| Dates: | 1914-circa 1940, undated |
| Size: | 2.25 linear feet in 3 boxes, includes 357 photographs, 2 drawings |
| Repository: | Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, 400 S. State Street, Chicago, IL 60605 |
| Collection Number: | spe-nhrc-ghc |
| Immediate Source of Acquisition: | Donated by Mr. Reginald Horsman in 2008. |
| 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: Gads Hill Center Collection [Box #, Photograph #], Special Collections, Chicago Public Library. |
| Finding Aid Author: | Original author unknown, July 2009. Updated and ingested into ArchivesSpace by Michelle McCoy, 2022 |
Abstract
Established in 1898 as a settlement house to serve poor immigrant families in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago’s Lower West Side community area, Gads Hill Center offered education, job training, recreational activities and other social services. The photographs in this collection depict a range of activities and facilities in the early part of the twentieth century.
Biographical/Historical
In 1898, Gads Hill Center was established as a settlement house at 1919 W. Cullerton Street to serve poor immigrant families in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago’s Lower West Side. Until 1916, the organization was known as Gads Hill Social Settlement and had the founding mission “to improve the living conditions of the neighborhood and to assist and stimulate the people of the district through education, helpful recreation, wholesome social intercourse, and neighborly cooperation…” Through the years the center has offered services which include: a nursery school, kindergarten, Head Start programs and parent education classes; a music school and an alternative high school; an employment agency and a Community Technology Center. Gads Hill Center was also the home of a Chicago Public Library sub-branch until 1988.
Over the course of the twentieth century, the Lower West Side has been populated by recent immigrant groups, including Poles, Czechs, Italians, Germans, Lithuanians and Mexicans.
Scope and Contents
The materials in the Gads Hill Center Collection consists of individual photographs, a photo album and drawings that document the activities of the settlement house from 1914-1940. The photographs include the Gads Hill Center interior and exterior, activities and playground scenes, theatrical performances and parades. The scrapbook is retained in its original format and its images are summarized in the description. Some photographs in the album depict the same events as individual photographs. The two drawings may be drawings on photographs that were used to create mock-ups for printed promotional materials.
Arrangement
The individual photographs had no order when accessioned. The photographs are arranged alphabetically by description with the scrapbook contents summarized within one description. Some of the individual photographs are related to and may have been removed from the scrapbook.
Related Materials
- Dewey Roscoe Jones Papers
- Norman B. Barr Papers
- Lower West Side Community Collection
Subject Headings
Lower West Side (Chicago, Ill.)
Collection Inventory
| Box 2 | Photograph 1.106 | Basketball game, 1938 |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.17 | Boys and Girls Club, Forest Preserve outing, circa 1920s |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.85 | Boys with baking utensils, undated |
| Box 2 | Photograph 1.167 | Browman, Henry, portrait, circa 1940 |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.72 | Chicago Gyro Club, event, circa 1920s |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.42 | Children looking at Burlington Route train, undated |
| Box 2 | Photograph 1.99 | Citizenship class, circa 1920s, 1938 |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.93 | Construction workers, undated |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.3 | Gads Hill Center, exterior, undated |
| Box 1 | Photographs 1.49-1.62, 1.64-1.67, 1.69 | Gads Hill Center, exterior group scenes (19 photographs), undated |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.63 | Gads Hill Center, exterior view with group, undated |
| Box 3 | Photograph 1.98 | Gads Hill Center, exterior view with group, undated |
| Box 1 | Photographs 1.25-1.26 | Gads Hill Center, exterior view with group carrying books (2 photographs), circa 1920s |
| Box 1 | Photographs 1.73-1.75 | Gads Hill Center, exterior view with groups of children in hats (3 photographs), undated |
| Box 1 | Photographs 1.27-1.29, 1.31 | Gads Hill Center, exterior view with groups of women (4 photographs), undated |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.15 | Gads Hill Center, exterior view with Ida and others, 1922 |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.82 | Gads Hill Center, exterior view with children and Gads Hill placards, undated |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.90 | Gads Hill Center, exterior view with music group, undated |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.24 | Gads Hill Center, exterior view with unidentified event, circa 1920s |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.20 | Gads Hill Center, exterior view unidentified persons, undated |
| Box 2 | Photographs 1.107-1.112, 1.118-1.119, 1.173 | Gads Hill Center, indoor activities (9 photographs), undated |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.5 | Gads Hill Center, interior, kindergarten room, undated |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.6 | Gads Hill Center, interior, library room, undated |
| Box 2 | Photographs 1.113-1.117 | Gads Hill Center, interior, library room with readers (5 photographs), circa 1930s |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.7 | Gads Hill Center, interior, main hall, undated |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.4 | Gads Hill Center, interior, sewing room, undated |
| Box 1 | Photographs 1.8-1.14 | Gads Hill Center, interior, toy store wall display (7 photographs), undated |
| Box 2 | Photographs 1.121-1.140, 1.162-1.164, 1.168, 1.170-1.172 | Gads Hill Center, playground scenes (28 photographs), undated |
| Box 1 | Photographs 1.23, 1.76-1.81, 1.94-1.97 | Gads Hill Center, playground scenes and under elevated train (11 photographs), undated |
| Box 1 | Photographs 1.16, 1.44-1.48, 1.88-1.89, 1.91 | Gads Hill Center, roof playground with children (9 photographs), undated |
| Box 1 | Photographs 1.21-1.22, 1.30 | Gads Hill Center, roof playground with groups of women in ethnic costumes with musical instruments (3 photographs), undated |
| Box 3 | Drawing 1.177 | Girl with a broom, drawing [possibly publication paste-up], undated |
| Box 2 | Photograph 1.161 | [Krainik], John, portrait, undated |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.19 | Mothers’ Club, picnic, undated |
| Box 3 | Photograph 1.120 | Museum of Science and Industry, Yesterday’s Main Street exhibit, group portrait, undated |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.1 | Neighborhood House, St. Paul, Minnesota, exterior, undated |
| Box 1 | Photographs 1.33-1.41, 1.68, 1.70-1.71, 1.83-1.84, 1.86-1.87, 1.92 | Picnics and nature outings (17 photographs), undated |
| Box 2 | Photograph 1.169 | Picnics and nature outings, undated |
| Box 1 | Photographs 1.18, 1.43 | Settlement camp (2 photographs), undated |
| Box 3 | Scrapbook 1 | Scrapbook, includes 182 photographs (2.1-2.182) Alice-Blue Club, Boy’s Week Parade, Gads Hill Center, girls’/boys’ clubs, Gyro Club Palos Park, Hubbard Woods, Inter-Settlement Track Meet, kindergarten, Lincoln Park, Memorial Day celebrations, Mi Chicago Club, Mothers’ Club, picnics, Silver Stars, and theatrical performances, 1914-1923 |
| Box 2 | Photograph 1.165 | Stachnik, Frank, portrait, circa 1940 |
| Box 2 | Photographs 1.100-1.105, 1.142-1.160 | Theatrical performances (25 photographs), undated |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.2 | Unidentified building and street scene, undated |
| Box 2 | Photographs 1.166, 1.174-1.175 | Unidentified persons (3 photographs), 1925, undated |
| Box 1 | Photograph 1.32 | Wedding group, undated |
| Box 3 | Drawing 1.176 | Woman sewing, drawing [possibly publication paste-up], undated |
