Archival Collections for History Fair History Fair at the Library

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Chicago Metro History Fair

Read, Learn, Discover

Archival Collections for History Fair

The Chicago Public Library has a number of archival collections that support History Fair projects, such as the topics listed below.

A list of archival collections at the Chicago Public Library describes the Library’s holdings and links to online finding aids, which are detailed inventories of collections.

Topics for History Fair 2013

Chicago City Council

In 1983 Harold Washington, Chicago’s first African American mayor, was elected on a platform promising reform. Twenty-nine city council members, known as the “Vrdolyak 29,” opposed his programs and took every opportunity to block the mayor. For the following three years, the two sides fought. Finally, in 1986 federal court-ordered special elections changed the balance of power in the council when seven wards were redrawn to reflect the growth of Chicago’s black and Hispanic populations. Sources for this topic include:

Chicago Renaissance: Naturalism and the City

As the famed Harlem Renaissance of black cultural achievement was winding down in New York, a new surge of African American creativity, activism and scholarship began to flower in the southside Chicago district known as “Bronzeville.” This new Chicago Renaissance was fueled by the migration of Southern blacks to Chicago. Sources for this topic include:

Early Film in Chicago and Chicago’s Censorship Board

Chicago was a center for both filmmaking and film viewing. It also became a leader in film censorship. Sources for this topic include:

Expressways

Founding fathers proposed networks of roads and canals connecting the states when transportation infrastructure was needed for national unity. Later, Chicago city planners dreamed of superhighways that would allow cars to fly past stalled streetcars and slow-moving milk wagons. After World War II, city planners dusted off their highway plans, accepted federal money and began to build in earnest. Select hearings, annual reports and state publications on highways, expressways and the Federal-Aid Program are listed below. Additional documents and congressional hearings are listed in specialized indexes in Government Publications.

Federal Art Project

In the Great Depression of the 1930s, hundreds of artists found work at the Illinois Arts Project. Funded by the federal government, “the project brought art into the community by sponsoring public art classes and by supplying materials and artistic talent for the creation of murals, paintings, statues…” Some of these works are displayed in schools and post offices across the city. The project ran from 1935 to 1943. (The Federal Art Project in Illinois by George J. Mavigiliano and Richard A. Lawson) Sources for this topic include:

Goodman Theatre and Regional Theater in Chicago

The Goodman Theatre opened its doors in 1925 with a mission to “restore the old visions and to win the new.” As the largest and longest-running local theater, Goodman has played a significant part in the development of regional theater in Chicago. Sources for this topic include:

Illinois and Michigan Canal

The continental divide separating waters flowing to the Atlantic Ocean from waters feeding the Gulf of Mexico is only 12 miles from the lakeshore at Chicago. Canals had proven extremely successful in Europe and Eastern states. So, in 1822, Congress granted Illinois the right of way for a canal to connect the Illinois River and Lake Michigan, bridging the continental divide. Construction began in 1836 and was finally completed in 1848 after nearly bankrupting the state. Select state publications and congressional research service articles on the rivers, waterways and canals are listed below. Additional documents and congressional hearings are listed in specialized indexes in Government Publications.

Mail-Order Catalogs

Chicago was a hub of mail-order business. Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Montgomery Ward’s were two of the largest mail-order companies, but hundreds of other Chicago businesses, large and small, advertised merchandise such as bicycles, roller skates, furniture, clothes and even ostrich plumes. Some catalogs were elaborate: clothing manufacturers enclosed fabric swatches with their catalogs to help customers chose clothes; paint manufacturers offered paint chips and illustrations of houses painted in different styles. Consumers began to see trade catalogs as “wish books” because of the exciting variety of choices they offered. CPL has a collection of catalogs from Chicago businesses:

Pullman Town

The Pullman neighborhood began as a company town—everything was owned by the Pullman Palace Car Company, makers of luxurious railroad cars. “Even before Pullman’s first residents settled there in 1881, visitors came to admire its beauty, which stood in stark contrast to other working-class areas in industrial cities…” but the 1894 strike brought to light other aspects of the town. “When Pullman workers went on strike in 1894, protesting cuts in wages while rents and dividends remained unchanged, the strike captured a national audience. Commentators from across the nation debated the proper nature of the relationship between employers and employees, as well as the broader question of the political, social and economic rights of working-class men and women.” (“Pullman,” Encyclopedia of Chicago) Sources for this topic include:

South Side Community Art Center

Although the South Side Community Art Center was initially supported by the Works Projects Administration, the advent of World War II caused its federal funding to shrink, and the center became more community oriented. Sources for this topic include:

State Street Mall

Like many cities in the 1970s, Chicago turned its main shopping street into a mall. Launched in 1979, the State Street Mall aimed at revitalizing the shopping district. The mall was open-air, featured wide sidewalks and prohibited cars, although buses and taxis were allowed. The earliest notion of a downtown pedestrian mall developed in the 1950s; its planning, construction and marketing came in the 1970s and 1980s; and finally, after criticism and reassessment, its redevelopment took place in the 1990s. State Street reopened to cars in 1996. Sources for this topic include:


Other History Fair Topics

Annexation

In the 1800s Chicago was much smaller. Neighborhoods like Austin, Lake View and Morgan Park were suburbs until they voted to join the city of Chicago. Sources for this topic include:

Campaign for Mayor in 1983

In 1983, after a difficult campaign, Harold Washington was elected mayor of Chicago. He was the first African American to hold this position. The Harold Washington Archives & Collections Mayoral Campaign Records (collection description) document the 1983 campaign and are available in Special Collections. Other sources:

Chicago’s Lakefront: Forever Open, Clear and Free?

From time to time Chicago has built on its lakefront and in its parks. What were the issues over locating the 1893 World’s Fair in Jackson Park? Millennium Park structures in Grant Park? Sources for this topic include:

CORE and SCLC in Chicago: Which Road to Take

CORE, a national civil rights organization, began in Chicago in 1942 with protests to force desegregation of restaurants and other public accommodations. Chicago CORE’s membership reached its height in the 1960s. Sources for this topic include:

Creation of the Forest Preserves

Architect Dwight Perkins and landscape architect Jens Jensen were the most prominent advocates of the system of “outer belt parks” that became the Cook County Forest Preserves. Sources for this topic include:

Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work Campaign

In 1929 the Chicago Whip began a campaign encouraging African Americans not to shop at stores that discriminated in hiring. Sources for this topic include:

Jobs for Artists and Writers During the Depression

In the Great Depression of the 1930s, President Roosevelt began a series of programs that provided work for artists and writers, as well as other Americans. Sources specifically about African American artists and writers in the Depression include:

Making Mass Transit a Public Utility

Mass transit started in Chicago in 1859 with a horse railroad running down State Street. Since then the system has changed from horses to electric power—along the way trying out steam power, cable power and other technologies. The system experienced public ownership, private ownership and even ran for many years in bankruptcy. This history is richly documented in:

To find additional materials, search the catalog for Chicago Traction and Chicago Transit Authority.

To Poke or Not to Poke: Immunization Questions

Since the development of the smallpox vaccine in the late 1700s, federal, state and local governments have been involved in efforts to immunize the population. These efforts, whether voluntary or mandatory, have often met with controversy. Government publications are one of the best sources of information about vaccinations.

  • Congressional hearings, in particular, provide well-reasoned arguments from all sides. To find hearings, search the catalog for vaccination.
  • Older hearings are listed in the Congressional Committee Hearing Index available in Government Publications.
  • Government Publications has more than 100 years of annual reports and other documents from the Chicago and Illinois health departments. These provide a rich history of vaccination campaigns locally.