Ann Stull was director of Friendship House in Chicago from 1951 to 1955. Friendship House was a Roman Catholic mission that preached and practiced racial tolerance in the pre-civil rights era. Her collection of rare serials and newspaper clippings documents racism, Catholicism’s involvement in interracial justice, labor relations, housing and educational discrimination on Chicago’s West Side.

The collection consists of ephemera, pamphlets and photographs about Chicago suburbs.

From 2007 to 2015, Linda Erf Swift photographed students from three Chicago high schools in the Hyde Park and Kenwood neighborhoods. The goal of her Chalkboard Project was to generate dialog between students and awareness about their communities, schools and lives. This collection contains six color portraits, exhibit captions and a text panel from the 2015 exhibition at Harold Washington Library Center.

Alida Szabo built a poster collection while working in program development, marketing and media services for numerous arts organizations across Chicago. The collection contains 26 posters, collected by Szabo between 1976 and 1987 through her work with theaters including St. Nicholas and Goodman, as well as with the Mayor's Office of Special Events and other cultural institutions in Chicago.

Willietta Jones Temple was a longtime member of Lilydale First Baptist Church and an activist in Lilydale community organizations. Her papers include church anniversary books, programs, correspondence, newsletters, funeral programs and photographs. Also included are materials from other churches and documentation of Lilydale community organizations’ work.

D.E. (David Edward) Terriere was a longtime resident of the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago who worked as a banker at the Englewood Bank. His 37 handwritten diary entries, although brief, offer glimpses at his family life, household financial transactions and activities in the city. One of the diaries from 1900 was kept by Terriere’s mother-in-law, Anna Elizabeth Correll of Niles, Michigan.

The Theater Portrait and Clipping Files collection consists of portraits and clippings relating to actors, actresses, dancers, singers and vaudeville performers who performed on Chicago stages as well as in New York, London and smaller venues across the United States and Europe. Included are portraits, in the form of either professional photographs or clippings from programs, as well as obituaries and other clippings.

Theater scrapbook “D” consists of portraits of late 19th and early 20th century actors and actresses clipped from sources such as newspapers, periodicals and programs.

Includes a collection of programs, newspaper reviews and a few pictures pasted into a theater-goer's scrapbook, possibly compiled by Mrs. Rosalie E. Lang.

Theater Scrapbook “H,” compiled by T. Lovel D. Hadwen, includes clipped theater and opera playbills, predominantly from venues in and around Chicago from the years 1921 through 1924, though there are also programs from Milwaukee, New York, Washington, D.C. and Canada.

The scrapbook consists of clipped playbills predominantly from theaters in Chicago, but also from Boston and New York. Chicago venues Hooley’s McVicker’s and the Academy of Music appear most often, with several programs from the New Chicago and the Adelphi theaters.

Theater Scrapbooks “10-13” consist of materials relating to actors, actresses and performances circa 1900-1929. Materials include photographs and portraits clipped from sources such as newspapers, periodicals and programs, as well as parts of programs themselves and newspaper articles and reviews relating to plays or performers.

The Ton family immigrated from Holland and settled in the area known today as Roseland. They were a large family and held annual reunions between 1896 and 1955. The collection contains programs from those reunions.

The photographs in the Topel Family Photograph Album—the bulk of which date from circa 1917 to circa 1925—document the experiences of a Chicago-area family in the early twentieth century. Of particular significance are the photographs related to World War I and Chicago-area war efforts, including a substantial group of images taken at Camp Grant, a United States Army training facility in Rockford, Ill.

The collection consists of catalogs and advertisements for goods and services produced or sold by Chicago’s manufacturers, retail stores, wholesale houses and other businesses. The product categories include agriculture, amusement, apparel, appliances, automotive, bicycles, construction, education, furniture, hardware, housewares, jewelry, machinery, medicine, music, printing, publishing, sporting goods and general merchandise.

The collection contains 20th century posters from Chicago, North America and international destinations. The chromolithographic posters employ graphic design and illustration to advertise tours, travel agents, and transportation to destinations by railroad as well as ship and bus lines.

The Charlie Trotter Collection reflects aspects of Trotter’s life and career from his culinary development to his restaurants to his activities as a celebrity chef. The materials include a selection of menus, personal manuscripts, photographs and artifacts that taken together provide a snapshot into the life of a celebrity chef and the five-star restaurant that changed the culinary landscape of Chicago.

Charlie Trotter’s personal cookbook collection reflects a broad spectrum of professional and home cooking titles as well as food and wine commentary and management guides. The bibliography has been annotated to show which titles were signed or inscribed to Charlie Trotter by authors, fellow chefs and friends, or contain letters, menus or news clippings.

The Charlie Trotter Personal Library contains a selection of books on owned by Charlie Trotter that reflect his wide range of interests.

Japanese photographer Akito Tsuda enrolled in Columbia College in 1990. Between 1991 and 1994, his photographic explorations in the city led him to the Pilsen neighborhood and the city’s Lower West Side community where he forged intercultural bonds with the predominantly Latinx residents.

The John B. Turner Collection contains a small number of miscellaneous historical files related to John B. Turner and his family.

Laurence Turner, an African American supporter of independent African nations, moved to Tanzania in the 1970s. He established his own business and trained local entrepreneurs. His papers document his life and work in Tanzania.

The collection documents efforts on behalf of neighborhood improvement projects undertaken by United Woodlawn, Inc.

The Uptown Chicago Commission was incorporated in 1955 by community members who worked together to foster community improvement. The collection includes meeting agendas, flyers, membership lists, minutes, newsletters, publications and reports.

The Valmor Product Label Collection contains a small selection of product labels created in the 1930s and 1940s by the Valmor Products Company or its subsidiary companies: Lucky Brown, Madam Jones, King Novelty and Famous Products Company. The products ranged from hair pomades, perfumes and skin creams to household products that were marketed to African American women prior to the Black is Beautiful movement and frequently consisted of skin lighteners and hair straighteners.

E.R. Walker was an official photographer for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Walker produced at least 175 different images for the Exposition. Fair visitors could select the photographs they wanted from these available images to build customized souvenir albums. This appears to be one such album, made up of 41 selected images.

Thomas Calhoun Walker was born at the end of slavery in Gloucester, Virginia, and educated at Hampton Institute. He later became a lawyer and community activist. His papers consist of the typescript of his autobiography, The Honey-Pod Tree.

oan Wallace, daughter of painter William Edouard Scott and widow of anti-poverty federal official Maurice Dawkins, was an Assistant Secretary of Agriculture during the Carter administration. Her papers contain correspondence, speeches, scrapbooks, photographs and memorabilia.

Louis D. Walz directed the Lake View High School Band from 1928 until his retirement in 1961. The collection includes photographs of student musical activities at Lake View High; letters from former students serving in World War II; and programs, clippings, and correspondence related to Walz’s work at Lake View High.

This small collection contains clippings, photographs, and documents pertaining to Rea Warg's stage management of the Chicago Fair's "Frontiers of Freedom" pageant in 1950. Of significance are Warg's handwritten notes on casting and negotiations with the Actors Equity union. Minor information is included about the Railroad Fair of 1948-1949.