Calumet Park, South Chicago, circa 1930Looking north, includes industry and steel mills. Photographer: Chicago Aerial Survey. Source: Special Collections, Chicago Park District Archives, Photograph 153_005_010
Jackson Park, 1935 August 21Looking north toward downtown. Photographer: Chicago Aerial Survey. Source: Special Collections, Chicago Park District Archives, Photograph 154_003_009
Burnham Park, 1928 June 15Looking north toward downtown from around 35th Street, as Burnham Park and Northerly Island are created by fill. Photographer: Chicago Aerial Survey. Source: Special Collections, Chicago Park District Archives, Photograph 153_002_008
Grant Park, 1929 July 19Looking northwest, over the railyards currently covered by Millennium Park. Photographer: Chicago Aerial Survey. Source: Special Collections, Chicago Park District Archives, Photograph 153_010_001
Lincoln Park, 1935 August 21Looking south toward downtown as extension is created by fill. Photographer: Chicago Aerial Survey. Source: Special Collections, Chicago Park District Archives, Photograph 154_004_002
Garfield Park, 1932 July 29Looking east, with Conservatory at left. Photographer: Chicago Aerial Survey. Source: Special Collections, Chicago Park District Archives, Photograph 153_006_001
This year’s One Book One Chicago selection is Orbital by Samantha Harvey. The book follows 6 astronauts aboard the international space station as they orbit the earth 16 times in a 24-hour period, seeing the sun rise and set so frequently that they lose all sense of time. The slim novel captures this disorientation, along with the mundane aspects of an astronaut’s day—tasks and duties meant to further scientific understanding of space travel and to impose some sense of order onto their “days.” A good deal of the book is also spent trying to articulate the awe and wonder they experience viewing the earth from 250 miles above.
People have been drawn to seek this zoomed out perspective throughout our history, whether metaphorically by drawing maps, or literally by climbing and building great heights from which to view our surroundings. Flight introduced new possibilities, and many of the archival photographs in the Special Collections Unit utilize aerial photography to document Chicago’s natural and built environment.
The birds’/planes’ eye view can inspire some of the same wonder felt by the astronauts, causing us to examine our relevance in the face of such a vast scale. The historical images can also help us see how our world has changed over time and especially how humans have changed it.
The images in this gallery are just a handful of the ones available in Special Collections. Make an appointment to come in and view more.
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