Finding History Fair Information at the Harold Washington Library Center

The Chicago Public Library System, especially the Harold Washington Library Center, holds books, newspapers, photographs, and maps useful for most History Fair projects. As an example, we chose the "stockyards" as our topic and then looked for information at the Harold Washington Library Center. We list specific floors and useful titles found on those floors. Many of the books, however, are also available in the regional and branch libraries.

In addition, we list online databases, many of which are offered at all Chicago Public Libraries as well as at school or in your home with your Chicago Public Library card.

By using the search suggestions we include, you can find similar information on other topics. The goal of this page is to get you started on your research. Many other books, newspapers, photographs, and maps about the stockyards and hundreds of other topics are also available at the Chicago Public Library.

Need Help? Ask a Librarian!

When and why were the stockyards created?

The Chicago Public Library's Chicago History Timeline is a good place to start your research because it gives a short overview of important Chicago dates, such as the 1865 opening of the Union Stock Yard.

Then, check the Encyclopedia of Chicago on the Chicago History Museum's website. Here, by searching for stockyards, you’ll find an article about meatpacking and the roles that railroads, geography, and the Civil War played in the development of the stockyards.

Note that at the end of the article is a list of useful books. To find these books, search by title in the Chicago Public Library's catalog.

To find other books about the stockyards, try a subject search Chicago stockyards in the catalog. Most of the books will be in:

• Business, Science & Technology Division, 4th floor,
• Chicago Collection, Social Sciences and History, 6th floor, and
• Special Collections, 9th floor.

Where can I find information about the companies in the stockyard?

A general history of Chicago is a good place to start; see Donald Miller, City of the Century, pages 198-216, call number F548.3 .M55 1996.

Once you have names, you can check the Encyclopedia of Chicago. It contains a Dictionary of Leading Chicago Businesses (1820-2000), which includes short histories of several meatpacking firms, such as Armour & Company and Anglo-American Provision Company.

The database America: History & Life will provide you with short descriptions of useful articles by searching under the company name and Chicago or by searching under meatpacking Chicago. In most cases, the complete articles will not be available in this database. In these cases, use the links to other Chicago Public Library databases and the Chicago Public Library catalog at the bottom of each description to track down the complete articles. Note that America: History & Life is only available at the Harold Washington Library Center, Sulzer Regional Library, and Woodson Regional Library.

Most books about the stockyards will be in:

• Business, Science & Technology Division, 4th floor,
• Chicago Collection, Social Sciences and History, 6th floor, and
• Special Collections, 9th floor.

Did labor unions play a part in the stockyards?

As with many questions, the Encyclopedia of Chicago is a good place to start. A search of unions stockyards turns up the article "Packinghouse Unions."

Books about unions in the stockyards can be found in:

• Business, Science & Technology Division, 4th floor,
• Chicago Collection, Social Sciences and History, 6th floor, and
• Special Collections, 9th floor.

Sample titles include:

Meatpackers: An Oral History of Black Packinghouse Workers and Their Struggle for Racial and Economic Equality.
Halpern, Rick and Roger Horowitz
HD8039.P152U54 1996

Negro and White, Unite and Fight: A Social History of Industrial Unionism in Meatpacking, 1930-1990
Horowitz, Roger
HD6515.P152U554 1997

Our First Sixty Years, 1896-1956
Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America
HD6515.B96A6

Out of the Jungle: Packing-house Workers Fight for Justice and Equality
Orear, Leslie and Stephen Diamond
HD6515.P15O73

The database America: History & Life will help you identify valuable articles; try searching meatpacking Chicago. Note that America: History & Life is only available at the Harold Washington Library Center, Sulzer Regional Library, and Woodson Regional Library.

Who were some of the key individuals in the development and reform of the stockyards?

Hundreds of men and women worked to develop and to reform the stockyards; a few of them are listed here:

• Gustavus Swift, Meatpacker
• Mary McDowell, Feminist Activist
• Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States
• Upton Sinclair, Author of The Jungle
• Saul Alinsky, Community Organizer

To find other names, check a general history of Chicago (see Question #2) or search the Encyclopedia of Chicago (see Questions #1 and #2).

Biographies are located on almost every floor of Harold Washington Library Center. Good places to begin for stockyard biographies:

• Business, Science & Technology Division, 4th floor,
• Chicago Collection, Social Sciences and History, 6th floor, and
• Special Collections, 9th floor.

Online biographies are also available in American National Biography and Biography Resource Center. Both databases are described in Databases for History Fair Projects.

At the end of the online biographies are lists of useful books that can be found in the Chicago Public Library with a title search in the catalog.

What it was like to work in the stockyards? To live nearby?

A number of books describe what life was like for stockyard employees and neighborhood residents. You can locate the majority of them by doing a keyword search in the Chicago Public Library’s catalog for Chicago stockyards. Most of these books will be in:

• Business, Science & Technology Division, 4th floor,
• Municipal Reference Collection, 5th floor
• Chicago Collection, Social Sciences and History, 6th floor, and
• Special Collections, 9th floor.

