What types of information will I find in the Chicago Defender Historical Archive?

In the Chicago Defender Historical Archive, you'll find images of every article, editorial cartoon, photograph, advertisement, and more—the complete content, cover to cover—of this nationally significant African American newspaper. This is a great place to find contemporary (that is, written at the time of the event) articles about events in Chicago and the nation, especially those that involved or impacted the African American community.

Currently, the database contains a near-complete run of the paper from 1910 to 1975. The database's producer is still working to add the earliest issues of the paper (1905–1909).

The Archive contains both primary and secondary sources. If the reporter is writing at the time the event took place, his/her article is probably a primary source. If he/she is writing about an event that took place months or years earlier, the article is probably a secondary source.

How do I find this information?

Identify the people, places, and events associated with your topic, then search for these names.

The Chicago Defender Historical Archive contains hundreds of thousands of articles, editorials, display advertisements, classified advertisements, and more. Because this database is so large, a search on a general topic will usually return thousands of matches. For this reason, we recommend that you first research your topic in a reference work like the Encyclopedia of Chicago or Women Building Chicago [check catalog] and make a list of people, organizations, businesses, etc. (think proper nouns) associated with your topic. Searching for names generally returns a manageable number of results.

When initially researching your topic, try also to come up with a general date range during which the events you are exploring happened, then limit your search to those dates. This will result in fewer articles to examine.

Other hints:

• Connect your search words with "and."
  When searching, be sure to connect different concepts with the word "and" to prevent the database from treating your search terms as a phrase and only returning articles in which the terms appear right next to each other. Thus, when searching for articles about the struggle of CORE to end racial segregation in Chicago public schools in the 1960s, type in CORE and schools rather than just typing in the two words with nothing between them (that is, CORE schools). Alternatively, you can put one word or phrase for each of your concepts in the separate boxes on the search screen.
• Use the orange print button.
  When printing, always use the orange print button to ensure that you get a readable printout (instead of very tiny print or even a blank page).
• Ask for help!
  If you have trouble finding useful material in this database, librarians are available to help you at all Chicago Public Library locations. Just ask.

Can you give me an example?

After reading about CORE in the Encyclopedia of Chicago, you decide that you'd like to learn more about their efforts to end segregation in the Chicago Public Schools in 1963. A search on CORE and schools, limited to the year 1963, results in 36 documents, including two "standalone" photos of a CORE protest at Guggenheim Elementary School in September of that year and articles such as the following:

• "Was Willis 'Culprit' in CORE Arrests?: Police Carry 10 from Building." Chicago Defender, July 20, 1963. http://www.proquest.com.
• "CORE Wins Public Hearing on School Segregation: Willis, Jim-Crow Education Top Items on Agenda." Chicago Defender, July 27, 1963. http://www.proquest.com.