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To mark the Lunar New Year, CHM curator of religion and community history Rebekah Coffman highlights a Year of the Rabbit item from our Asian American Small Business Association collection of visual materials.

Happy Lunar New Year! Sunday, January 22, 2023, marks the beginning of the Year of the Rabbit 4720/2023.

Lunar New Year celebrations have been an integral part of Chicago’s history for decades within and beyond Chicago’s Chinatown on the South Side. Also known as the Spring Festival, communities throughout Asia and the Western diaspora celebrate the turning of winter toward the coming spring. Darkness is symbolically combatted through representations of light via fireworks and lanterns. Delicious food such as glutinous rice cakes, dumplings, longevity noodles, and sweet rice dumplings are eaten to bring prosperity, longevity, good fortune, and a fresh start to the coming year. Throughout the two weeks of celebration, streets and community centers are filled with dances, parades, music, and other community and family gatherings.

Chinese New Year Parade Dragon in the Uptown neighborhood, Chicago, 1100 W. Argyle St., 1983. CHM, ICHi-037875; John McCarthy, photographer 

Though celebrated within many diverse communities, Lunar New Year is often called “Chinese New Year” in part because its date is based on the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar. Each year is sequentially represented by an animal from the zodiac over a twelve-year cycle (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig). Accordingly, we look to an example from a past Year of the Rabbit celebration within CHM’s collection.

White poster on foam board for Year of the Rabbit 4697 New Year Party. CHM, 2001.0229 PPL; Asian American Small Business Association collection of visual materials, 1991–2001. Photograph by CHM staff

This welcome sign is from a Lunar New Year party held in celebration of the Year of the Rabbit 4697/1999 at “Chicago’s Famous Night Club” the Excalibur at 632 N. Dearborn (notably the former location of the Chicago Historical Society and today the Tao Restaurant and Nightclub). The poster features two reproductions of artworks created by Chicago-based watercolor artist Grace Lai, one appropriately of a rabbit and the other of the Argyle Street L platform, which features more prominently in this 1990s Chicago Transit Authority poster for Asian American Heritage Month.

Chicago Transit Authority Poster reading “Argyle St. Chicago: Chicago Transit Authority salutes Asian American Heritage Month.” CHM, 2001.0229 PPL; Asian American Small Business Association collection of visual materials, 1991–2001. Photograph by CHM staff

While the annual Lunar New Year party was held close to downtown, its sponsor—the Asian American Small Business Association (AASBA)—is more readily recognized for its roots as a community anchor organization in the city’s Uptown neighborhood. In the 1960s, well-known restauranteur Jimmy Wong envisioned a “New Chinatown” on Chicago’s North Side, in part to help alleviate spatial pressures from the ever-expanding historic Chinatown at Cermak Road and Wentworth Avenue. Wong, with other local entrepreneurs from the Hip Sing Association, established several businesses along Argyle Street.

Chinese restaurants and businesses on W. Argyle St. in the Uptown neighborhood, Chicago, 1975. ST-90003294-0012 and ST-90003294-0006, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM

By the 1970s, the number of Asian American-owned restaurants, bakeries, shops, and social agencies in the area had grown substantially, and by 1979, under the leadership of Charlie Soo, the AAASBA was born.

Owner, Eric Cheng, standing in front of Sun Wah Barbeque Company at 1134 W. Argyle St., Chicago, 1987. CHM, ICHi-036667; James Newberry, photographer

The goal of the AASBA’s founder was not just to create a thriving business center, but to attract young Asian community members to live in the Argyle area, a legacy found through a group of Chinese, Vietnamese, Hmong, Cambodian, and Laotian families, businesses, and community organizations over subsequent decades, with many coming to Chicago as refugees. Known today as “Asia on Argyle,” these few blocks have also been given the moniker “Little Vietnam” because of its vibrant Vietnamese presence.

Women walking in front of Vietnam-American Tailor storefront at 1038 W. Argyle St., Chicago, 1987. CHM, ICHi-040734

Charlie Soo, known as the unofficial “Mayor of Argyle Street,” worked for more than two decades until his death in 2001 to create a thriving economic center through community-centered grant projects, including a major renovation of the Argyle L train station and establishing community celebrations and events such as the Taste of Argyle. An inheritance of these collective efforts, the annual Argyle Lunar New Year Parade and Celebration has been held on area streets since 1981 and continues today.

