Chicago History Museum
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[edit] Address and Contact Info
Address: 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60614-6038
Phone: (312) 642-4600
Fax: (312) 266-2077
E-mail: lewis@chicagohistory.org
Web page: http://www.chicagohistory.org
Online Finding Aid: http://www.chicagohistory.org/research/resources/online-resources/online
Archivists (principal contacts for advice on the collection):
[edit] Hours and usage restrictions
Regular hours 2007–08 (Labor Day 2007 through Memorial Day 2008): Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: 1:00–4:30 p.m.; Friday, Saturday: 10:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.; Sunday, Monday: closed.
Summer Hours 2008 (Memorial Day 2008 through Labor Day 2008): Tuesday, Wednesday: 1:00–4:30 p.m.; Thursday, Friday: 10:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.; Saturday, Sunday, Monday: closed.
Visitors to the Research Center will need to fill out a registration form, show a photo ID, and check belongings in the Museum lobby.
Admission Fees: $5/day or $15/year; free for members; free for students grades K–12; children under the age of 5 will not be admitted.
[edit] Collection Summary
The Chicago History Museum’s collection comprises seven holdings (the Library, Architecture, Archives and Manuscripts, Prints and Photographs, Paintings and Sculpture, Costumes, and Decorative and Industrial Arts); Library, Architecture, Archives and Manuscripts, and Prints and Photographs holdings are made accessible to researchers in its Research Center. The library holds the most comprehensive body of published materials on Chicago, approximately 350,000 published items dating from the late 18th century to the present, and has contributed cataloging records to OCLC since January 1989. Architectural holdings include more than 250,000 drawings and about 180 linear feet of drawings, letters, specifications, and photographs. The Architecture Collection documents the city’s built environment and includes archives of major Chicago firms such as Holabird & Root/Holabird & Roche and Charles F. Murphy. The Archives and Manuscripts Collection includes 15,800 linear feet (18 million pieces) of personal papers and organizational and institutional records. Special subject strengths are social service organizations, civil rights and civil liberties, reform politics, and organized labor. The WFMT/Studs Terkel Audio Archive includes more than 7,000 hours of sound recordings.
The Prints and Photographs Collection holds 600,000 photographs, 268,000 negatives, 50,000 prints, 8,300 reels of film, and 15,000 posters and broadsides. It is one of the major repositories of graphic materials on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War and includes the voluminous photo morgue of the Chicago Daily News. One thousand three hundred oil paintings, 400 pieces of sculpture, and 2,000 drawings and watercolors comprise the painting and sculpture holdings and include images of the city and its residents by major artists. Special strengths include the largest body of portraits by G.P.A. Healy and of historical paintings by Alonzo Chappel. More than 40,000 men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing and accessories make up one of America’s major costume collections. Holdings date from the 18th century to the present and include work uniforms and t-shirts, as well as unique pieces by major American and European designers. Chicago craftsmanship and industrial production are documented by 40,000 decorative and industrial arts pieces. Special strengths are furniture, metalwork, ceramics and glass, agricultural implements, scientific tools, and vehicles. Most holdings date from 1890, but earlier materials, which place Chicago’s local history in regional and national context, are strong as well. The American history holdings include first printings of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Northwest Ordinance, as well as other important Revolutionary War, Civil War, and Lincoln materials.
B. Programs. A varied program of permanent and temporary exhibitions is presented in 40,000 square feet of galleries. Permanent exhibitions include Chicago: Crossroads of America, a comprehensive thematic history of the city; the Community History Gallery; Sensing Chicago, an interactive family exhibition in the Children’s Gallery; Diorama Hall, which features 1930s dioramas depicting key events and periods in Chicago’s urban development; the Costume and Textile Gallery; and installations throughout the building featuring key documents and artifacts from the collection, including Lincoln’s deathbed and material from he 1893 and 1933 world’s fairs. The schedule for 2007–08 temporary exhibitions include Is It Real?; Big Picture: A New View of Chicago Painting; Quilts: A Patchwork History; and Schaumburg: Cornfield to Woodfield. The museum’s online resources—The Great Chicago Fire and the Web of Memory (curated by Carl Smith); The Dramas of Haymarket (curated by Carl Smith); Wet with Blood: The Investigation of Mary Todd Lincoln’s Cloak; and the Encyclopedia of Chicago—may be viewed at www.chicagohistory.org. Exhibitions are complemented by a varied program of lectures, adult education classes, workshops, and activities for teachers, families, and children, and dramatic and musical performances. Schedules are published in Calendar, a quarterly calendar of events.
[edit] Usage Discussion
Suggestions for approaching the material:
Housing and getting by for less in the area:
