Chicago Civic Action Collection

Dates: 1909-2020, undated
Size: 3.5 linear feet in 6 boxes and 1 oversize folder, includes 1301 photographs, 37.9 GB, 22 artifacts
Repository: Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, 400 S. State Street, Chicago, IL 60605
Collection Number: spe-c00092
Immediate Source of Acquisition: The materials were acquired by purchase and from various donors.
Language of Materials: Materials are primarily in English with a few items in Spanish.
Conditions Governing Access: Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use: Please consult staff to determine ability to reuse materials from collection.
Preferred Citation: When quoting material from this collection the preferred citation is, Chicago Civic Action Collection, [Box #, Folder #, Photograph #, Artifact #], Special Collections, Chicago Public Library.
Finding Aid Author: Michelle McCoy, 2022. Updated in 2024

Abstract

This collection includes buttons, flyers, newsletters, pamphlets, papers and statements related to social justice movements and actions in Chicago. The digital photographs depict nine protest rallies and marches that took place between 2016 and 2020 including the Women’s March.

Scope and Contents

The Chicago Civic Action Collection consists of artifacts, buttons, circular letters, correspondence, flyers, photographs, posters, programs, reports and other forms of written documentation on a variety of civic actions in the Chicago area. The advocacy encompasses civil, health, labor, political and religious rights along with a range of issues such as abortion, free speech, housing, immigration, policing, racial discrimination and war. The collection includes documentation of the Women’s March from 2017-2020.

Photographs 1.341-1.364 and 1.570-1.743 were taken by Richard Cook. Photographs 1.1-1.340, 1.365-1.569, 1.744-1.937 and 1.975-1.1301 were taken by Michelle McCoy. Photographs 1.938-1.974 were taken by Sarah Perry Wilson.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into three Series:

  • Series 1: Documents, 1909-2022, undated
  • Series 2: Photographs, 1945-2020
  • Series 3: Buttons and Artifacts, 1979-2020

Subject Headings

  • Abortion
  • Chicago Seven Trial, Chicago, Ill., 1969-1970
  • Civic action -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Civil rights movements
  • Discrimination in employment
  • Freedom of speech
  • Gay rights -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Housing -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Immigration
  • Labor unions -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Nuclear weapons
  • Peace movements -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Police Patrol Illinois Chicago Surveillance operations 20th century.
  • Protest movements -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Racism
  • Student movements -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Women’s rights -- Illinois -- Chicago

Related Collections

  • Toni Bond Leonard Collection
  • Chicago Video Project Archives
  • Rev. Martin L. Deppe Papers
  • Carol Heise Papers
  • Justice Graphics, Inc. Collection
  • Mariame Kaba Papers
  • Faith Rich Papers
  • Amanda Rivkin Photographs

Collection Inventory

Series 1: Documents, 1909-2020, undated

Scope and Contents

Series 1 consists of circular letters, correspondence, flyers, posters, programs, reports and other forms of written documentation on a variety of civic actions in the Chicago area. The advocacy encompasses civil, health, labor, political and religious rights along with a range of issues such as abortion, free speech, housing, immigration, policing, racial discrimination and war.

Arrangement

Series 1 is arranged alphabetically by organization name or title.

Oversize Folder 1   1% for Peace, Beyond the Barricades, Cross Currents Art Gallery exhibit poster, 1991
Box 1 Folder 1 Ad Hoc Committee for Abortion Rights, Rally to Defend the Right to Choose Abortion, flyer, circa 1977
Box 2 Folder 1 Ad Hoc Committee to Make Daley Jump (CMDJ), statement, circa 1965
Box 1 Folder 2 Affirmative Action Coalition of Chicago (AACC), brochure, circa 1979
Box 1 Folder 3 American Atheists, “Picket the Pope,” flyer, 1979 October 5
Box 1 Folder 4 American Council on Race Relations, “Analysis of Chicago School Strikes,” paper, 1945
Box 1 Folder 5 American Council on Race Relations, “Inventory of Research in Racial and Cultural Relations,” bulletin, 1948
Box 1 Folder 6 American Council on Race Relations, “Survey of Distribution of Public Information,” preliminary report, [1946]
Box 1 Folder 7 American Friends Service Committee, guidelines for racial change in neighborhoods, 1963 March
Box 2 Folder 22 “Americanism,” address by Harry A. Jung [anti New Deal], 1940 April 18
Box 3 Folder 1 Anarchist Black Cross Network, newsletter, 2004 Winter/Spring
Box 1 Folder 8 Antiwar movement, event with Rennie Davis, flyer 1970
Oversize Folder 1   Arab Movement for Women Arising for Justice, poster, 2006
Box 3 Folder 2 The Black Economy, newsletter, 1974 July
Box 2 Folder 2 [Black Panther/White Panther Party], The Shape of Things to Come, newsletter, [1969 December]
Box 1 Folder 9 Budenz-Patterson-Wirtz Defense Committee, Freedom of Speech and Press Threatened in Chicago, statement, 1940 March
Box 1 Folder 10 Bureau on Jewish Employment Problems, Manpower and Minorities, report, 1943 April
Box 2 Folder 3 The Call, The Dream Lives On, Martin Luther King 1929-1968, newsletter, circa 1980
Oversize Folder 1   Centro Cultural Ruiz Belvis, Homenaje a la abolition de esclavidud en Puerto Rico, poster, 1989
Box 1 Folder 11 Chicago Area Draft Resisters (CADRE), Behind Bars: A Prison Anthology, booklet, 1968
Box 2 Folder 4 Chicago Area Friends of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Stop! Don’t Shop!, Downtown, window decal, circa 1963
Box 6 Folder 1 Chicago Carpenters Progressive Caucus, handbill, 1928
Box 1 Folder 12 Chicago Civil Liberties Committee, statement on civil liberty, 1946 June
Box 1 Folder 13 Chicago Civil Liberties Committee, “War-time Program for the Bill of Rights,” pamphlet, 1942
Box 1 Folder 14 Chicago Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Protection, social programs survey, circa 2017
Box 1 Folder 15 Chicago Committee to Stop HUAC, “Sit-in to Stop HUAC,” flyer, [1965]
Box 1 Folder 16 Chicago Conference on Religion and Race, “An Open Letter to Members of the Real Estate Industry,” circa 1960s
Box 2 Folder 23 Chicago Earth First, “No Jails for Whales,” flyer, circa 1990s
Box 2 Folder 24 Chicago Editorial Association Local 21690, “A.F.L. Job Security vs. the Guild ‘National Contract,’” statement, circa 1940
Box 2 Folder 30 Chicago Epton Defense Committee, “Back to McCarthy?” statement, [1965]
Box 1 Folder 17 Chicago for Abortion Rights, flyer, 2019
Box 1 Folder 18 Chicago law students, “Strike Against Kavanaugh,” flyer, 2018
Box 3 Folder 3 Chicago May Day Coalition, South Shore Community Center rally, poster, 1979
Box 1 Folder 19 Chicago May Day Committee, flyer, 1958
Box 1 Folder 20 Chicago Mobilization for March on Washington, event sign-up, circa 1975
Box 1 Folder 21 Chicago Movement for the 99%, rally flyer, 2017
Box 2 Folder 5 Chicago Peace Council, “Indo-China Update,” flyer, 1973 January 27