Additional Resources

• See the Asian American Small Business Association papers in the Abakanowicz Research Center, which is free to visit
• Read the Encyclopedia of Chicago to learn more about Chicago’s Asian communities: Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Laotians, Hmong, Uptown, Chinatown

January 11 is marked on the calendar as National Milk Day, commemorating the day the first glass bottled milk deliveries began en masse in the US, starting with the state of New York in 1878. And while Chicago’s strongest bovine association has been to the Union Stock Yard, the dairy industry was also a lucrative entity across the city that employed thousands.

Milkman making a delivery for the Bowman Dairy Company using a horse-drawn milk delivery wagon on a residential street, Chicago, 1914. CHM, ICHi-067268

The kings of the Chicago dairy industry were undoubtedly the operators behind the Bowman Dairy Company, who were the largest distributors of milk in the city through the first half of the twentieth century. The company began in 1874 under Johnston R. Bowman in St. Louis. By 1891, company leadership consolidated by selling the St. Louis operation for $110,000, which, adjusted for inflation, is just over $3.4 million in 2022. From that point on, all operations would be headquartered in Chicago, after the acquisition of a local operator, the Jersey Milk Company. A further partnership (and eventual buyout in 1898) with a local creamery further cemented Bowman’s presence in the city, as they became known for delivering freshly bottled milk across more than 30 commercial routes in the city, quickly developing a strong reputation amongst the city’s rapidly growing population.

Workers bottling milk at the Bowman Dairy Company, Barrington, Illinois, 1914. CHM, ICHi-068768

One of the many factors that brought the company success was its pioneering efforts in delivering pasteurized milk and cream by 1899. This was achieved by a partnership with farms in the Chicago suburbs. Their milk and cream would be delivered via rapid train in the morning to the bottling and distribution centers that Bowman operated across the city, where workers and deliverymen were ready for their daily routes. Chicago passed its first pasteurization law in 1908, making Bowman’s practices for milk delivery the industry standard.

A line of Bowman Dairy trucks and drivers outside of a Bowman Dairy building, Chicago, 1915. CHM, ICHi-020259

By 1920, the company was strong enough to acquire another significant local competitor, the Kee & Chapel Dairy Company, which ultimately landed Bowman with expanded operations across the city and nearly 300 commercial routes for milk distribution. It would then expand into the ice cream market by 1938 and would invest heavily into the popularity of the frozen treat, acquiring competitors in Chicago and outside of Illinois in Wisconsin and Ohio. By the middle of the century, along with their profitable dairy operation, the Bowmans officially expanded into the poultry business with the purchase of a poultry farm, thus inaugurating the aptly named “Bowman Dairy Company Egg Division” in 1947.

Charles Creamery Distributing Station for the Bowman Dairy Company, Butter and Egg Department, 159 W. Huron St., Chicago, 1909. Bowman initially partnered with a poultry farm for their venture into eggs and bought the farm when their attempt proved successful. CHM, ICHi-068763

The decline of the Bowman Dairy Company was gradual, beginning with antitrust lawsuits claiming that the company’s size was making it impossible to compete in the region. Changing consumer habits also greatly impacted the company’s efforts, with milk deliveries dramatically decreasing in popularity as dairy products continued to be found in greater supply across supermarkets and grocers. This was compounded by difficult negotiations with the union that represented milk deliverymen, who refused to take decreases in pay and delivery routes. Ultimately, the company and all its holdings would be sold to the dairy conglomerate Dean Foods in 1966. Up until its sale, Bowman remained family owned and operated, overseeing what the company called the “Bowman City,” a network of bottling, production, and distribution centers that brought milk to thousands of consumers across Illinois and the greater Midwest.

Additional Resources

• See more images of the Bowman Company’s operation across Illinois
• Access the Bowman Dairy Company records (1870–1972) at the Abakanowicz Research Center, which is free to visit

Interested in learning something new in 2023? In our latest blog post, CHM director of research and access Ellen Keith reveals the top five most requested collection items at the Abakanowicz Research Center in 2022.

What do people want to see in the Abakanowicz Research Center?

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so we freely confess we were inspired by our colleagues at the Newberry Library when they published The 5 Most-Requested Collection Items of 2022. We keep statistics too, so what were our researchers requesting in 2022? Our list is affected by an atypical year. For the first half of 2022, the bulk of our archival collections were inaccessible as we finished a much-needed storage renovation. You might think that what was most requested were the collections we were able to keep on-site the whole time, but no. Researchers made up for lost time, and two of the collections in the top five were those that had been unavailable earlier.

Front cover of These Are the Families, the 1954 annual report of the Chicago Housing Authority. CHM, ICHi-040474

#5 Chicago Housing Authority Development records, 1948–92

This 39-box collection was inaccessible until July but is a high-interest collection for urban historians. The Chicago Housing Authority is inextricably tied to Chicago’s history of segregation.

