 2023.

“We hope that visitors will see Polish Chicago history as dynamic and ongoing and find stories in the exhibition that resonate with them,” says Peter Alter exhibition curator and Chief Historian at the Chicago History Museum. Chicago History Museum Project Historian Dominic Pacyga says, “Most Chicagoans know that the city has long had a large Polish population, but few realize Polonia’s long and complex history. This exhibition will allow Polish Americans and others to not simply celebrate the past, but to understand it, and place the Polish Chicago experience within a larger historical context. The extensive collection of artifacts, illustrations, maps, and personal histories in exhibit all help to illuminate this fascinating history.”

Back Home: Polish Chicago is a social history of Chicagoland’s Polish communities that uses first-person narratives and experiences to interpret over 150 years of history. Visitors will be able to listen to oral history snippets in a music and interview kiosk and read Polish Chicagoans’ words throughout the gallery, including in large wall quotations and in explanatory text. Art installations from five local Polish artists will also be incorporated. These art thresholds are placed throughout the exhibition between thematic sections and represent a culturally potent visual metaphor for the theme of moving between states of being, in the duality of Polish American identity and experience.

The exhibition will travel to Warsaw, Poland after showing at CHM. Polish History Museum Project Historian Joanna Wojdon says of this partnership, “The exhibition offers an opportunity to bring together the Polish and American experiences of the Polish American community of Chicago.” Photographs from the Dwell Studio project Kalejdoskop Polski, highlighting prominent members of Chicago’s Polish community will also be shown. When borrowing artifacts from families, organizations, and individuals for display, CHM has worked very closely with the lenders to make sure their stories and those of their ancestors are accurately and respectfully represented.

Members of the media are invited to preview the exhibition and interview the curators the week prior to opening. Visits can be scheduled for May 15-19 from 9:00am-5:00pm with Public Communications Manager, Veronica Casados at casados@chicagohistory.org.

Back Home: Polish Chicago is a collaborative project and oral history initiative with the Polish History Museum (Warsaw, Poland), Polish Museum of America, and Loyola University Chicago Polish Studies program.

Access the media kit: https://app.box.com/s/eyj7h9gmscmii5m8zf4qy690het7b1cb

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The appearance of pink and white cherry blossoms in Chicago’s Jackson Park marks an end to winter and ushers in a long-awaited spring. In this blog post, CHM curatorial intern Eva Mazzeno talks about the history behind those trees and Chicago’s connections to Japan and Shintō.

Entrance to Garden of the Phoenix and cherry blossoms blooming at Jackson Park, 2023. Photographs by Rebekah Coffman

In Chicago’s Jackson Park, Wooded Island has served as a center of Japanese architecture and culture since the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition (WCE). There you can find nearly 190 cherry blossom, or sakura, trees, which the nonprofit Project 120 and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Chicago (JCCC) planted between 2013 to 2016 to mark the 120th anniversary of that world’s fair and the 50th anniversary of JCCC’s founding of in 1966. Each spring, the blossoms invite visitors to engage in hanami, the traditional art of flower viewing.

Construction on the Japanese Wooded Island for the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1892. CHM, ICHi-023716

Chicago’s connections with Japan date back to 1893, as Japan was one of the first foreign supporters of the WCE, contributing around $600,000 in total, and the Japanese Pavilion, or Hō-ō-den, was a stunning architectural contribution. Twenty-four highly skilled Japanese carpenters constructed the pavilion using prefabricated materials shipped directly from Japan as a replica of Byōdō-in, a Buddhist temple in Kyōto. The pavilion was gifted to the city of Chicago as a permanent installation—one of only a handful of permanent structures in the fair.

The Japanese Hō-ō-den Temple Complex at the World’s Columbian Exposition, 1893. CHM, ICHi-031718; John George M. Glessner, photographer

People at the Japanese Hō-ō-den, World’s Columbian Exposition, 1893. CHM, ICHi-020829

Several Japanese delegates also took part in the Parliament of the World’s Religions, the world’s first interfaith gathering of its kind. While most participating Asian nations sent only one or two members, Japan boasted several delegates representing the nation’s two major religions: Buddhism and Shintō. Varying schools of Buddhism can be found across the globe, but Shintō’s roots are solely within Japan. Shintō is the worship of kami—sometimes translated as “spirits”—which can be found in nature and the “heart-mind” of humans.

