Chicago-area archivists are opening their doors to ARCHIVES 360° Annual Meeting attendees on Tuesday, August 23, and Wednesday, August 24—and they have sights for you to see! Arrive early for the conference and visit these repository tours. Transportation is on your own. Please contact the facilities directly for scheduling and for answers to your questions.
When: Wednesday, August 24, 9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m.
Capacity: Maximum 20, Minimum 10, Preregistration required
Description: Please join staff of the Art Institute of Chicago for tours of the museum's Institutional Archives, the Ryerson and Burnham Archives, and the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries' Conservation Department. Institutional archivist Bart Ryckbosch will walk you through some of the current ongoing projects in the institutional archives (digitization of exhibition catalogues, Intranet-based services, and records management). Archivists Mary Woolever and Nathaniel Parks will present a show-and-tell of highlights from the Special Collections of the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries; and Library Collections Conservator Christine Fabian will discuss the art and craft of book and paper conservation.
Directions: From the Hyatt, walk south on Michigan Ave. to Monroe Street. At Monroe walk east to the Art Institute loading dock area. Tour participants should meet their guide at the staff entrance of the Art Institute promptly at the start of their tour time. 125 E. Monroe Street.
Contact: Mary Woolever, mwoolever@artic.edu, 312.443.7202
When: Tuesday, August 23, 9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m.
Capacity: Maximum 20, Minimum 3
Description: The Archdiocese of Chicago Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Archives and Records Center houses over 8,000 cubic feet of archival manuscripts, photographs, and artifacts documenting the life of the Catholic Church in the city of Chicago and its surroundings areas. Collections include bishops' papers; architectural drawings; business, historical, and sacramental records for closed archdiocesan parishes and schools; and Chicago's Catholic newspapers that date back to the mid-nineteenth century. The records center moved to its current home in the West Loop neighborhood in 1996. Visitors will tour this facility that houses both archival records that stretch back to the first days of the Church in Chicago as well as the inactive business records for archdiocesan agencies and departments.
Contact: Peggy Lavelle, mlavelle@archchicago.org, 312.534.4411
Directions: The Archives & Records Center is located at 711 W. Monroe Street. The nearest "L" stop is on the CTA Blue Line at Clinton Street and Congress Street. For further directions, visit http://archives.archchicago.org/contact.html.
When: Tuesday, August 23, 11 a.m.-Noon
Capacity: Maximum 15, Minimum 3
Description: Founded at Columbia College in 1983, the Center for Black Music Research exists to illuminate the significant role that black music plays in world culture. In addition to sponsoring conferences, programs, and performances, the Center publishes a scholarly journal, Black Music Research Journal, a book series, Music of the African Diaspora, with the University of California Press, and a recording series, Recorded Music of the African Diaspora, with Albany Records. The CBMR Library and Archives, founded in 1990, serves as a repository for archives, manuscripts, commercial and non-commercial sound recordings, photographs, and ephemera documenting music genres and performers from throughout the African Diaspora. The CBMR Library's holdings are particularly strong in research collections from major scholars; in archives of African American music organizations; and in manuscripts and scores of numerous composers of African descent. The sound collections include cylinders, discs, and magnetic and digital recordings of art music, jazz, popular genres, and traditional music from throughout the Diaspora. For further information, see the Library and Archives page of the Center's website here.
Directions: The CBMR is located on the 6th floor of Columbia College's building at 618 S. Michigan Avenue. The Center is half a block south of the Harrison bus stop on Michigan Avenue and half a block north of the Michigan and Balbo stop. Buses that
travel down Michigan Avenue and stop near the Center include the No. 3 King Drive bus and the No. 4 Cottage Grove bus. The No. 147 Outer Drive Express ends its route at Congress Plaza, a block north of the Center. The closest CTA Red Line stop is at
Harrison and State, two blocks west of Michigan Avenue. Visitors coming from the south side can take the CTA Red Line to Harrison or the Metra Electric line to Van Buren Street Station, on Michigan Avenue three blocks north of the Center. The No. 14 Jeffery Express from South Shore, the No. 6 Jackson Park bus from Hyde Park, or the northbound No. 3 or No. 4 buses all stop at Michigan and Balbo, directly across from the Center. For further directions, visit http://www.colum.edu/CBMR/Library_and_Archives/.