Members of the Mexican Community Committee of South Chicago meeting, Chicago, c. 1960s-70s. CHM, ICHi-174455

#4 Mexican Community Committee of South Chicago records, 1956–99 (bulk 1985–98)

We kept this collection on-site during the storage renovation for CHM curator Elena Gonzales to consult as she works toward the Aquí en Chicago exhibition scheduled for 2025. She wasn’t the only one who wanted it, though. We had several other researchers visit, just to see this collection.

The back of a Thing magazine subscription card, c. 1990. Inserted in Thing no. 9, Spring 1993, p. 15, Chicago. CHM, ICHi-177029-002

#3 Thing magazine records, c. 1980–95, bulk 1987–94

This collection was processed in 2019, and project archivist Rebekah McFarland composed an illuminating Google Arts and Culture story. As it was so recently available and interest was high, we kept it on-site during the storage renovation, which spanned 2021–22. Chicago Reader reporter Leor Galil visited in 2021 to write a feature on the magazine.

Front cover of a pamphlet titled Building a Better Life in Chicago, published by the Chicago Southern Center, a member of the Welfare Council of Metropolitan Chicago, 1967. CHM, ICHi-075584

#2 Welfare Council of Metropolitan Chicago records, 1914–78

This collection weighs in at a staggering 802 boxes, so it had to go off-site during the renovation. Its finding aid shows its members were a variety of agencies, so it has been a popular destination for researchers looking for social service organizations large and small.

A group of protesters rally against the Red Squad at the Richard J. Daley Center, 50 W. Washington St., Chicago, April 19, 1975. Studs Terkel stands in the center background, elevated. ST-14002131-0001, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM

#1 Chicago Police Department Red Squad and related records [manuscript], c. 1930s–86, bulk 1963–74

No surprise here. This collection has been the most requested collection for the last ten years, except for 2015, when it came in second to Marshall Field & Company records, with donations from Federated and Target. We knew we had to keep all 205 linear feet of this collection on-site during the renovation. The collection is governed by a court order but can be accessed when researchers follow the protocols.

As a young girl, Rev. Christine V. Hides loved to read and dreamed of solving mysteries. Now Hides has helped the Chicago History Museum solve one. After visiting the Vivian Maier: In Color exhibition, she identified the location where Vivian Maier took a photograph after recognizing two stained glass windows in an image.

Rev. Christine V. Hides stands by the windows at the Kenilworth Union Church that appear in Maier’s photograph. Photograph by Eric Miller, 2022.

Hides, who serves as associate minister at Kenilworth Union Church, noticed the detail when viewing a photograph that showed people in a church hall. “I was so excited when I saw this image,” Hides recalled, “because the windows in the photo looked similar to two stained glass windows in our church designed by renowned glass artist Henry Lee Willet.”

People in a church hall, October 1974. The back wall appears different due to renovations to the church after the photograph was taken. CHM, ICHi-181323 / © The Estate of Vivian Maier

When she got home, Hides confirmed that the windows were the same. Then she visited CHM Images, our image portal, where she was able to find and identify more photographs taken at Kenilworth Union Church. Based on their content, it appears that Vivian Maier had visited the church during a rummage sale.

A woman wraps up a package for a customer at a rummage sale at Kenilworth Union Church, Kenilworth, Illinois, c. 1974. A variety of nightgowns hang in the background. CHM, ICHi-181333 / © The Estate of Vivian Maier

A mirror leaning against boxes of goods at a rummage sale at Kenilworth Union Church, Kenilworth, Illinois, c. 1974. CHM, ICHi-181320 / © The Estate of Vivian Maier

Thanks to Hides’s findings, Museum staff were able to update their metadata with the location of these sets of prints. “Vivian Maier focused her lens on people rather than the building,” Hides noted. “She captured ordinary moments that show how the church is woven into the fabric of the community.”

Additional Resources

• See Vivian Maier: In Color before it closes on Saturday, December 31
• View our Google Arts & Culture story Vivian Maier: Her Chicago
• Peruse images from CHM’s Vivian Maier photography collection, which comprises about 1,800 color negatives and transparencies
• Read the Chicago History magazine article “Looking Again” by Frances Dorenbaum, guest curator of Vivian Maier: In Color

Chicago has had more than its fair share of big band and jazz dance halls across the city to accommodate nearly everyone’s musical taste. On December 6, 1922—100 years ago—at 62nd Street and Cottage Grove, in the Woodlawn neighborhood, the Trianon Ballroom opened its doors and counted itself among the city’s nightlife destinations.

