Bethel New Life Records

Dates: 1870-2010. Size: 10.25 linear feet in 14 boxes, includes 354 photographs, 27 audiotapes, 17 videotapes, 6 oversize folders. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Neighborhood History Research Collection, part of the Garfield Park Community Collections. Bethel New Life, Inc. is a non-profit community development corporation and social service organization. The organization received an Illinois Humanities Council grant in 1983 to “involve the Black community of Chicago’s West Side in recovering the recent history of the area.” The Looking Backward to Move Forward project from 1984 to1989 focused on the themes of migration, ownership patterns, the church, and community leadership. The historical explorations included a series of oral histories and also gathered a range of documents and photographs that were donated or copied for the archival record. [Finding aid]