“An Actual Scene at One of the Sessions of the Parliament” from The World’s Parliament of Religions: An Illustrated and Popular Story, Chicago, 1893. CHM, ICHi-062640

Buddhism and Shintō had long coexisted in Japan, but two governmental decrees in 1868 and 1871 drastically shifted religious practices by officially separating Buddhism from Shintō. Buddhists were ordered to operate their own temples, and Shintō practices abandoned any usage of Buddhist terminology. As a result, by the time of the 1893 world’s fair, Japanese Buddhists were eager to firmly establish themselves both nationally and internationally and shape global perceptions of Buddhism. All but one of Japan’s delegates to the Parliament were Buddhists, with only Reiichi Shibata to represent Shintō.

Reiichi Shibata, c. 1900. From Brochure for Jikko-Kyo Shintōism. Courtesy of IMAI Koichi.

Reiichi Shibata (1840–1920) was the second high priest and president of the Jikkōkyō sect of Kyōha Shintō from the Shibata family, inheriting the position in 1890 after the death of his father, Hanamori Shibata. Shibata had been president of the Jikkōkyō sect for just three years by the time of the WCE, taking the reins of one of Shintō’s largest denominations just before its debut on the global stage. Unlike many of the other religions presented at the Parliament, Shintō was almost entirely unfamiliar to American audiences, and it faced sharp scrutiny and racist criticism upon its introduction. Shibata did not engage with accusations, instead choosing to present Shintō in the context of the Parliament’s greater goal “to bring the nations of the Earth into more friendly fellowship, in the hope of securing permanent international peace.”

Upon his return to Japan, Shibata continued to advocate for world peace, especially through the creation of a unified body for international cooperation and the furthering of the growing interfaith movement. He assisted with the founding of the Shintō Dōshikai—now called the Kyōha Shintō Federation—in 1895, an intrafaith coalition of Shintō sects, in which he actively participated until his death. Today, the Shibata family still leads Jikkōkyō Shintō, and Reiichi Shibata is widely credited for his many significant advancements in global Shintō visibility and participation in intra- and interfaith movements.

Sky Landing by Yoko Ono on the original site of Hō-ō-den, 2023. Photograph by Rebekah Coffman

Wooded Island has undergone significant changes since the WCE. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Hō-ō-den fell into disrepair, and in 1946, it was destroyed completely in an arson attack. In the decades after, however, efforts were made to revitalize the island. Today, Sky Landing (2016), a sculpture by Yoko Ono, Japanese artist and musician, can be found there. Since 1973, Chicago and Ōsaka—Japan’s second largest city—have shared a sister city relationship, opening the door to additional transnational cultural and economic opportunities.

Ginza Holiday, Chicago, c. 1962. CHM, ICHi-111463, Raeburn Flerlage, photographer

Every year, Chicago’s Midwest Buddhist Temple hosts the Ginza Holiday, a celebration of Japanese culture and arts. In the 130 years since Reiichi Shibata’s visit, Chicago’s Japanese American community has thrived, becoming an irreplaceable piece of the city.

Chicago History Museum Opens Digitial Access to the Sun-Times Collection

The photography collection spanning 75+ years of Chicago history is now available to the public.

CHICAGO (April 12, 2023) – In 2018 the Chicago History Museum acquired a Chicago Sun-Times photography collection of over 5 million images spanning over 75 years of Chicago history. It is one of the largest newspaper photograph collections ever acquired by an American museum. The collection consists primarily of 35-millimeter negatives and digital images documenting events from as early as the 1940s through the 2000s. To ensure long-term preservation and access, the Museum worked closely with the Chicago Sun-Times to acquire the collection, which was sold by private collectors. Since the acquisition CHM staff have been working hard to make these pieces of history publicly available. Today, the Museum is excited to announce that the public can access online approximately 2 million of the 5+ million images the Museum acquired in 2018. The remaining digital images in the collection will be added over the next few months and by the end of June 2023, the remaining 600,000 images will be available for research use online. An additional 2.4 million physical negatives will be available to view in person, by appointment and advance request, at the Abakanowicz Research Center.