An undated photograph of the exterior of the Trianon Ballroom at Cottage Grove and East 62nd Street. The marquee reads: “Presenting Art Kassel & His Orchestra.” CHM, ICHi-050765

Marketed as the “World’s Most Beautiful Ballroom,” its name and décor were inspired by the Grand Trianon palace at Versailles, commissioned by Louis XIV. The dance hall was an enterprise of brothers Andrew and William Karzas, entrepreneurs in Chicago’s Greek community, who already owned a small chain of movie theaters across the city. When it opened, the Trianon was said to be able to accommodate up to 3,000 dancers at a single time on the main ballroom floor, which measured 100 by 140 feet. The venue also boasted being one of the few air-conditioned facilities in all of Chicago. When all was said and done, the estimated cost of opening the ballroom was $1.2 million (close to $21.3 million in today’s dollars). The venue’s opulence reflected its entertainment, as it brought the most popular names in big band and attracted Chicagoans from every walk of life, from working-class couples to elite socialites. In 1920s Chicago, the Trianon was the place to be.

Undated postcard of the “World’s Most Beautiful Ballroom.” Photograph by CHM Staff

To match its aesthetic reputation, the Trianon would be the first venue in the city with a strict dress code—coats and ties for gents, gowns for ladies. To enforce “appropriate” behavior, the venue employed a troop of “floor men” who were tasked with policing the room, keeping an eye out for dancers engaging in lewd or overly physical displays of affection. And for those with insufficient knowledge or two left feet, weekly dance classes were also held on-site. Of course, if patrons wanted to dance the jitterbug or dance along to some jazz, they’d be disappointed to know about the Trianon’s strict policy forbidding both.

Undated photograph of marble columns around the dance floor in the Trianon Ballroom at Cottage Grove and E. 62nd St. CHM, ICHi-050746

The success of the Trianon would inspire the Karzas brothers to try and catch lightning in a bottle twice with the opening of Trianon’s sister ballroom, the Aragon, four years later in 1926, which still operates to this day. Beyond big band dances, the Trianon would go on to have its own radio station, with the call letters of WMBB standing for “World’s Most Beautiful Ballroom.” The station went on the air in 1925, hoping to capitalize on the good reception the ballroom had received. The airwaves, however, were not meant to be and the station went permanently dark in 1928.

Front and back cover of “Dance Topics, Trianon Ballroom,” featuring Lawrence Welk and the basic steps of the foxtrot, January 14, 1950. Photograph by CHM Staff

Popular as it was, the Trianon was not without its failures, many of which would ultimately lead to its closing in 1958. For one, from the moment the doors opened, the Trianon served a strictly white clientele, which would open the doors for competitors catering to the South Side’s growing Black clientele, a market share that would only grow larger as white flight from the area steadily increased. The declining interest in ballroom dancing certainly didn’t help the once great venue’s ailing status.

Bobby Bland performing at the Trianon Ballroom, 6201 S. Cottage Grove Ave., Chicago, December 7, 1963. CHM, ICHi-138947; Raeburn Flerlage, photographer

After it closed, there was an effort to revive the dance hall under new management and a new name (now going by El Sid), but the rebrand was ultimately doomed to fail. At some point, as evidenced by photographs in the Museum’s collection, the Trianon opened its stage to Black performers and ensembles, but by then, it was far too late. The building that was home to the venue would ultimately be demolished in 1967 to make room for low-income housing.

View of guests attending Queen of Finnie’s Annual Masquerade Ball at the Trianon Ballroom, 1958. Guests in attendance included donor James C. Darby and members of Chicago’s gay community. CHM, ICHi-176136; James C. Darby, photographer

The legacy of the Karzas brothers would continue beyond the Trianon and the Aragon, with Andy Karzas, who became the eventual owner and operator of the Aragon by the early 1960s but would go on to be better remembered for his role as an on-air personality and opera virtuoso for WFMT. He passed away in 2011 at the age of 77.

Additional Resources

• Learn more about Chicago’s history of dance halls in our Encyclopedia of Chicago entry.
• Listen to Andy Karzas discuss both the Aragon and the Trianon in a 1963 interview with Studs Terkel. 
• See more of James C. Darby’s photographs in our Google Arts & Culture story Drag in the Windy City
• Read the 1973 Chicago History article “The World’s Most Beautiful Ballrooms”
• Visit the Abakanowicz Research Center to see more photographs and ephemera from the Trianon Ballroom

This post is from Marissa Croft, CHM’s research and insights analyst and author of our Fashion and Costume Research Guide. As a PhD candidate at Northwestern University, she also researches the clothing of the French Revolution and women’s clothing reform movements of the 19th century.