Box 2 Folder 6 Chicago Peace Council, “Medicine and the Military” report, flyers and news clippings, 1970
Box 6 Folder 2 Chicago Peace Council, news flyer, undated
Box 1 Folder 22 Chicago Women’s Liberation Union (CWLU), “On the Exploitation of Women,” statement, undated
Box 1 Folder 23 Chicago Women’s Liberation Union (CWLU), “Protective Legislation vs. Equal Rights,” statement, undated
Box 3 Folder 4 Chicago Women’s Liberation Union (CWLU), Womankind, newsletters, 1972 February-March, May-June
Box 1 Folder 24 Chicago Women’s Liberation Union (CWLU), “Women’s Prison Project,” paper, 1975 December 13
Box 1 Folder 25 Chicago Women’s Uprising (CWU), Pink Triangles, Chicago film premiere, flyer, 1982
Box 1 Folder 26 Chicago Workers’ School, course list, circa 1942
Box 1 Folder 26 Chicago Workers’ School, “Who Owns Chicago? A Study of the Chicago Group and Chicago Economy,” report, 1950
Box 1 Folder 27 Citizens Against Nuclear Power, fact sheet, statement, 1979
Box 1 Folder 28 Coalición Acción Latina/West Town Coalition, demand for Post Office jobs, flyer, [1978]
Box 2 Folder 7 Coalición del Medio Oeste en Defensa del Immigrante, demonstration flyer, 1980 April 21
Box 6 Folder 3 Coalition for the Homeless, “Empty the Shelters,” flyer, 1993
Oversize Folder 1   Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), McDonald’s Truth Tour: Behind the Golden Arches, Chicago march poster, 2007
Box 1 Folder 29 Coalition to Save the Children, “Stop Racist Violence,” march flyer, 1981 May 2
Box 1 Folder 30 Comite Pro-Orientacion Comunal, “Summary of the Findings of the People’s Tribunal Concerning the Events in Humboldt Park on June 4 & 5, 1977,” report, circa 1977
Box 2 Folder 8 Commission on Religion and Race, Presbytery of Chicago, housing market flyer, circa 1963
Box 1 Folder 31 Committee for Labor Access, “Stop the Nazi TV Show in Chicago,” flyers, [1987]
Box 1 Folder 32 Committee to Defend America by Keeping Out of War, Mobilize for Peace, program, 1940 August-September
Box 3 Folder 5 Communist Party, Demonstrate Against Imperialist War! poster, circa 1940
Box 2 Folder 25 The Conspiracy, “No Chanting in the Court! Allen Ginsberg at the Conspiracy Trial, play [Chicago Eight], [1969-1970]
Box 3 Folder 6 The Conspiracy Stomp: A Benefit for the Chicago Eight, Aragon Ballroom, poster, 1969 November 28
Box 6 Folder 4 Convention Committee, Convention Notes [Jerry Rubin’s copy], newsletter, 1968 February 27
Box 6 Folder 5 Disarm Now Action Group, Great Lakes Naval Training Center, protest flyers, 1984
Box 1 Folder 33 Disarm Now Action Group, International Women’s Day, demonstration flyer, 1985 March 8
Box 2 Folder 26 “The Eight Hour Movement,” address by Judge John P. Altgeld, 1890 February 22
Box 1 Folder 34 Emergency Project for Saigon Civilian Prisoners, 24-hour vigil flyer, circa 1973
Box 3 Folder 7 Families Belong Together – Las Familias Merecen Estar Unidas, placard used at Families Belong Together March, 2018
Box 6 Folder 6 Flanagan, Brian [Weather Underground Organization], write-in candidate for Cook County Sheriff, flyers, [1970]
Oversize Folder 1   Free South Africa Movement, poster, 1985
Box 1 Folder 35 Frente Unido de Inmigrantes, protest march flyer, 2008
Box 1 Folder 36 Gay Rights Task Force and Alliance to End Repression, “Eliminate Discrimination,” statement, 1970s
Oversize Folder 1   Greenpeace, Dow Brand Dixon, protest poster, 1995
Box 1 Folder 37 Guild Forum Committee, farm workers campaign, flyer, newsletter, 1977
Box 1 Folder 38 Guild Forum Committee, school segregation in Chicago, lecture flyer, 1977 November 11
