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West [Near West] Side Community Collection

 Collection
Identifier: spe-nhrc-ws

Scope and Contents

The West [Near West] Side Community Collection contains manuscripts, printed material and photographs that document Chicago’s Near West Side, an area bounded by 16th Street on the south, Kinzie Street on the north, the Chicago River on the east and Maplewood Avenue on the west. It was originally called the West Side Community Collection. The collection contains biographical information on residents, as well as information on businesses, religious institutions, clubs and organizations, municipal agencies, residences, schools, streets and transportation. Among the organizations included are E.J Brach and Sons, Brown School, Daprato Statuary Company, Hull House, King School, Maxwell Street Civic Improvement Project, St. Ignatius High School, Sears, Roebuck and Company, West Division High School and West Side Department Y.M.C.A. News clippings in the original collection that were duplicated in the library’s newspaper holdings have been indexed in this guide, but not physically included in the manuscript collection.

Photographs 6.1 through 6.56 are small tintypes that are mostly set in oval cardboard frames

Dates

  • 1853 - 1994

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Please consult staff to determine ability to reuse materials from collection.

Biographical / Historical

The Near West Side neighborhood begins two miles west of the Loop. Its boundaries are the Chicago River in the east, the Pennsylvania Railroad near Rockwell Street to the west, the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad near Kinzie Street on the north and 16th Street to the south. The Near West Side is number 28 of the 77 official communities that make up Chicago. The community area includes neighborhoods referred to as: Columbus Circle, Greektown, Little Italy, Medical Center, Near West Side, Tri-Taylor, Fulton River District, University Village.

After the Chicago Fire of 1871, more than 200,000 people took up resident in the area. By the end of the nineteenth century, the area attracted waves of European immigration including Greeks, Italians, Poles, Russian Jews and Poles. In 1889, Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr opened Hull House settlement house that offered services to these groups. African Americans and Mexicans moved into the Near West Side in larger numbers during the 1930s and 1940s.

Extent

27.5 Linear Feet (in 35 boxes including 440 photographs, 16 oversize folders)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The West [Near West] Side Community Collection contains manuscripts, printed material and photographs that document Chicago’s Near West Side, an area bounded by 16th Street on the south, Kinzie Street on the north, the Chicago River on the east and Maplewood Avenue on the west. It was originally called the West Side Community Collection. The collection contains biographical information on residents, as well as information on businesses, religious institutions, clubs and organizations, municipal agencies, residences, schools, streets and transportation.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into 11 series by topic:

Series 1: Biographical Data, 1853-1953, undated

Series 2: Business Establishments, 1862-1946, undated

Series 3: Religious Institutions, 1875-1947

Series 4: Clubs and Organizations, 1870-circa 1962

Series 5: Historical Sketches, 1854-1994

Series 6: Hospitals, circa 1890s-1949

Series 7: Municipal Agencies and Parks, 1858-circa 1950, undated

Series 8, Residences, circa 1867-1954, undated

Series 9: Schools, 1857-1971, undated

Series 10: Streets, 1872-1945

Series 11: Transportation, circa 1850s-1939

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The initial collection was transferred from Chicago Public Library Legler Branch Library in the 1980s as part of a Dr. Scholl Foundation grant.

Supplement 1 (Box 20, Folders 1-15) originated with the West Side Historical Society. These include documentation of Brown School, including that of Billie Burke, widower of alumnus Florenz Ziegfeld (Box 20, Folder 13). The supplement was processed in February 1989.

Supplement 2 (Box 20, Folders16-43) largely originated with the collections of the West Side Historical Society. The documentation includes various members of the Guiteau Family, including Charles Julius Guiteau (1841-1882) who assassinated President James Garfield in 1881. Also included in this supplement are Oversize items 12, 13, and 14, described below. These materials were processed in February of 1990.

Supplement 3 (Box 21, Folders 1-6; Photograph 4.24) includes materials were transferred from other collections and donated by various people over a number of years. Photograph 4.24 was transferred from the Beverly-Morgan Park Collection and Joseph Prause donated the contents of Box 21, Folders 3-4 and 6. These materials were added to the collection in December 2018.

Maretta Twitty (1851-1934) collected Photographs 6.1 through 6.56. Additional items that belonged to Miss Twitty are in Box 4, Folder 2.

Related Materials

West End Women’s Club Records

West Side Council of Parents and Teachers Records

West Side Newspaper Collection

West Town Community Collections

Title
Guide to the West [Near West] Side Community Collection
Status
Completed
Author
Original author unknown, circa 1989. Supplements to the collection were added in 1989, 1990 and 2018. Updated and ingested into ArchivesSpace by Michelle McCoy, 2022
Date
1989
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Unit at Harold Washington Library Center Repository

Contact:
Harold Washington Library Center, 9th Floor
Chicago Public Library
400 S. State Street
Chicago IL 60605 United States
(312) 747-4875