“Digital materials are often even more expensive and time-consuming to care for than their physical counterparts. A collection of this size and complexity requires a deep commitment, not just of resources but also from staff, to steward it over years of work,” says Julie Wroblewski, Director of Collections. “The Chicago Sun-Times is noted for the work of its photographers, and the breadth and quality of these images is unparalleled. It means a great deal to the Museum and the archival staff that our work ensures the long-term preservation and public accessibility of these materials.”

You can learn more about accessing the digital collection at this link. Visitors to the Museum can also see highlights in the exhibition Millions of Moments: The Chicago Sun-Times Photo Collection, which features 150 images. Showing at the Museum until September 2023.

Highlights from the collection include:

Early events of the Civil Rights era, including school busing, segregated housing, Black Panther activities, and notable leaders in Chicago such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali, Dick Gregory and Jesse Jackson

Local and national politics, including activities of Chicago mayors Richard J. Daley, Richard M. Daley, Harold Washington and Jane Byrne; party conventions; and presidential visits
Sporting events, including Chicago’s professional teams, university sports, high school athletics and Special Olympics
Built environment, including South and West Side neighborhood scenes, iconic architecture and public housing
The work of several award-winning photographers, including Pulitzer Prize winners Jack Dykinga (1971) and John H. White (1982); Bob Black, winner of the 1984 World Press Photo award in the Daily Life, Singles category; and Pablo Martínez Monsiváis, who later won a Pulitzer Prize (1999) as an Associated Press photographer.

Processing of the Chicago Sun-Times collection is generously supported by the TAWANI Foundation, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, and Bon and Holly French. Funding for Millions of Moments provided by Jamee & Marshall Field V and DePaul University.

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In 2018, the Chicago History Museum acquired the Chicago Sun-Times photography collection, which spans from the 1940s to the early 2000s—one of the largest newspaper photograph collections ever acquired by an American museum. In this blog post, CHM metadata librarian Izzy Westcott explains how the massive collection was processed and made searchable to the public.

An example of metadata (in red box) as seen on our online image portal, CHM Images. Hot air balloons lift into the air in Grant Park for a race, Chicago, August 19, 1979. ST-60001758-0031, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM

1. What is your role at the Museum and how did you contribute to the Chicago Sun-Times collection project?

As the metadata librarian for the Chicago Sun-Times photography collection, I reviewed, edited, and organized collection’s descriptive metadata (information about the content of the materials). This included the creation of publicly accessible Airtable databases, which act as inventories for more than 2.5 million images.

I started this year-long position in spring 2022, and after familiarizing myself with the history of the collection and Airtable itself, I got to work cleaning and enhancing the collection’s metadata. Thanks to the many interns and staff who contributed to this project before me, a significant portion of the collection had already been enhanced, with precise descriptions, topic assignments, and location data. I continued this work by using Airtable’s features to move systematically through the collection. I tracked my progress as I reviewed date and topic fields, assigned topics and addresses, and enhanced or adjusted descriptions. I worked through the collection to tackle as much as possible, while also acknowledging that, due to the volume of the collection, I would not be able to review or enhance every job.

In addition to enhancing metadata, I also created publicly accessible databases in Airtable where researchers can search for images and access links to digital image files. This process involved combining sets of metadata that had previously been separated and performing user testing to evaluate the databases. Lastly, with the help of colleagues, I created the Sun-Times Collection research guide, which provides access instructions and search strategies.

Pedestrians along Damen Avenue, Chicago, July 1972. ST-13003696-0007, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM

2. What is one photograph or series of photographs that you found particularly striking. and why?

I came across a job with the headline “Street” and the description “Rosehill cemetery.” However, of the 156 images in the job, number 13003696, only a small portion depicted the cemetery. There were also images of other parts of the city, including a baseball game, a playground, and people gathered on a park bench. The images did not obviously appear connected to one another. I could not find anything with a similar description in the Chicago Sun-Times Historical Archives from around that date, July 1972.