Box 1 Folder 39 Hayden, [Tom] and Lowenthal [Wolfe B.] trials, Red Squad protest, flyer, 1969 January 28
Box 1 Folder 40 Heartland Alliance, immigration rights, flyer, [2016]
Box 1 Folder 40 Heartland Alliance, LGBTQ rights, flyer, 2019
Box 6 Folder 7 Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 1, strike flyer, [2018]
Box 6 Folder 8 Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty, flyer, 1990 June 29
Oversize Folder 1   Illinois Labor History Society, poster, circa 2004
Box 6 Folder 9 John Brown Anti-Klan Committee, newsletter, 1990 February 12
Box 1 Folder 41 International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU), immigrant services flyer (Spanish), circa 1989
Box 1 Folder 42 JOIN Community Union, Staff Education Committee, “The Press,” essay, [1967]
Box 1 Folder 43 Joint Committee for Relief Action, March Against Hunger, circa 1935
Box 1 Folder 44 Latino Workers Rights Conference, flyer, 1978
Box 1 Folder 45 Lead Out Now! Chicago, flyer, 2018
Box 1 Folder 46 Lincoln Park Defense Organization, meeting about Fred Hampton and Young Lords, People’s Church, 1970 February 8
Box 1 Folder 47 Malcolm Gladwell quote about the law, letterpress postcards, circa 2019
Box 1 Folder 48 March for Our Lives, rally flyer, 2018
Oversize Folder 1   [May Day March], Legalización para todos marcha primero de Mayo, poster, 2006
Oversize Folder 1   [May Day March], Marcha por los derechos de los trabadores immigrante, poster, 2006
Box 1 Folder 50 Men of All Colors Together, newsletters, 1993 June-August
Box 1 Folder 51 Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS), event flyer, 1993
Box 1 Folder 52 Narciso/Perez Support Group, flyer, [1977]
Box 6 Folder 10 National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, flyer, 1990 May 18-20
Box 1 Folder 53 National Association of Intergroup Relations Officials, by-laws, membership directory, 1948-1949
Box 1 Folder 54 National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Prisoners of War, Libertad, newsletters, 1982 June-September
Oversize Folder 1   National Conference Against Repression, A Cultural Presentation, poster (screenprint), undated
Box 3 Folder 17 National Negro Congress, poster, 1936 February 14-16
Box 1 Folder 55 National United Workers Organization, Chicago-Gary area Organizing Committee, resolution and rally on attacks of minorities, circa 1977
Box 1 Folder 56 New American Movement, “Stop Hyde,” abortion rights brochure, circa 1979
Box 1 Folder 57 New Jewish Agenda - Chicago Chapter, anti-Nazi defense statement, [1981]
Box 1 Folder 58 New Movement in Solidarity with Puerto Rican Independence & Socialism, Free Puerto Rico!, newsletters, 1986 January, Summer
Box 1 Folder 59 No A.E.F. Day, November 11, Armistice Day Rally, rally flyer, circa 1940
Box 1 Folder 60 No Games Chicago, Olympic bid protest, flyer, [2015]
Box 6 Folder 11 Occupy Chicago, flyer, 2011
Box 2 Folder 27 Organizing Committee for a National Workers Organization, “Black, Latin, White Unite! Run the Nazis Out of Town!” statement, circa 1977
Box 3 Folder 8 The Paper (includes Gay Pride Week celebration) 1972 July
Box 6 Folder 12 The Paper 3, “Little Dick Hates Librarians” [Richard M. Daley], 1993
Box 3 Folder 9 Pass the People’s Ordinance: Empowering Communities for Public Safety, protest placard, 2020
Box 2 Folder 9 People’s Bicentennial Festival, International Amphitheater, flyer, 1970s
Box 3 Folder 10 People’s College, Black Liberation Month News, 1983 February, 1984 February, 1985 February
