| Dates: | 1958-1967, undated |
| Size: | 4 linear feet in 2 boxes and 1 oversize folder, includes 127 posters |
| Repository: | Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, 400 S. State Street, Chicago, IL 60605 |
| Collection Number: | spe-c00099 |
| Immediate Source of Acquisition: | Donated by Linda Kinnaman in 2018 |
| 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, George H. Kinnamon Poster Collection, [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections, Chicago Public Library. |
| Finding Aid Author: | Spenser Bailey, June 2019. Updated and ingested into ArchivesSpace by Michelle McCoy, 2021. |
Abstract
This collection of 106 unique posters, collected by George H. Kinnamon as he drove through Chicago for his work, offers a glimpse at posted outdoor advertisements of public entertainment and politics in Chicago and Illinois during the 1950s and 1960s.
Historical/Biographical
George Howard Kinnamon (1913-1983) was born in Kansas City, Missouri and raised in Independence, Missouri. In 1942, he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as an airplane mechanic and was stationed in Italy and North Africa. After his World War II military service ended, Kinnamon returned to government service, this time as an economist in occupied Japan. He grew to love Japanese culture and married a Japanese woman. In 1952, Kinnamon moved to Chicago to seek post-war job opportunities and to study under the G.I. Bill. His last employment was as a union carpenter for the Chicago Board of Education where he was part of a work crew that installed mobile school classrooms for Chicago Public Schools during the 1960s. As he travelled across the city for these projects, he collected outdoor advertising posters posted along his routes that caught his eye. In the end, his collection included local and national political campaign posters, sports, and a range of entertainment posters spanning the late 1950s through the 1960s.
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of 106 unique posters (21 posters are duplicate copies), that were collected by the donor’s father, George H. Kinnamon, as he drove through Chicago for work. The majority of these posters date from the 1950s and 1960s. Displayed outdoors, the posters offer a glimpse of entertainment and politics in the city of Chicago and state of Illinois during that time period. The posters advertise ballet performances, benefits, choir performances, circuses, events, ice skating shows, movies, music and dances, opera, racing, sports, theater, and political campaigns for Illinois contests and candidates.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into 2 Series:
- Series 1: Entertainment Posters, 1959-1967, undated
- Series 2: Political Posters, 1958-1963, undated
Subject Headings
- Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine for North America. Medinah Temple (Chicago, Ill.)
- Chicago Auto Show
- Circus posters
- Music posters
- Daley, Richard J., 1902-1976
- Dirksen, Everett McKinley
- Douglas, Paul H. (Paul Howard), 1892-1976
- Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973
- Studebaker Theater (Organization: Chicago, Ill.)
- Exposition Opera House (Chicago, Ill.)
- Orchestra Hall (Chicago, Ill.)
- Political posters, American
- Poster collections
- Richter, Sviatoslav, 1915-1997
- Sports posters
- Theatrical posters—Illinois--Chicago
- Related Collections
- Alida Szabo Poster Collection
- Chicago City-wide Collection
- Chicago Collection of Kenan and Carol Heise
- Travel and Railway Poster Collection
Collection Inventory
Series 1: Entertainment Posters, 1959-1967, undated
Arrangement
Series 1 is arranged alphabetically by type of entertainment, and then alphabetically by poster title.