People playing in a field, Chicago, July 1972. ST-13003696-0041, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM

A child in a park taking a self-portrait, Chicago, July 1972. ST-13003696-0081, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM

After examining the images for location details and street addresses, I began to suspect they all depict locations along Damen Avenue. I imagined a Sun-Times photographer driving the entire length of the street, from Beverly all the way up past the cemetery, stopping and snapping pictures whenever they saw something interesting. Although this job is unusual for the collection, as most jobs contain images taken at one specific event or location, I think it’s a striking example of the range and scope of the Sun-Times photographs. The collection provides valuable documentation of major events and notable people, but it also captures the daily lives of Chicagoans and offers a chance for researchers to explore the history of the city.

A child standing on top of a fire hydrant, Chicago, July 1972. ST-13003696-0084, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM

3. Was there anything unexpected or surprising you encountered or learned during the digitization process?

As impressive as this collection is, it was certainly more challenging to work with than I expected. The sheer size of it alone has meant that we were unable to approach it the way we would more traditional collections.

One of the biggest challenges we faced was how to connect the metadata for the images, stored in Airtable, to the images themselves, stored primarily in Box. Airtable does offer Box integrations, but not when working with over 10,000 records (and we have over 200,000!). And while Box has great options for sharing links, those links do not provide a search feature, so researchers would not be able to copy and paste the job number to search for the corresponding images.

With a few other roadblocks in our way, we came up with a solution that would be efficient on our end, while also providing the smoothest path possible for our researchers. Making custom URLs for folders in Box allowed us to build a formula in Airtable that would create links for us, rather than having to copy and paste each one. You can learn more about this process and accessing images in the Sun-Times Collection research guide.

About the Author

Izzy Westcott joined the Chicago History Museum in spring 2022 as a metadata librarian. The one-year position is part of the grant-funded project to process and digitize the Chicago Sun-Times visual materials. Westcott has a MLIS from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

CHM curator of religion and community history Rebekah Coffman talks about the significance of Easter and shares a brief history of Chicago’s Polish Catholic community.

Easter Service at Holy Trinity Church, April 1988. CHM, ICHi-039082; Richard Younker, photographer

For Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians, Easter is one of the central Christian holidays. It comes at the culmination of Holy Week, which begins on Palm Sunday and includes Maudy Thursday (the day commemorating Jesus’s Last Supper), Good Friday (the day commemorating Jesus’s death), Holy Saturday (the day of vigil), and ends with Easter Sunday (the day commemorating Jesus’s resurrection). Holy Week is generally filled with special services and rituals as a time of somber reflection with Easter serving as a day of celebration. Traditions such as dyeing and decorating eggs and blessing and exchanging baskets speak to this symbolism of coming rebirth, renewal, and abundance.

St. Mary Magdalene Church bells (above) and clacker (below), n.d. Courtesy of the Polish Museum of America. Photograph by Rebekah Coffman

As part of Holy Week traditions, church services feature special liturgies, songs, prayers, and practices to reflect the somber period. For example, in Catholic tradition, bells are generally used to bring attention to holy moments during the service. From Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday, a crotalus, or clacker/clapper, is used instead of bells to mark the period of mourning. This set of bells and the clacker (above) are examples that were used during services in St. Mary Magdalene Church, a former Polish Catholic congregation in South Chicago.

St. Stanislaus Kostka in Pulaski Park, Chicago, 2022. Photograph by Rebekah Coffman

For many of Chicago’s immigrant communities, houses of worship have been built as symbols of identity. Polish migration to Chicago began in the 1830s and became more established in the 1850s. As the Polish Catholic community became more settled, Polish Cathedral-style churches dotted the landscape, defining and demarcating neighborhood spaces. In the 1860s, the first Polish Roman Catholic parish was established, St. Stanislaus Kostka. During the next century, more than fifty Catholic parishes were established that either identified as Polish or had Polish-majority congregations, including in the city’s Northwest, Near West, and South Sides.