Box 1 Folder 61 Poor People’s Campaign (Illinois), flyer, 2019
Box 1 Folder 62 Progressive Labor Party (PLP) - Chicago, flyer, [1985]
Box 3 Folder 11 Puerto Rican Prisoners of War, benefit dance at the Broadway United Methodist Church, poster, undated
Box 1 Folder 63 Puerto Rican Solidarity Committee, festival flyer, undated
Box 2 Folder 31 Rally for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, flyer, [1985]
Box 1 Folder 64 Rayson, Anthony. Fight the White, presentation for the Confronting Whiteness Conference, Chicago, 1998 November 6-8
Box 1 Folder 65 Refuse Fascism Chicago, flyers and stickers, 2017-2018, 2020
Box 3 Folder 12 Refuse Fascism Chicago, protest poster, 2018
Box 1 Folder 67 Revolution Club, statement, 2018
Box 1 Folder 68 Revolutionary Communist Party, flyer, pamphlet, 2017, circa 2019
Box 1 Folder 69 Revolutionary Student Brigade, newsletter, circa 1970s
Box 3 Folder 13 Revolutionary Student Brigade, national newspaper, Fight Back! (includes article about Richard J. Daley) 1977 February
Box 3 Folder 14 Revolutionary Student Brigade, national newspaper, The Young Communist, 1978 May
Box 1 Folder 70 Rock Against Racism, event flyer, 1979 June 9
Oversize Folder 1   Salcedo Press, 30th anniversary, poster, 1999
Oversize Folder 1   Salcedo Press, May Day Blast, posters (10), 1987, 1990, 1992, 1994-1998, 2000, 2002
Box 1 Folder 71 Second National Peace Congress, program, 1909
Box 1 Folder 72 Siren: a Newsletter of Anarcho-Feminism, no. 6, [1972]
Box 1 Folder 73 Socialism 2018, conference flyer, 2018
Box 1 Folder 74 Socialist Equality Party, article, flyer, 2019
Box 1 Folder 75 Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Break Out & Do It Now, pamphlet by Mike James, 1968 April 20
Box 1 Folder 76 Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), “The Chicago Political Machine,” paper by Susan Spelbrink, 1965
Box 3 Folder 16 Student for a Democratic Society (SDS), New Left Notes newspaper, 1967 November 13
Box 2 Folder 10 Student Peace Union, Chicago, discussion bulletin, vol. 2, no. 2, 1962
Box 2 Folder 28 The Surrealist Group, “Maxwell Street Forever! statement, 1993 October
Box 2 Folder 11 Timbuktu Books, Black Liberation Forum, circa 1982
Box 1 Folder 77 Total Repeal of Illinois Abortion Laws (TRIAL), event flyers and statement, circa 1970
Box 1 Folder 78 Tribute to Jack Spiegel, program, 1993 October 3
Box 3 Folder 15 United Working Families, placard used at Families Belong Together March, 2018
Box 2 Folder 12 United Packinghouse Food and Allied Workers, brochure, circa 1965
Box 2 Folder 13 United Packinghouse Workers of America, Committee on Jobs and Income Now, flier for weekly unemployment and relief meeting, circa 1940
Box 2 Folder 14 United Packinghouse Workers of America, [Rufugio] Martinez Defense Committee, pamphlet, circa 1947
Box 2 Folder 15 United States Steel, petition to keep your own respirator, circa 1978
Box 2 Folder 16 Veterans for Peace in Vietnam, newsletter, 1966
Box 2 Folder 17 Vietnam Veterans Against the War, amnesty position paper, 1973
Box 2 Folder 17 Vietnam Veterans Against the War, membership form, undated
Box 2 Folder 17 Vietnam Veterans Against the War, “Vet’s Action Day,” flyer, 1978
Box 2 Folder 18 Why We March, film screening flyer, 2017
Box 2 Folder 19 Women’s March Chicago, flyers distributed at march, 2017
Box 2 Folder 20 Women’s March Chicago, flyers, 2018
Box 2 Folder 21 Youth International Party, “Stop the Trial, Free Bobby,” flyer, circa 1969