As December dawns, many Chicagoans may find themselves fondly reminiscing about making a special seasonal trip to Marshall Field’s department store to experience its yearly transformation into a holiday wonderland. The decorated State Street windows and the record-breaking Christmas tree of the Walnut Room were not only intended to spark wonder and delight from visitors, but long-term brand loyalty. Field’s commitment to elevating the Christmastime retail experience through art was in large part fostered by an artist named Clara Powers Wilson, who served in many roles at the store, including working as the art director of the company’s most successful publication, Fashions of the Hour.

Cover of Marshall Field’s Fashions of the Hour, 1916. CHM, ICHi-073734

The first edition of Fashions of the Hour came out in October 1914 and the magazine ran until 1978. Initially, a copywriter named René Mansfield was the sole editor of the publication, but Clara Wilson soon joined her as art director, and it was during Wilson’s tenure that the publication reached its artistic peak. Fashions of the Hour set itself apart from other commercial catalogs in several ways. First, it was published six times a year and featured lavishly colored covers and interior illustrations by some of the most famous French and American Art Deco artists of the era. Second, they sold no space to advertisers, which meant every page of the twenty-to-forty-page magazine could be completely devoted to illustrations of store products, articles about art and society in Chicago, short literary pieces, travelogues, and photographs of famous people dressed in the latest fashions. Finally, the magazine was free, and its peak circulation in the mid-1920s reached over 100,000 people. Without the benefit of paid ads, it cost Marshall Field’s roughly $250,000 annually to publish.

An example of the product illustrations that were featured in the magazine. From the Autumn 1922 issue: “Slightly tricorn and close-fitting is the shape of this hatter’s plush hat, serving as a demure foundation for the spreading sweep of a pair of burnt peacock wings, $55.” (In 1922, $55 had the same purchasing power as $972 in 2022.) Photograph by CHM Staff.

Wilson’s leadership of Fashions of the Hour was just one of many of her contributions to retail history, however. Born in 1873 in Michigan as Clara Powers, she studied under James McNeil Whistler at the Whistler School in Paris and the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1898, she married Louis William Wilson, a fellow artist who worked as an instructor of color theory at the Art Institute. Wilson started her career as a freelance artist around the same time, specializing in illustrating children’s books and designing illustrated journals for recording recipes, addresses, and memories.

An illustration by Wilson for Cheery and the Chum, a children’s book published in 1908. Library of Congress Public Domain Archive.

Wilson’s career at Field’s began in 1914, when she was hired to serve as the indoor counterpart to Arthur Fraser, the artist responsible for creating the year-round State Street window displays. Her job was to select draperies, decorations, and lighting effects for everywhere in the store’s interior except the main aisle and light wells (also Fraser’s territory). When she insisted on covering the up the expensive, solid mahogany paneling in the Women’s Salon to achieve a more flattering lighting scheme for the patrons trying on clothing, general manager David Yates objected, and she was sent to serve a stint in the advertising department.

Cover of Marshall Field’s Fashions of the Hour, Spring 1922. CHM, ICHi-051295

Charged with the art direction of Fashions of the Hour and with increasing traffic to neglected areas of the store, Wilson turned her eye first to the housewares department. She proposed holding cooking classes in the store, rearranging the stock, and even pushing utensil manufacturers to paint implement handles different colors so shoppers could match them to their kitchens. These efforts were so successful that she and her two assistants were soon given free reign over the presentation of merchandise throughout the store. In 1916 Wilson was appointed the first official Christmas tree designer, and she quickly set the precedent for the level of lavish seasonal decorations that would persist at Field’s until it was purchased by Macy’s in 2006.

Christmas tree at the Marshall Field’s Walnut Room, 1966. ST-40002977-0001, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM

Wilson’s career did not slow, even after the unexpected death of her husband in 1919. In late 1922 she moved to New York with her four children to serve as the managing editor of Harper’s Bazaar. To the surprise of many, she returned to her position at Field’s a few years later, and immediately began advocating for even more drastic changes to the way merchandise was displayed. Continuously drawing on her artistic background and deep understanding of color theory, Wilson noted in a 1946 interview that during the late 1920s she was the one who “had the idea to bunch associated articles” and that she also “introduced match colors so a customer could have an ensemble of color.” Perhaps her most daring move was taking one of Fraser’s window display mannequins and putting it inside the store underneath a spotlight that many feared would scorch the dress.

A Marshall Field’s display for hats circa 1928 featuring Art Deco-inspired sculptures and backdrop. CHM, ICHi-092922, Marshall Field and Company archives. Gift of Federated Department Stores.