| Box 1 | Folder 7 | Ballet - The Leningrad Kirov Ballet, Arie Crown Theatre at McCormick Place, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 7 | Ballet - Swan Lake, American Ballet Theatre, Opera House, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 13 | Benefit - Dance, Monday, Oct. 12th, 1959, 10th Annual Yom Kippur Nite, Dick Elliot and his Orchestra, Hotel Sherman, for Cancer Research, 1959 |
| Box 1 | Folder 13 | Benefit - Dinner-dance, Meat Industry Lodge B’nai B’rith, George Jessel, Saturday, June 1, 1963, Sheraton-Chicago Hotel, 1963 |
| Box 1 | Folder 13 | Benefit - Salvation Army Doughnut Day, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 7 | Choir - Vienna Choir Boys, Opera House and Orchestra Hall, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 1 | Circus - Medinah Shrine Circus, Medinah Temple, Wed. Mar. 4 thru Sun. Mar. 22, Produced by Polack Bros., 1964 |
| Box 1 | Folder 1 | Circus - Medinah Shrine Circus, Medinah Temple, Wed. Mar. 17 thru Sun. Apr. 4, Produced by Polack Bros., 1965 |
| Box 1 | Folder 1 | Circus - Medinah Shrine Circus, Medinah Temple, Thurs. Mar. 1 thru Sunday Mar. 8, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 6 | Events - Chicago Auto Show, McCormick Place, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 6 | Events - Chicago Auto Show, McCormick Place, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 13 | Events - Illinois State Fair, Springfield, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 6 | Events - International Livestock Exposition and Horse Show, Chicago International Amphitheatre, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 6 | Events - International Livestock Exposition and Horse Show, Chicago International Amphitheatre, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 6 | Events - International Livestock Exposition and Horse Show, Chicago International Amphitheatre, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 13 | Events - Sun-Times Harvest Moon Festival, Chicago Stadium, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 3 | Ice Skating - Ice Capades, Chicago Stadium, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 3 | Ice Skating - Ice Follies, Shipstads & Johnson, Chicago Stadium, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 3 | Ice Skating - New Ice Follies, Shipstads & Johnson, Chicago Stadium (2 copies), undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 13 | Motion picture - Spartacus, McVickers Theatre, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 9 | Music - Dancing, Dan Belloc and his Orchestra, Taylor Jousters S.A.C., Sat. Jan. 17, 1959, Marine Ballroom, 1959 |
| Box 1 | Folder 9 | Music - The Dells, Amanda Love, Jimmie Johnson and the Lucky Hearts, Golden Peacock, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 9 | Music - Li’l Wally and the Lucky Harmony Boys, Mustangs S.C., Sat. Sept. 30, 1961, Lions Ballroom, 1961 |
| Box 1 | Folder 9 | Music - Ramsey Lewis, Christmas Day Concert, Orchestra Hall, Sunday, December 25, 1966, 1966 |
| Box 1 | Folder 9 | Music - Stan Kenton, Jean Turner, Boulevard Ballroom, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 9 | Music - Sviatoslav Richter, Orchestra Hall, circa 1960 |
| Box 1 | Folder 2 | Opera - The Land of Smiles, Opera House, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 2 | Opera - Lyric Opera, Opera House, 1963 Tenth Season, Oct. 4-Nov. 29 (2 copies), [1963] |
| Box 1 | Folder 8 | Racing, automobile - Union Grove Drag Strip, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 8 | Racing, horse - Hawthorne Race Track, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 8 | Racing, horse - Hawthorne Race Track, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 8 | Racing, horse - Night Racing, Suburban Downs at Maywood Park, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 8 | Racing, horse - Night Racing, Sportsman’s Park, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 8 | Racing, horse - Night Racing, Washington Park, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 8 | Racing, horse - Sportsman’s Park, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 4 | Sports - Annual World Series, College All-Americans vs. Harlem Globetrotters, Chicago Stadium, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 5 | Sports - Chicago’s Annual Championship Football Game, December 1, 1962, Soldier Field, Public vs. Catholic, [1962] |
| Box 1 | Folder 4 | Sports - Chicago Majors, American Basketball League, Chicago Stadium, circa 1961-1962 |
| Box 1 | Folder 4 | Sports - Chicago Majors, American Basketball League, Chicago Stadium, circa 1961-1962 |
| Box 1 | Folder 4 | Sports - Chicago Majors, American Basketball League, Chicago Stadium (2 copies), [1962] |
| Box 1 | Folder 5 | Sports - Chicago Spurs, National Professional Soccer League, 1967 |
| Box 1 | Folder 5 | Sports - International League Professional, Soldier Field, [soccer] undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 10 | Theater - A Majority of One, Erlanger Theater, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 10 | Theater - Black Nativity, Langston Hughes, Civic Theater (2 copies), undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 10 | Theater - The Fantasticks, Studebaker Theater, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 11 | Theater - Half a Sixpence, McVickers Theatre, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 11 | Theater - Hostile Witness, Studebaker Theater, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 11 | Theater - La plume de ma tante, New McVickers Theatre (2 copies), undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 11 | Theater - Leave It to Jane, The Prudential Building Auditorium, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 12 | Theater - Pajama Tops, Blackstone Theater (2 copies), undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 12 | Theater - Seidman and Son, Studebaker Theater, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 12 | Theater - Show Business, Erlanger Theater, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 12 | Theater - That Summer - That Fall, Civic Theater, undated |
Series 2: Political Posters, 1958-1963, undated
Arrangement
Series 2 is arranged alphabetically by the candidate’s last name. In cases where multiple candidates are featured on a single poster, the poster is filed under the first name that appears.