Series 2: Photographs, 1945-2020

Scope and Contents

Series 2 contains photographs of labor pickets, protest marches and public rallies in Chicago. The bulk of the images are electronic photographs taken between 2017 and 2020 at events in response to the Donald Trump Presidential Administration.

Arrangement

Series 2 is arranged alphabetically by event. The number of images with the same description is indicated in parentheses.

Box 2 Folder 29 Chicago Eight Trial, Petrillo Music Shell, Grant Park protests with Fred Hampton, Abbie Hoffman and Black Panther Party of Illinois, 9 photographs, 1969 September 24
Electronic Files Photographs 1.439-1.569 Close the Camps March (immigration), with Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rabbi Brant Rosen and Jan Schakowsky (131 photographs), 2019 July 13
Electronic Files Photographs 1.1-1.34 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) March (34 photographs), 2017 September 5
Electronic Files Photographs 1.35-1.229 Families Belong Together March (195 photographs), 2018 June 30
Electronic Files Photographs 1.341-1.364 Immigration Ban, O’Hare International Airport protest (24 photographs), 2017
Electronic Files Photographs 1.230-1.257 Impeachment Rally (28 photographs), 2019 December 17
Box 1 Folder 49 Marshall Field and Co., strike by maintenance, mechanical, kitchen and packing departments, photograph, 1945 November 1
Electronic Files Photographs 1.258-1.340 Nobody is Above the Law, protest (82 photographs), 2018 November 8
Electronic Files Photographs 1.365-1.438 President’s Day rally, with Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Rev. Janette Wilson and Ed Yohnka (74 photographs), 2019 February 18
Box 1 Folder 66 Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), bakery workers picket, photograph, 1958
Electronic Files Photographs 1.570-1.974 Women’s March Chicago (406 photographs), 2017 January 21
Electronic Files Photographs 1.975-1.1124 Women’s March Chicago (151 photographs), 2018 January 20
Electronic Files Photographs 1.1125-1.1302 Women’s March Chicago (178 photographs), 2020 January 18

Series 3: Buttons and Artifacts, 1979-2020

Scope and Contents

Series 3 contains buttons and artifacts acquired and worn at Chicago civic actions.

Arrangement

Series 3 is arranged alphabetically by title or organization.

Box 4 Artifact 1.1 Climate Change is Real, button, 2018
Box 4 Artifact 1.14 Chicago Women’s Liberation Union (CWLU), Give Her the ERA for Mother’s Day, March in Chicago May 10th, button, circa 1980s
Box 4 Artifact 1.2 Hey Donald!! I Can Tell You’re Lying. Your Lips Are Moving!! button, 2016
Box 4 Artifact 1.3 Kiss Our Asses, Reveal Your Taxes, button, 2016
Box 4 Artifact 1.4 Love Not Hate Makes America Great, button, 2017
Box 4 Artifact 1.5 Love Trumps Hate, button, 2017
Box 4 Artifact 1.6 Miss Me Yet? [photograph of President Obama], button, 2017
Box 4 Artifact 1.7 My Body My Choice, [illustration of a pink-eared pussy cat], button, 2017
Box 4 Artifact 1.8 Not My President [photograph of President Trump], button, 2017
Box 4 Artifact 1.9 Resist, button, circa 2017
Box 4 Artifact 1.10 Sanctuary City [Chicago flag colors and stars], button, 2018
Box 4 Artifact 1.12 [Statue of Liberty weeping], button, 2018
Box 5 Item 2020.46 Take Back the Night, Womyn Unite, Chicago march, t-shirt, 1979 September 28
Box 4 Artifact 1.11 We’re Not Putin Up with Trump, button, 2018
Box 4 Artifact 1.13 We the People [illustration of an immigrant], button, 2017
Box 4 Artifact 1.15 Women’s March, March to the Polls, button, 2018 January
Box 4 Artifact 1.16 Women’s March, March to the Polls, button, 2018 January
Box 4 Artifact 1.17 Women’s March, We Are Resisters, button, 2018 January
Box 4 Artifact 1.18 Women’s March Chicago, button, 2018 January
Box 4 Artifact 1.19 Women’s March, button, 2020 January
Box 4 Artifact 1.20 Women’s March Chicago, button, 2020 January
Box 4 Artifact 1.21 Women’s March Chicago, button, 2020 January
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