Austin High School Records

Abstract

This collection documents Austin High School from its earliest days in the 1870s through the federally mandated desegregation attempts of the 1960s and 1970s. The documentation includes histories, news clippings, photographs, programs, student publications and yearbooks.

Biographical/Historical

The Austin neighborhood is seven miles west of Chicago’s Loop. Community number 25 of Chicago's 77 official communities, it is on the western edge of the city bordering Cicero, Oak Park and Elmwood Park. Austin was annexed into Chicago in 1889.

Austin High School has served Chicago’s Austin community since the last quarter of the 19th century. Delos Buzzell was Austin High School’s first principal from 1876 to 1879. During that time, the school occupied one room of the North School on Ohio Street. In the late 1870s, Austin High School’s library consisted of some 700 books, which led to the hiring of the school’s first librarian.

Following the Austin community settlement’s annexation to the City of Chicago in 1889, the Austin High School’s student population grew dramatically from 400 students in 1900 to 2,298 in 1920 and 6,815 students in 1931.

Austin High School, like the community it served, experienced demographic change during the 1960s and 1970s. Racial tensions were brought to the surface by federally mandated desegregation attempts and demographic changes in Austin’s population.

Scope and Contents

This collection documents Austin High School from its earliest days in the 1870s through the federally mandated desegregation attempts of the 1960s and 1970s. The documentation includes histories, news clippings, photographs, programs, student publications and yearbooks.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Transferred from Chicago Public Library, Austin Branch in the 1984 as part of a Dr. Scholl Foundation grant. Supplements to the collection have been donated or transferred from multiple sources.

The initial accession is held in Boxes 1-2 and includes photographs 1.1-1.9 that were collected by various Austin Historical organizations. Supplement 1 is held in boxes 3-4. Supplement 2 is held in boxes 5-13. During the cataloging of Supplement 3, the entire collection was checked for duplicates, and several duplicates were discarded. Photos with accession numbers 2.1-2.8 were transferred from the West Side Historical Society.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into 2 series: Series 1: Documents, 1883-1987 and Series 2: Photographs, 1881-1928, undated

Subject Headings

• Austin (Chicago, Ill.)
• Parents’ and teachers’ associations
• Race relations
• Schools -- Illinois -- Chicago -- History
• School integration

Related Collections

• Austin Community Collection
• Austin Daughters of the American Revolution Records
• Austin Newspapers Collection
• Austin Women’s Club Records
• Goldwin E. Anderson Notebooks
• David Gremp Photographs
• Slack Family Photograph Album
• West Side Newspaper Collection

Collection Inventory

Series 1: Documents, 1883-1987

Scope and Contents

Series 1 documents over one hundred years of Austin High School’s activities and students. The series consists of bulletins, historical sketches, news clippings, programs and yearbooks. A notable selection of materials relate to the Austin Parent Teacher Association (PTA). Active in the affairs of Austin High School since the early part of the 20th century, the organization’s files include bulletins, flyers, news clippings, programs and a typescript history. The Maroon and White yearbook, however, comprises the bulk of the series and spans approximately 80 years.

Arrangement

Series 1 is arranged alphabetically by title or topic and chronologically within publication.

Series 2: Photographs, 1881-1928, undated

Scope and Contents

Series 2 contains photographs that show some representative Austin High School classes and student activities between 1881 and 1928. The Maroon and White yearbooks in Series 1 offer additional graphic representations of the school community.

Arrangement

Series 2 is arranged alphabetically by topic.