Church of the Immaculate Conception at 88th St. and Commercial St. in South Chicago, January 23, 1909. DN-0053852, Chicago Daily News collection, CHM

In South Chicago, the neighborhood grew in tandem with the growth of the steel mill industry. Many Polish immigrants settled in the ethnically diverse industrial area for jobs, and community institutions soon followed. The first Polish church in the area was Church of the Immaculate Conception (Kościół Niepokalanego Poczęcia Najświętszej Maryi Panny), founded in 1882. It was the mother church to three additional Polish parishes in South Chicago, one of which became St. Mary Magdalene.

Saint Mary Magdelene 50th Anniversary commemorative book, 1960. Booklet from the collection of the Southeast Chicago Historical Society. Photographs by Rebekah Coffman

St. Mary Magdalene Parish was founded in 1910 under the leadership of Rev. Edward Kowalewski, and its first building was dedicated in 1911. After the start of the Great Depression in 1929, the steel industry declined and with it the parish’s financial security. After this period of instability, the 1940s brought renewed hope and financial prowess for the parish as the surrounding neighborhood was at a peak of Polish presence, and in 1952 ground was broken for a new building at 84th Street and Marquette Avenue.

Interiors of St. Mary Magdalene Church by Rev. Peter P. Witmanski, pastor. CHM collection, NK2190.M3 I66 OVERSIZE. Photograph by Rebekah Coffman

The church’s new sanctuary featured elaborate paintings by John Mallin, a Czech American artist based in Chicago. Mallin was known for painting more than 100 churches in his career, including other Polish majority churches in the Chicago area, including St. Hyacinth Basilica, St. Hedwig’s, St. Mary of the Angels, and St. Mary of Czestochowa, among others.

Interior of St. Hyacinth Basilica in Avondale, Chicago, featuring paintings by John Mallin, 2022. Photograph by Rebekah Coffman

When the second St. Mary Magdalene Church was dedicated in 1954, South Chicago was already experiencing a shift as preceding European immigrants began moving to the south suburbs and Serbian and Croatian refugees arrived. By the 1980s, the neighborhood was majority African American and Latino/a/x, primarily Mexican. The 1980s and ’90s also saw the decline and eventual closure of the steel mills, leading to major economic and environmental repercussions for the area. St. Mary Magdalene formally closed as a church in 2015, and its building has now been adaptively reused as a charter school.

The former St. Mary Magdelene Church building today used as Great Lakes Academy charter school. Photographed 2022 by Rebekah Coffman

Additional Resources

Learn more about Chicago’s Polish communities in Back Home: Polish Chicago
Read more about Polish Chicago in our Encyclopedia of Chicago entry

Spend the summer uncovering Latino/a/x stories at the Chicago History Museum

CHICAGO (April 5, 2023) – The Chicago History Museum has openings for 8 Research Associates from June 26 through Aug 18, 2023. Young people from across the city are invited to apply and will contribute to the research for the upcoming exhibition, Aquí en Chicago, opening in fall 2025 at the Chicago History Museum.

Aquí en Chicago, is a response to protests by high school students from Rudy Lozano Academy against CHM for lack of Latino/a/x representation. The exhibition will situate their protest in a long history of 170 years of Latino/a/x resistance to white supremacy and colonialism, as well as presence, and cultural maintenance in Chicago. Aquí is only one part of the museum’s effort to redress a long history of omitting Chicago’s communities of color from its central narrative. The project is also a community-driven initiative that will prepare CHM to share the diverse historical narratives of Latino/a/x people and their integral contributions to the city, setting up the Museum to do more, ongoing work over the long haul beyond the exhibition’s opening.

Positions are open to people ages 16–20 who are not yet attending university. Expected work time is 15 hours per week with payment at $16 an hour for 8 weeks. Applications are due Sunday, April 23. The application is open and available in English and Spanish.