Sample titles include:

Chicago's Pride: The Stockyards, Packingtown, and Environs in the Nineteenth Century
Wade, Louise Carroll
HD9418.C4W33 1987

Back of the Yards: The Making of a Local Democracy
Slayton, Robert
HN80.C5S56 1986

Down on the Killing Floor: Black and White Workers in Chicago's Packing Houses, 1904-1954
Halpern, Rick
HD8039.P152U538 1997

Illustrated History of the Union Stockyards
Grand, Joseph
TS1971.C5G7 1896

Pride in the Jungle: Community and Everyday Life
Jablonsky, Thomas J.
F548.5.J32 1993

Stockyards Treatment Plant
Chicago Sanitary District
Cx S21 1919b

A Study of Chicago's Stockyards Community
University of Chicago Settlement
HN80.C5B6 [1912-1914]
This three-volume set includes:
Volume 1. Opportunities in School and Industry for Children of the Stockyards District by E.L. Talbert.
Volume 2. The American Girl in the Stockyards District by L. Montgomery.
Volume 3. Wages and Family Budgets in the Chicago Stockyards District by J.C. Kennedy

Although The Jungle (1906) is a novel, it contains vivid descriptions of life in the stockyards. See the entry for The Jungle in the Encyclopedia of Chicago. Circulating copies can be found in the Literature Department, 7th floor.

The Local Community Fact Books contain a wealth of statistical information about the neighborhood, Back of the Yards (officially called New City). Based on the U.S. Census and published every ten years since 1930, the books are available in:

• Business, Science & Technology Division, 4th floor,
• Municipal Reference Collection, 5th floor
• Chicago Collection, Social Sciences and History, 6th floor, and
• Special Collections, 9th floor.

Are there photographs of the stockyards?

Special Collections on the 9th floor of the Harold Washington Library Center has original photographs of the stockyards.

The Art Department on the 8th floor has a clipping file of stockyard photographs taken from magazines. The file, "Chicago – Stockyards," can be checked out.

You can also find photographs in books. Check the "Description" line in the catalog record for "ill.," which stands for "illustrations."

The Chicago History Museum has hundreds of stockyard photographs online at Photographs from the Chicago Daily News. You can search directly or browse subject headings, such as "stockyards."

Are there maps of the stockyards and nearby neighborhoods?

A good source for maps is the Municipal Reference Collection, Government Publications Department, 5th floor, and of particular importance is:

The MRL Map Index
CcM96L6 1992 xa
This index lists historical and aerial maps.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
HG9771.S25 Microfilm
These maps give an outline of nearly every building on every block in the City. The maps are on microfilm and are not easy to use. If you need help, please ask a librarian.

Sanborn fire insurance maps for the Stockyards and surrounding neighborhood are also available online in Illinois Sanborn Maps. Use this resource at any Chicago Public Library location or from school or home with your Chicago Public Library card. From the main screen, select Chicago as your city, then 1901 Packing Houses-Union Stockyards as your "date" for maps of the Union Stockyards. Volumes containing maps of the surrounding neighborhood, New City, are listed in the index to to Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Chicago under this community area's name.

The Encyclopedia of Chicago contains maps; see Map of the Union Stock Yard in 1891.

The Library of Congress has a "bird's eye view" of the stockyards in 1890.

What role did the government have in regulating the meatpacking industry?

Reports published by the government are usually located in the 5th floor. Here you can find documents such as:

U.S. Congress. House of Representatives. Conditions in Chicago Stock Yards. 59th Congress, 1st session, 1906. Document No. 873.
This document makes recommendations about the safety of workers and the sanitary conditions of the meat preparation.

U.S. Congress. Senate. Commission on Industrial Relations. Life and Labor Conditions of Chicago Stockyard Employees. 64th Congress, 1st session, 1916. Document No. 415.
This report looks at difficult conditions in the stockyards and includes testimony of J. Ogden Armour.

Finding these works can be difficult. If you need help, please ask a librarian.

How can I find newspaper articles about the stockyards?

The Chicago Public Library has two powerful newspaper databases with primary source articles that can be useful for every question on this page:

• Chicago Tribune Historical Archive (1849-1986) and
• Chicago Defender Historical Archive (1905-1975)

Both databases are described in Databases for History Fair Projects.

In addition, the Library has microfilm of ten other major Chicago newspapers at the turn of the last century. Note: Most of these papers are not indexed, but for many stories you can use the dates you find in the Chicago Tribune Historical Archive to check the same dates in microfilmed newspapers. Newspapers on microfilm are available in Newspapers and General Periodicals, General Information Center, 3rd floor.

You may find articles also in the Chicago Foreign Language Press Survey. The Survey is a WPA project of selected articles that appeared in Chicago foreign language community newspapers between 1861 and 1938. This is a great microfilm resource, but it is not easy to use. Please ask a librarian if you need help. The survey is available in Newspapers and General Periodicals, General Information Center, 3rd floor.

Where can I find magazine articles?

America: History & Life is the best source for identifying magazine and journal articles on Chicago history topics. However, this database generally only contains short descriptions of articles, not the complete articles themselves. Use the links to other Chicago Public Library databases and the Chicago Public Library catalog to help you track down the complete articles. If you need help either searching this database or tracking down the complete article, Chicago Public Library staff are available to help you. Note that America: History & Life is only available at the Harold Washington Library Center, Sulzer Regional Library, and Woodson Regional Library.

In addition, older journal articles from the period that you are studying may be available in JSTOR. Note that JSTOR is only available at Chicago Public Library locations.