When: Wednesday August 24, 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
Capacity: Maximum 20, Minimum 3
Description: The Chicago History Museum's archives and manuscripts holdings document the vast panoply of urban life, including social conditions, neighborhoods, religious and community organizations, city politics, and labor history. CHM recently concluded a two-year cataloging and processing project funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The purpose of the project was to reveal previously hidden collections by improving catalog records and processing priority collections. Visit CHM and learn about this project and the ways in which the Research Center staff answer research questions using the archives and manuscripts collections.
Directions: The Chicago History Museum is located at the south end of Lincoln Park, on the corner of Clark Street and North Avenue. The museum is easy to reach via public transportation. CTA buses 11, 22, 36, 72, 73, 151, and 156 stop nearby. The Brown Line Sedgwick station and Red Line Clark/Division station are also located approximately one half-mile from the Museum. For further directions, visit http://www.chicagohistory.org/planavisit/visitorinformation/directions.
Contact: Peter Alter, alter@chicagohistory.org, 312.799.2054
When: Wednesday, August 24, 10 a.m.-11 a.m.
Capacity: Maximum 25, Minimum 3
Description: Join us for a tour of the Chicago Public Library's Special Collections and Preservation Division. Located just off of the Winter Garden on the top floor of the Harold Washington Library Center, the Division collects in the fields of Chicago history and Illinois in the Civil War. Staff will discuss recent projects (digitizing 19th-century playbills, photographing Civil War artifacts, and managing born-digital construction photographs ofMillennium Park). After a show-and-tell of collection highlights in the Reading Room, guests will be given an advanced look at the new exhibit based on the One Book, One Chicago Program, one of the most successful reading projects in the country.
Directions: The Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, is easily accessible via public transportation. Both the #146 and #6 CTA buses stop at the corner of Van Buren and State Street. Also, the Chicago Public Library has a stop on the Brown, Pink, Purple, and Orange “L” lines.
Contact: Glenn Humphreys, ghumphre@chipublib.org, 312.747.1941
When: Wednesday August 24, Noon-1 p.m.
Capacity: Maximum 15, Minimum 3
Description: The Creative Audio Archive (CAA) is a Chicago-based center for the preservation and investigation of innovative and experimental sonic arts and music, an initiative of the Experimental Sound Studio (ESS). The archive was formed in response to growing concerns over the general state of historical preservation of non-mainstream audio, in particular, recordings related to avant-garde and exploratory sound and music of the last five decades. The CAA houses four unique collections: the ESS collection, the Links Hall collection, the Sun Ra/El Saturn collection, and the Malachi Ritscher collection. In addition to preservation efforts, ESS develops interpretive programs for the public to meaningfully engage with the archives in a broad range of contexts. Programs include educational colloquiums and tours, artist commissions to research and present new compositions or visual artworks based on the holdings, curated online exhibitions of collection material, and exhibitions and performances presented on-site and throughout the city of Chicago that bring to life the rich historical treasures in the CAA collections. A tour of the archive provides an inside look at the four collections and the preservation efforts of the Creative Audio Archive.
Directions: Red line to Bryn Mawr stop; take the 84 Peterson bus to west to Ravenswood stop; walk half block south on Ravenswood.
Contact: Allison Schein, info@creativeaudioarchive.org, 773.760.1069
When: Wednesday August 24, 3 p.m.-4 p.m.
Capacity: Maximum 60, Minimum 3
Directions: The Gerber/Hart Library and Archives can be reached by taking the CTA Red Line. The Gerber/Hart Library and Archives is located at 1127 West Granvile Avenue, between Broadway and Sheridan Road, just a few doors west of the Granville stop on the CTA Red Line. For further directions, visit http://www.gerberhart.org/location.html.
Contact: Karen Sendziak, kcsendziak@earthlink.net, 773.381.8030
When: Wednesday, August 24, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Capacity: Maximum 15, Minimum 3
Description: The HistoryMakers is a national, 501(c)(3) non-profit educational institution committed to preserving, developing and providing easy access to an internationally recognized archival collection of thousands of African American video oral histories. The purpose of this archive is to educate and to:
Directions: The HistoryMakers office is located in the South Loop at 1900 S. Michigan Ave. The nearest cross street to the office is 18th Street. The #3 and #4 buses on Michigan Ave. can take you to 18th street. The HistoryMakers office is one block south of this bus stop. The nearest L stop is the China Town stop on the Red Line. It is a 4 block walk from this stop. The office is straight south of down town on Michigan Ave.1900 S. Michigan Ave.