Media Kit: https://app.box.com/s/nc9hj30kgengwq7zl90p1yb2c66jvt98

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CHM curator of religion and community history Rebekah Coffman talks about the significance of Passover and shares a brief history of Chicago’s Jewish communities.

Sundown on Wednesday, April 5, 2023, marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Pesach or Passover. Celebrated by the Jewish diaspora for eight days, it is a time to remember the biblical story of Moses leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. Also known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Passover is remembered through removing all chametz (yeast) from one’s home and not eating anything yeast-leavened for the days of remembrance as a form of sacrifice and a representation of removing sin from one’s life.

Left: Advertisement for M. Oesterreicher Bakery and Confectionery at 786 S. Halsted St. from The Occident Newspaper, 1885. CHM, ICHi-067038. Right: Advertisement for the Wittenberg Matzoh Co. at 1326 S. Jefferson St., from The Sentinel Newspaper, March 18, 1937.

Another important part of the tradition is the Passover seder meal. Jewish families gather and ritually retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt through eating symbolic foods and drinks and reading from a text known as the Haggadah.

Two editions of Temple Isaiah Israel’s Temple Tidings, March 1937. From MSS Lot K.A.M. Isaiah Israel, CHM collection.

These 1937 congregational bulletins from Temple Isaiah Israel share the meaning of Passover and the Seder meal as part of their Passover editions of Temple Tidings. Inside the March 17 edition is a description of the elements needed for a seder and instructions for community members on the proper ways to prepare the table in remembrance. One of the central foods of Passover is matzah (plural matzos), a specific type of flat bread made of just flour and water, that is eaten in place of yeasted bread at every meal.

March 17, 1937, edition of Temple Isaiah Israel’s Temple Tidings. From MSS Lot K.A.M. Isaiah Israel, CHM collection.

As the bulletin describes, three matzos are included at the seder meal on a large platter, known as a seder plate, along with a shank bone, a roasted egg, horseradish, haroses (a mixture of fruits, nuts, and spices), parsley, and salt water. Each of these foods is eaten at specified times as the Haggadah is read, and they are accompanied by drinking four symbolic glasses of wine.

Commemorative book written by Rabbi M. M. Berman at the centennial celebration of Temple Isaiah Israel (B’nai Sholom), 1952. CHM Research Collection, F38W .Y-I7 1952 OVERSIZE

Temple Isaiah Israel’s congregational history demonstrates some of the many shifts, changes, mergers, and migrations that have defined Chicago’s Jewish communities. Jewish migration to Chicago began in the 1830s, with the first permanent Jewish families settling in 1841. The earliest synagogue in Chicago, Kehilath Anshe Maariv (Congregation of the Men of the West) (KAM), was founded in 1847 and led by German Jews who leaned Reform in their form of religious practice.

Lithograph depicting street scene at the corner of Lake and Wells Street, Chicago, Illinios, circa 1867. Lithograph by Jevne and Almini.
Intersection of Lake and Wells Streets, near the first meeting place for B’nai Sholom, c. 1867; lithograph by Jevne and Almini. CHM, ICHi-040005

Just five years later, Chicago’s second-oldest congregation was organized by former KAM community members who identified as Polish Jews and leaned more Orthodox in practice. Calling themselves Kehilath B’nai Sholom (Congregation of the Children of Peace), they first met above a clothing store at 189 Lake Street, followed by a couple other temporary locations, before laying the cornerstone of their first building at Harrison Street and Fourth Avenue in 1864.

Architectural drawing of exterior of B'nai Sholom, Harrison Street and Fourth Avenue (Federal Street), Chicago, Illinois, 1864. Published on page 14 of Our First Century, 1852-1952: Temple Isaiah Israel, the United Congregations of B'nai Sholom

Architectural drawing of the exterior of B’nai Sholom, 1864. From Our First Century, 1852–1952: Temple Isaiah Israel, the United Congregations of B’nai Sholom, Temple Israel and Isaiah Temple, p. 14. CHM, ICHi-173824A

After losing this building to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, B’nai Sholom briefly rented a church to hold worship before building a new synagogue on Michigan Avenue between Fourteenth and Fifteenth Streets. Before long, they outgrew this building and moved in 1886 to one formerly owned by KAM.