The Autumn 1922 edition of Fashions of the Hour was one of the final issues of the magazine that Wilson oversaw before departing for New York and it was dedicated to highlighting the intersections of art and industry. In one article, Robert B. Harshe, the director of the Art Institute of Chicago, noted that “a product is not finished today unless the element of beauty as well as the element of utility is present.” Wilson’s work at Field’s was the embodiment of this philosophy. From catalogs to kitchen implements, she expertly blended form and function to elevate these common commercial goods into artistic objects.

Marshall Field’s Fashions of the Hour, Autumn 1922. Note that the themes for the issue, “art” and “industry,” are subtly illustrated on the two curtains in the image. CHM, ICHi-040590

Additional Resources

• View more images of Fashions of the Hour
• See the Federated Department Stores’ records of Marshall Field & Company, c. 1852–2004, at the Abakanowicz Research Center, which is free to visit
• Order Fashions of the Hour prints from the CHM PhotoStore

Sources

• ‌Art Deco Chicago: Designing Modern America (Chicago Art Deco Society, 2018)
• Emily Kimbrough, Through Charley’s Door (Harper & Row, 1952)
• Encyclopedia of Chicago, “Field (Marshall) & Co.” (Chicago History Museum, 2005)
• William Leach, Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2011)
• Lloyd Wendt, Give the Lady What She Wants!: The Story of Marshall Field & Company (And Books, 1979)

This year, National Bible Week began Sunday, November 20, and ends on Saturday, November 26, 2022. To mark the occasion, CHM curator of religion and community history Rebekah Coffman highlights a remarkable illustrated publication in CHM’s collection.

National Bible Week originated in 1941 under US president Franklin D. Roosevelt, when founders of the National Bible Association read scripture over the radio to bring comfort to nationwide audiences in the midst of World War II. The week-long commemoration continues today by recognizing the historic importance of scriptural text and encouraging its reading as a source of hope.

Joseph, Mary, and Jesus visited by the Three Wise Men. The Book of the Gospels. Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 2001. Photograph by Timothy Paton Jr.

An important aspect of reading scripture is an emphasis on seeing yourself in the text through the stories being told. In addition to the actual words written, this connection can also happen through images used to depict different figures, scenes, and moments. Biblical illustration is a practice that has spanned thousands of years. In American visual tradition, this has often been done through a racialized lens that depicted biblical figures as white or of European origin to the exclusion of others. There is also an historic tradition of reclaiming Jesus and other saints as people of color with culturally specific connections and community-centered meanings. In Painting the Gospel: Black Public Art and Religion in Chicago, Dr. Kymberly Pinder describes this as an important reconciliation process for empowering, uplifting, and creating a sense of belonging for Black religious leaders and community members.

The front cover of The Book of the Gospels features an angel, representing Matthew, and a lion, representing Mark. Photograph by Timothy Paton Jr.

In recognition, we turn to this beautifully illustrated text published by Chicago-based Liturgy Training Publications. Released in 2001, The Book of the Gospels focuses on four books of the Christian New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each book, through a slightly different lens, tells stories from the life of Jesus of Nazareth. These also correspond to different rituals and celebrations throughout the Christian year. The Gospels’ cover is richly decorated with emblems symbolizing their four writers: Matthew as a human/angel, Mark as a lion, Luke as an ox, and John as an eagle. On the pages inside, important moments in the text are highlighted through a series of paintings by Bronx-based artist and curator Laura James.

The Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in The Book of the Gospels. Photograph by Timothy Paton Jr.

James’s paintings draw inspiration from the Ethiopian Christian tradition utilizing lush colors, strong lines, and rich pattern work to bring biblical scenes into focus. Important to this is the centering of Black and Brown figures as protagonists.

Jesus washing the feet of the disciples in The Book of the Gospels. Photograph by Timothy Paton Jr.

As described on her website, “James is pleased to help black people see themselves in their sacred texts, in African religions and Christianity, a place where racialized people have been excluded in the west.” In her larger practice, James’s work ranges from secular to sacred and includes religious imagery from many different faith traditions, including Christian, Yoruba, Buddhist, Islamic, ancient Egyptian, and Divine Feminine themes, all done in a similar stylized way. In The Book of the Gospels, her images demonstrate the Christian idea of imago Dei (the image of God) as something that is universal yet specific and, ultimately, embodied through multicultural human experience.

Bank of America will support the Museum’s goal to represent Latino/a/x communities in an ongoing, sustained way. Specifically, the funding will fuel the Museum’s youth workforce development opportunities for Chicago’s Latino/a/x communities and its commitment to elevating overlooked history.