| Box 2 | Folder 1 | Adesko, Thaddeus V. Vote Democratic; Elect Thaddeus V. Adesko County Judge (2 copies), undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 1 | Adesko, Thaddeus V. Retain Experience and Integrity in the County Court; Re-elect Thaddeus V. Adesko, County Judge; Vote Democratic; Tues., Nov. 6, 1962, 1962 |
| Box 2 | Folder 1 | Adesko, Thaddeus V. and Daniel P. Ward. Vote Democratic; Thaddeus V. Adesko for County Judge; Daniel P. Ward, State’s Attorney, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 1 | Barrett, Edward J. Retain Edward J. Barrett, County Clerk; Democratic, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 2 | Berg, Raymond Knute. Elect Raymond Knute Berg; Associate Judge of the Circuit Court; Vote Democratic, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 2 | Brundage, William F. Vote For Wm F. “Bill” Brundage, Republican Candidate for State Representative, 26th District, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 2 | Byrne, [Emmett F.] Return Byrne to Congress, Republican, [1958] |
| Box 2 | Folder 2 | Byrne, Emmett F. Return Emmet Byrne, Republican, Congressman 3rd District, an Able Representative, [1958] |
| Box 2 | Folder 2 | Connell, Francis. Support Adamowski…Elect Good Judges! Francis Connell for County Judge; Vote Straight Republican! (2 copies), undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 3 | Daley, Richard J. For a Dynamic Chicago, Re-elect Richard J. Daley, Mayor; Vote Democratic, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 3 | Daley, Richard J. For a Dynamic Chicago, Richard J. Daley, Mayor; Vote Democratic, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 3 | Dirksen, Everett McKinley. Re-Elect Everett McKinley Dirksen, U.S. Senator; Vote Republican (2 copies), undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 3 | Downes, John P. Retain John P. Downes, State Representative 26th District; Democratic, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 4 | Douglas, Paul H. Re-Elect Paul H. Douglas; The People’s Senator; Vote Democratic; Tues. Nov. 8th, 1966, 1966 |
| Box 2 | Folder 4 | Douglas, Paul H. Re-Elect Paul H. Douglas; The People’s Senator; Vote Democratic (2 copies), undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 4 | Garrity, Vincent P. For Trustees Sanitary District; Vincent P. Garrity, Walter S. Baltis, Christopher Wimbish; Democratic, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 4 | Goldberg, Mayer. On His Record, Re-elect Mayer Goldberg, Alderman 42nd Ward; Non-Partisan Election; Tuesday, February 28th, 1967, 1967 [bumper sticker that reads Herman, 42nd Ward Alderman is placed over Goldberg’s photo] |
| Box 2 | Folder 5 | Guild, William L. William L. Guild for Attorney General of Illinois; Republican, undated [double-sided] |
| Box 2 | Folder 5 | Higgins, George A. Elect George A. Higgins for County Clerk; Vote Republican, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 5 | Huppert, Jerome. Ability - Integrity - Experience; Re-Elect Jerome Huppert, County Commissioner; Vote Democratic, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 5 | Johnson, [Lyndon B.] Welcome President Johnson (2 copies), undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 6 | Keane, George M. Elect George M. Keane and James C. Spangler For Members of the Board of Appeals; Vote Democratic, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 6 | Kelly, Thomas J. Chicago Truck Drivers, Chauffeurs and Helpers Union of Chicago and Vicinity; Independent, Elect Thomas K. Kelly for Office of Secretary; Election Sunday, December 1, 1963; A Rank & File Candidate - Union Driver 22 Years, 1963 |
| Box 2 | Folder 6 | Kennedy, [John F.] Now is the Time for Greatness; Win with Kennedy, [1960] |
| Box 2 | Folder 6 | Kerner, Otto. Join the Jewish National Fund to Salute the Man of the Year, Governor Otto Kerner; Wed. Apr. 11 1962, Terrace Casino, Morrison Hotel, For Reservations Call HA 7-1838, 1962 |