Contact: For reservations and information, contact Dan Johnson 312.674.1900, dj@thehistorymakers.com
When: Wednesday August 24, 1:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m.
Capacity: Maximum 25, Minimum 3
Description: The Leather Archives and Museum houses a unique sexuality collection about the history and culture of fetishism, sadomasochism, and leather. The museum exhibits include art, artifacts, and information on alternative sexuality from Marquis deSade to the contemporary fetish community and lifestyle. The archives include papers and records from individual fetish practitioners and organizations associated with alternative sexuality. The institution was founded in 1991 and moved into its permanent 10,000-square-foot home in 1999. The LA&M is open to individuals 18 and over.
Directions: The LA&M is about a 10-minute walk from the Loyola Stop of the CTA Red Line. Walk south (under the L tracks) on Sheridan Road. At the second stoplight (Devon Avenue), turn right. Walk about six blocks to Greenview Avenue. Turn right at the corner of Devon and Greenview to 6418 North Greenview. There's a large "LA&M" above the front door. By bus from the Loyola stop, board the #155-Devon bus westbound to the corner of Devon and Greenview Avenue. There is also ample free street parking in the blocks surrounding the LA&M.
Contact: Rick Storer, rick@leatherarchives.org, 773.761.9200
When: Tuesday August 23, 3 p.m.-4 p.m.
Capacity: Maximum 25, Minimum 3
Description: Established in 1953, the Special Collections Research Center maintains the rare book, manuscript, and archival collections of the University of Chicago Library. Current holdings number 275,000 rare book volumes and 45,000 linear feet of archives and manuscripts. The tour will include the recently renovated and expanded Special Collections public service spaces and exhibition gallery. Visitors will also be able to view the newly opened Joe and Rika Mansueto Library designed by Helmut Jahn, a domed structure with below-ground stacks offering automated storage and retrieval of the library’s general collections and rare books, manuscripts, and archives from Special Collections.
Directions: From the Hyatt, walk to Millenium Metra Station (151 N. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL). Take the Metra Electric Line toward University Park. Exit at 55th-56th-57th Street Station. Walk west on 57th Street for .7 miles to 1100 W. 57th St. Approximate travel time is 50 minutes. Check train schedules here.
Contact: Daniel Meyer, arch@uchicago.edu, 773.702.8714
When: Tuesday, August 23, 1 p.m.-3:30 p.m.
Directions: The Rush University Archives are accessible via the CTA Blue Line. Located at 1700 W. Van Buren Street near the the Illinois Medical District stop. For further directions, visit http://www.lib.rush.edu/archives.
Contact: Heather Stecklein, rush_archives@rush.edu, 312.942.7214
When: Tuesday, August 23, 1 p.m.-2 p.m.
Capacity: Maximum 30, Minimum 3
Description: The Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature is the oldest and largest African American studies repository in the Midwest. Founded in 1932 by Vivian G. Harsh, the first black librarian to head a branch of the Chicago Public Library system, the “Special Negro Collection,” became a community focus of the surrounding “Bronzeville” neighborhood and one of engines of the Chicago Renaissance of the 1930s and 1940s. While developing this collection as a research and programming center for Chicago’s community of black scholars and activists, Harsh won the support and assistance of such leaders and writers as Richard Wright, Margaret Walker, Arna Bontemps, Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes and Horace Cayton. Assisted by the pioneering black children’s librarian Charlemae Hill Rollins, the collection became an extraordinary meeting place that helped develop the work of many black thinkers. The “Special Negro Collection” was moved to Carter G. Woodson Regional Library in 1975, and re-named in honor of Vivian G. Harsh. Today it holds more than 200 archival and manuscript collections, totaling nearly 4,000 linear feet.
Directions: The Vivian G. Harsh Society will provide a bus to pick up those who have signed up for the tour in front of the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Carter G. Woodson Regional Library is located at 9525 S. Halsted. Those who ride the bus are asked to donate $10 toward the cost of the bus charter. For further directions, visit http://www.chipublib.org/branch/details/library/woodson-regional/p/Transportation/.
Contact: Beverly Cook, bcook@chipublib.org