Sparked by a protest in 2019 led by students from the Rudy Lozano Leadership Academy / Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy (IJLA), “Aquí en Chicago” is an upcoming exhibition at the Chicago History Museum (CHM) on the Latino/a/x resistance to white supremacy and colonialism in Chicago over the last 100+ years. “Aquí en Chicago” is a community-driven initiative that shares the diverse historical narratives of Latino/a/x people and 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.

To honor students from IJLA who started this initiative, a paid summer internship program for Latino/a/x high school aged youth has become the cornerstone of “Aquí en Chicago.” A primary goal of the program is to increase youth involvement in the City’s history and CHM is inviting youth all over Chicago to apply.

CHM Curator of Civic Engagement & Social Justice Elena Gonzales said, “Thanks to Bank of America, for supporting the preparation for ‘Aquí en Chicago.’ Time and again, partners and community members have shared how vital they feel it is for the Museum to build its inclusiveness and representation of the Latino/a/x community in our city, and Bank of America is helping us with this crucial work.”

Starting in Spring 2023, interested students can apply to the project and become paid interns who will learn about curation and research skills, how to record community histories as well as plan public programs. Additionally, they will set personal achievement goals during their internship and learn from a cross-section of museum professionals. Their work will culminate in the 2025 exhibition which will explore the diverse experiences of Chicago’s Latino/a/x communities.

This work is made possible through a Bank of America Chicago Market grant. Through direct action and investment, Bank of America is focused on creating opportunities in the areas of basic needs, education and workforce development. These grants are aligned with Bank of America’s five-year, $1.25 billion commitment to help advance racial equality and social justice through a focus on health, jobs and reskilling, affordable housing and small businesses.

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Elena Gonzales joined the Chicago History Museum in spring 2021 as a guest curator and began as the Curator of Civic Engagement and Social Justice in October 2022. In this blog post, she talks about her work at CHM and how she approaches it.

Elena Gonzales. Image credit: Ben Gonzales

What led you to the Chicago History Museum?

The Museum reached out to me in spring of 2021 to ask if I would curate an exhibition about Chicago’s Latino/a/x communities. In particular, the project was a response to the protest by high school students from Rudy Lozano Leadership Academy / Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy in 2019.

Photograph by Anton Miglietta, History Teacher, IJLA; Courtesy of IJLA and students / alumni.

I had studied and written about CHM relatively extensively at that point, first for my dissertation and later for my book, Exhibitions for Social Justice. To be totally frank, this research left me a little nervous about undertaking the project because I wasn’t sure if the Museum was ready to make the kinds of changes the students were requesting. I’m excited to say that I think we are on that path now.

Your position is Curator of Civic Engagement and Social Justice. How exactly does one go about curating these things? Especially social justice.

The word “curate” comes from a Latin word, “curare,” meaning “to care for.” My work is about caring for people and their stories as well as caring for our society and how well it works for everyone—caring about our collectivity.

My position works in two directions. On the one hand, I am responsible for understanding and employing the Museum’s collections that address civic engagement and social justice in storytelling through exhibitions. Primarily, this is through the Archives & Manuscripts and Prints & Photographs collections with a secondary focus on the Decorative and Industrial Arts collection. On the other hand, it is my job to look for ways that the institution itself can foster civic engagement and work for social justice.

What does a typical day look like for you?

I do a lot of different things as part of my job! They range from research in a library, archive, or special collection to meetings with community members all over town in different neighborhoods and suburbs. On a given day, I could be meeting with a group of paleteros in Albany Park, a scholar in Pilsen, the Little Village Chamber of Commerce, or a family of bomba artists in Humboldt Park. I might be at the Back of the Yards library or researching steel mills in Calumet. These meetings might be about planning collaborations, collecting or borrowing material, or reaching out to additional communities and organizations. I spend two days a week at the Museum exploring the collections, planning and collaborating with colleagues from across the Museum, writing, and so on.

Elena guest teaching at the University of Texas at El Paso’s Centennial Museum in the Pasos Ajenos: Social Justice and Inequalities in the Borderlands exhibition. Photograph by and courtesy of Daniel Aguilera.

You’re leading the charge in curating the Aquí en Chicago exhibition for the Museum, slated to open in 2025. What has that experience been like for you so far?

So exciting! It’s a daunting job to make something about Latino/a/x communities in the area when that population has been absent from the stories at CHM for so long. That makes it feel like there is a lot of pressure for the exhibition to be many different things to different people. This third of the city is so diverse! However, I’ve received a lot of support, both from colleagues at CHM and from Latino/a/x folks of many different backgrounds. We need to keep a focus on the young folks who brought us into this project in the first place. When we center their story—as this exhibition will—the landscape around their story becomes clear. That’s how we got to the focus on resistance against white supremacy and colonialism (in all its many forms). So far, working on this project has been a wonderful experience. It’s a tremendous challenge and so rewarding. One partner at a community-based organization said the nicest thing when she learned we were planning the exhibition for fall 2025. I’m used to people wanting to hear more about why the timeline is so long (trust building and relationship building take time), but what she said was “I feel so safe.” Her words have stayed with me, and I hope to live up to them.