Architectural drawing details for B’nai Sholom Temple Israel by Alfred S. Alschuler, April 1, 1913. CHM collection. Photograph by Rebekah Coffman

As the wider Jewish community grew, more offshoot congregations were created. Temple Israel (known as the “People’s Synagogue”), branched off from KAM in 1896. A decade later, B’nai Sholom and Temple Israel merged to become B’nai Sholom Temple Israel, originally meeting in Temple Israel’s building at Forty-Fourth and St. Lawrence Streets and later building a new purpose-built synagogue designed by Alfred Alschuler in 1914.

Exterior (top) and interior (below) of Temple KAM Isaiah Israel, 1979. ST-80004699-0024 and ST-80004699-0002, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM

In 1924, further migration and mergers took place with Isaiah Temple, another outgrowth congregation that had formed in 1895. Together, the three congregations became known as Temple Isaiah Israel. The congregation built a stunning neo-byzantine synagogue in the Kenwood neighborhood, also designed by Alschuler.

Memorial plaques inside KAMII from its joining congregations, 2022. Photographs by Rebekah Coffman

In 1971, the congregational mergers came full circle as KAM joined Temple Isaiah Israel to also make Hyde Park Boulevard their home. Today, KAM Isaiah Israel (KAMII) is still an active, thriving congregation celebrating 175 years of presence in Chicago.

KAMII, exterior (top) and interior (below), 2022. Photographs by Rebekah Coffman

Additional Resources

Read the Encyclopedia of Chicago entry on Chicago’s Jewish community
See more of architect Alfred Alschuler’s work
Read the Chicago History magazine article “Welcoming Jewish Americans” on the history of Chicago Hebrew Institute

To kick off March Madness and Women’s History Month, CHM content manager & editor Heidi Samuelson writes about Dorothy Gaters, a history-making basketball coach.

Coach Dorothy Gaters, c. 1992. STM-030472572/Chicago Sun-Times

The 2023 Illinois High School Association (IHSA) girls’ basketball 4A, 3A, 2A, and 1A state final tournaments are being held March 2-4 in CEFCU Arena in Normal, Illinois. You can’t talk about the history of high school basketball in Illinois without including legendary coach Dorothy Gaters.

Gaters coaching John Marshall High School in a loss to George Washington High School in the Girls’ Basketball Public League Championships at the International Amphitheatre, 4220 South Halsted Street, Chicago, February 18, 1991. ST-40002324-0032, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM

The winningest high school basketball coach in Illinois history, for more than 45 years, Gaters coached at John Marshall Metropolitan High School in the East Garfield Park community area on the city’s West Side. In 1972, Title IX became federal law as part of the Education Amendments of 1972, prohibiting sex discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal funding. Although girls’ high school basketball teams existed in Illinois since 1895, it was only after Title IX that the IHSA allowed girls to participate in interscholastic basketball contests starting in 1973, with the first state tournament in 1976.

There was no girls’ basketball team at Marshall when Gaters was a student there, graduating in 1964. It was shortly before completing her degree in physical education from DePaul University that she formed an Amateur Athletic Union team called the Debs, which played for a few years in the city—the extent of her own playing career.

West Head Coach Dorothy Gaters of Chicago talks with her team before the start of the Girls McDonald’s All American Game at the United Center, March 30, 2011. STM-020503925, Scott M. Bort/Chicago Sun-Times

Gaters took the job at Marshall in 1975, building the program when very few Black women were coaching in public school leagues. As head coach, Gaters earned a record-setting 1,153 wins, with 217 losses. She led Marshall to state championship victories 10 times, in 1982, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1999, 2008, 2018, and 2019, and 24 city championships. She coached 17 high school All-Americans and five former WNBA players, including Cappie Pondexter, two-time WNBA champion with the Phoenix Mercury.