| Box 2 | Folder 6 | Kerner, Otto. Vote Democratic; Otto Kerner for Governor; Theodore A. Swinarski Clerk of the Superior Court; Election Day Tuesday November 8th, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 6 | Kluczynski, [John C.] Vote Democratic; Kluczynski for Congress, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 7 | Lorenz, [Francis S.] Lorenz for County Treasurer; Trustworthy, Capable, Best Qualified; Vote Democratic, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 7 | Miller, Peter J. Retain Peter J. Miller, State Representative, 15th District, Vote Democratic, “A Legislative Dynamo - Excellent Record” - Robert Howard, Tribune Legislative Correspondent, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 7 | Murphy, [William T.] Democratic; Experienced Legislator; Murphy for Congress, 3rd Dist., undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 7 | Owens, Jesse. A Super-Champion in 1936 - He Will Make a Super-Public Official in 1958! Elect Jesse Owens, 1936 Olympic Champion, County Commissioner; Vote Republican, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 7 | Percy, Charles H. A Strong New Voice for Illinois. Charles H. Percy for U.S. Senator; Vote Republican, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 8 | Phelps, Craig. Elect Craig Phelps, State Senator; Republican, undated |
| Oversize Folder 1 | Polling Place. Primary Election, Tuesday April 12th, 1960, Polling Place, Polls Open From 6 O’Clock A. M. to 6 O’Clock P. M., 1960 [damaged, poster in 2 pieces] | |
| Box 2 | Folder 8 | Pucinski, Roman. Elect Roman Pucinski; Your Congressman; Vote Democratic, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 8 | Ryan, Daniel. Vote Democratic; Re-Elect Daniel Ryan, President County Board of Commissioners; Election Nov. 4th, 1958, 1958 |
| Box 2 | Folder 8 | Ryan, Daniel. Re-Elect Daniel Ryan; President Board of County Commissioners; Vote Democratic, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 9 | Sain, Frank G. Experienced…Capable… Honest; On His Record Elect Warden Frank G. Sain, for Sheriff; Tuesday, November 4; Vote Democratic, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 9 | Sandquist Jr., Elroy C. Vote for Elroy C. Sandquist Jr, Republican Candidate for County Judge; Clean up Elections! Stop Illegal Tax Rates! A Fighting, Unshackled County Judge Can Do Both! General Election: November 6, 1962 (2 copies), 1962 |
| Box 2 | Folder 9 | Scranton, [William]. Scranton, Bill Will Win in ’64 for President, 1964 |
| Box 2 | Folder 10 | Smith, [?]. Republican; Smith, State Auditor (4 copies), undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 10 | Sheehan, Timothy P. Re-Elect Congressman Timothy P. Sheehan, 11th District, Experienced, Unbossed; Republican (2 copies), undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 11 | Stastny, [George F.] Re-Elect Stastny to the General Assembly, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 11 | Stastny, George F. Defeat A State Income Tax! Re-Elect George F. Stastny, State Representative, 26th District, Vote Republican, (2 copies), undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 11 | Toman, Andrew J. A Doctor for Coroner; Elect Andrew J. Toman, M.D.; Vote Democratic; Tues., Nov. 8th, undated |
| Oversize Folder 1 | Voter Registration. Place of Registration; Tuesday, October 9, 1962, Hours - 8:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M.; Thaddeus V. Adesko, County Judge. Sidney T. Holzman, Marie H. Suthers, John P. Daly, Board of Election Commissioners, 1962 | |
| Box 2 | Folder 12 | Waner, [John L.] Chicago’s Opportunity; Elect Waner, Mayor; Republican, [1967] |
| Box 2 | Folder 12 | Ward, Daniel P. Endorsed by the Chicago Bar Association; Elect Daniel P. Ward State’s Attorney; Federal Prosecutor, University Law School Dean; Vote Democratic; Election-November 8, 1960 (2 copies), 1960 |
| Box 2 | Folder 12 | Ward, Daniel P. Daniel P. Ward; Restore Responsibility to the State’s Attorneys Office; For State’s Attorney; Vote Democratic; Election-November 8, 1960, 1960 |
| Box 2 | Folder 13 | Wilson, Minor K. Lawyer, Crime Fighter; Elect Minor K. Wilson Sheriff; Vote Democratic, undated (2) |
| Box 2 | Folder 13 | Witwer, Samuel W. Vote For Samuel W. Witwer, Republican Candidate for United States Senator; He Gets Things Done; Vote Republican (3 copies), [1960] |