Is there a particular artifact or collection in the Museum that is your favorite or one that has had the most impact in your work so far? 

Though it is by no means my favorite, there is an object that I’m kind of obsessed with. It’s offensive not only in its expansionist, colonial stance but also in its butchery of Spanish. It opens a window onto a whole part of the story landscape that is crucial and difficult to access and highlight. The object is called “The American Hen.”

Milk glass bowl with lid, c. 1898. 1973.23a-b. Photograph by Elena Gonzales. 

It’s a mass-produced covered dish of milk glass about the size of a butter dish—though it may have been used to hold a condiment such as mustard. Westmoreland Specialty Co. produced it around 1898, likely as a novelty. This was a time when the US doing significant colonization in Latin America. In 1898, the US took over Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Guam, and Cuba—though the US was unable to retain control of the last. “The American Hen” takes the form of a (presumably American) eagle sitting on its nest, its wings outstretched around three eggs labeled “Porto Rica [sic],” “Cuba,” and “Philippines.” It is one of the few objects I’ve found so far that will allow us to have the necessary conversation in the gallery about how US military and economic intervention in virtually every Latin American country has directly influenced the Latino/a/x landscape we live with today in Chicago.

Additional Resources

• Learn more about Elena
• Follow her on Twitter @curatoriologist

From sundown on Tuesday, October 25, through sundown on Thursday, October 27, followers of the Baha’i faith will be celebrating important Twin Holidays: the birth of the Báb (Arabic: the Gate) and birth of Bahá’u’lláh (Arabic: Glory of God), its two foundational figures. In recognition, we look to the Chicago History Museum’s collection of pamphlets representing moments in the community’s history as it established physical presence in the Chicagoland area.

A selection of pamphlets from CHM’s Abakanowicz Research Center.

The Mashriqu’l-Adhkár (Arabic: The Dawning Place of Praise) in Wilmette, Illinois, is the second Baha’i House of Worship in the world to be built and is the oldest remaining one. The structure embodies the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh as an expression of humanity’s oneness. Its foundation stone was laid in 1912 by ‘Abdu’l-Baha (the son of Bahá’u’lláh), and the completed building was dedicated in 1953.

Portrait of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, oldest son of Baha’u’llah, in The Bahà’ì Faith: Dawn of a New Day by Jessyca Russell Gaver

The pamphlets discuss the Baha’i faith’s foundations and significant historical moments, grounded in the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh in 1817 and Birth of the Báb in 1819 in Iran and extending through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Other events described include the founders’ experiences of pilgrimage and exile, the recognition of the Baha’i faith at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, and significant inaugural events of the Chicago Baha’i community. They also discuss the long and storied process of conceptualizing, designing, building, and celebrating a meaningful place of worship that represents community beliefs in architecture.

Aerial view of the Baha’i House of Worship with Wilmette Harbor and Lake Michigan behind it, January 6, 1971. ST-20001475-0001, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM

The temple in 2022. Photograph by Rebekah Coffman.

The building’s architect, Louis Bourgeois, made eclectic reference to world architecture in his design—borrowing from Egyptian, Roman, Byzantine, Renaissance, and Islamic traditions—to manifest humanity’s combined efforts to worship the divine through built form. The number nine is repeated in the number of sides, entrances, and gardens at the House of Worship, symbolizing perfection and completion. Its intricate, decorative exterior appears as carved stone but is in fact achieved through a unique mixture of white Portland concrete and white quartz, which creates a glimmering effect and gave rise to its nickname as the “Temple of Light and Unity.”

Detail of inscription above the doorway. Photograph by Rebekah Coffman.

Decorations include symbols of world religious traditions, including hooked crosses associated with Buddhism and Hindusim, Judaism’s Star of David, Christian crosses, the moon and crescent of Islam, and the nine-pointed star of Baha’i. Nine utterances of Bahá’u’lláh are above entrances and nine are within interior alcoves. Each gives testament to Baha’i beliefs, emphasizing Bahá’l’ulláh’s teachings of universal peace, including one that reads, “The earth is but one country; and mankind its citizens.”

Additional Resource

• See our archival materials about the Baha’i faith at the Abakanowicz Research Center, which is free to visit