Marshall’s coach Dorothy Gaters talks to her players during a game on January 14, 2020. STM-89026892, Kristen Stickney/Chicago Sun-Times

In addition to coaching at Marshall, Gaters served as an assistant coach at the US Olympic Festival in 1986, helping the South win a gold medal, and the WBCA Girls’ High School All-America Game in 1992. She was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000 and the NFHS National High School Hall of Fame in 2018. Though no longer coaching, Gaters still works as the athletic director at Marshall High.

Marshall coach Dorothy Gaters accepts a trophy during a ceremony honoring her 45-year career, c. 2020. STM-103811426, Kristen Stickney/Chicago Sun-Times

Additional Resources

Listen to a 2016 oral history interview with Dorothy Gaters that was part of CHM’s collaborative, youth-conducted oral history project with Breakthrough Urban Ministries, a community-based organization that provides social services on Chicago’s West Side
Watch the film Forty Blocks – The East Garfield Park Oral History Project, which was made by Breakthrough youth with their filmmaking mentors and includes Gaters’s interview
See more images in our Chicago Sun-Times collection of area high school basketball championships

When the lights turn off at the end of the day, do the artifacts come out and play? Some Chicago History Museum staff members think so. In fact, 13 of the creepiest dolls in the Museum’s collection have gotten loose, and we need help finding them! Haunted Dolls and History Horrors marks the start of “spooky season” at the Chicago History Museum. This limited time exhibition and scavenger hunt is intended for adults and children alike and features dolls with their own interesting tale and ties to some of Chicago’s dark history. Haunted Dolls and History Horrors will run from Tuesday, September 27, through Sunday, November 6, 2022.

“I am excited for people to view items from our collection that aren’t normally shown, and learn about some frightening and intriguing tales from Chicago’s history in an interactive way” said Charles Bethea, Andrew W. Mellon Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Chicago History Museum.

Those that dare, can stop by the Ticket Desk on the 1st floor to get a Haunted Dolls scavenger hunt guide. There are two guides available: one for adults and one for children in both English and Spanish. As you explore Chicago: Crossroads of America, keep your eyes peeled. The dolls are hiding in 13 spots, including one on the 1st floor. Be on the lookout, but beware of their haunting stares. Each doll has shed its once playful nature and adopted an eerie persona, representing—or misrepresenting—some of the most unnerving, frightening tales from Chicago history. Those who are brave enough to find them all can tell our staff at the Ticket Desk and win a special prize—quick, before they change your history!

For more information, visit chicagohistory.org/dolls. For access to images and logos please see the press kit.

WHAT:

This International Transgender Day of Visibility, please join the OUT at CHM committee at the Chicago History Museum to learn about the community work of LGBTQIA+ organizations who have fought for transgender equality for years, laying a foundation for LGBTQIA+ youth in Illinois to grow up with greater levels of support than ever before.

Over the past several years, the United States has witnessed an unprecedented increase in proposed laws that would limit the rights of members of the transgender and nonbinary communities, with the Human Rights Campaign calling 2021 the “most anti-transgender state legislative season in history.” Many bills have specifically targeted transgender youth, aimed at preventing them from engaging in sports and accessing gender-affirming health care. Illinois, however, has often been at the forefront of LGBTQIA+ rights, stemming all the way back to 1924 with the founding of the Society for Human Rights, the nation’s first known gay organization.

Event Panelists:

Gearah Goldstein, GenderCool
Bonsai Bermúdez (they/them/theirs), cofounder and executive artistic director of Youth Empowerment Performance Project
K. Tajhi Claybren, Integrative Empowerment Group, PLLC
Avi Bowie (he/him/his), clinical social work/therapist, MA, LCSW

WHERE:

Chicago History Museum, 1601 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60614

WHEN:

Friday, March 31, 2023, 6–9:00 p.m.

Cost: $20; $15 members

Learn More: http://chicagohistory.org/out

KEY ASSETS AVAILABLE:

Social media toolkit and logos: https://app.box.com/s/vcfmlfkeh960k3gumf3qah0blc7ey4bt

MEDIA CONTACT:

Veronica Casados

Public Communications Manager

312.799.2161

casados@chicagohistory.org

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