Collections & Exhibits

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Collections
Collection Thumbnail Title Formats Subjects
Illustration from Letter Baldwin, Loammi. Papers, 1821-1842
Loammi Baldwin was a pioneering civil engineer who lived in Massachusetts from 1780 to 1838. He planned and executed public works projects in several Eastern states including canals, public monuments, dams, and tunnels. His lifework was a series of dry docks he built on commission by the United States government in 1833. The collection contains 247 handwritten letters both from and to Baldwin and his business associates, colleagues, and family members. The letters reveal aspects of Baldwin's personal life as well as his professional projects and meditations.
Formats
Digital
Archives & Manuscripts
Subjects
American History
Letter of John Adams to an unknown person - July 28, 1798 Butler-Gunsaulus Collection, 1527-1915
Chiefly letters and manuscripts by notable American men such as John Adams, William Cullen Bryant, DeWitt Clinton, Stephen A. Douglas, Frederick Douglass, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Horace Greeley, Washington Irving, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, William Henry Seward, George Washington and many more. Also contains a small number of manuscripts by Europeans, including Erasmus and the Marquis de Lafayette.
Formats
Digital
Archives & Manuscripts
Subjects
American History
Postage stamp from correspondence. Carter, Henry Kendall. Papers, 1823-1880
The Henry Kendall Carter Papers (1823-1880, bulk 1840-1870) are made up of business documents, primarily concerning Carter's time in New Orleans (circa 1842-1874), personal and business correspondence, and personal memo books and diaries (1850-1878). Together, these items shed light on business life in Antebellum New Orleans, and on the realities of personal and business life in a divided country during the Civil War.
Formats
Digital
Archives & Manuscripts
Subjects
American History
Cover of 	  Sky-ride pamphlet Century of Progress - International Exposition Publications, 1933-1934
Published informational and promotional material produced for the Century of Progress Exhibition, Chicago, Illinois, 1934.
Formats
Digital
Books & Journals
Subjects
Chicago and Illinois
American History
Aimed at the Pimp Flyer Chicago Committee of Fifteen. Records, 1909-1927
Also known as Manuscript Codex 1028, these twenty-six volumes were gathered for an investigation of Chicago crime, focusing on prostitution and the illegal sale of alcohol. Notes are from on-scene investigations, summaries of court records and newspaper clippings.
Formats
Digital
Archives & Manuscripts
Subjects
American History
Chicago and Illinois
Chicago in the 1890s Chicago in the 1890s
Sheet maps of Chicago in the 1890s that are held at the University of Chicago Library's Map Collection. The 1890s were an extraordinary decade for Chicago, perhaps the only period in the city's history when its status as a "world city" would be disputed by few.
Formats
Digital
Maps
Subjects
American History
Chicago and Illinois
Maps
Geography
Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s: the view from the Chicago School (the Social Science Research Committee maps)
"During the 1920s and 1930s numerous scholars at the University of Chicago did research on Chicago itself. These scholars, whose work is sometimes associated with the label "Chicago School," or "Chicago School of Sociology," played a major role in establishing urban studies as an important academic enterprise. All of these maps were produced under the aegis of the Social Science Research Committee or its immediate predecessor, the Local Community Research Committee.
Formats
Digital
Maps
Subjects
Sociology
American History
Chicago and Illinois
Maps
Chicago 1900-1914 Maps Chicago, 1900-1914
Sheet maps of Chicago from the years between 1900 and the onset of World War I. The maps portray a city where much that was true of Chicago in the 1890s remained the case. Chicago continued to grow, reaching a population (not counting suburbs) of nearly 2.2 million in 1910, and perhaps 2.4 million in 1914, when (by some measures) it was still the world’s sixth largest city.
Formats
Digital
Maps
Subjects
Chicago and Illinois
American History
Maps
The Chicagoan Vol 7 no 9 The Chicagoan
A jazz-aged magazine, modeled on the New Yorker, that aimed to portray the city as a cultural hub and counter its image as a place of violence and vice. The magazine contains a wealth of material on the literary, cultural, artistic, athletic and social milieu of Chicago between 1926-1934.
Formats
Digital
Books & Journals
Subjects
Chicago and Illinois
American Literature
American History
Subpoena for Gen. Horace Porter to testify in the Virginia Circuit Court, November 25, 1867 Davis, Jefferson, Trial Papers. MS 979, 1865-1868
These fourteen documents indicate the legal entanglements, ambiguous delays, political floundering, and shifting of responsibilities that occurred during the period from Jefferson Davis' first indictment for treason, on May 10, 1866, through March 6, 1868, when the trial, finally set for March 26, 1868, was postponed again.
Formats
Digital
Archives & Manuscripts
Subjects
American History
Government Maps of Chicago Government maps of Chicago in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s
During the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, there was a slow growth in the planning role of municipal governments in many large American cities, including Chicago. Cartographic materials of various sorts were one of the byproducts of this growth.
Formats
Digital
Maps
Subjects
American History
Political Science
Chicago and Illinois
Maps
Geography
Hart, Schaffner and Marx Labor Agreement Records Hart, Schaffner and Marx Labor Agreement. Records, 1919-1920
The Hart, Schaffner and Marx Labor Agreement grew out of the unsuccessful nineteen-week strike of workers in the Chicago men’s clothing industry in 1910. It was initially signed by representatives of the workers and Hart, Schaffner and Marx and represented a compromise between the United Garment Worker’s (UGW) demand for a closed shop and the management desire for an open one.
Formats
Digital
Archives & Manuscripts
Subjects
American History
David Heaton Papers Heaton, David F. Papers, 1837-1853
The David F. Heaton Papers contain personal and professional correspondence, documenting Heaton's work as a clerk in the General Land Office during the presidency of Andrew Jackson and in the private sector as an expert in land transfer and ownership.
Formats
Digital
Archives & Manuscripts
Subjects
American History
Hyde Park Center Hyde Park Center. Collection, 1910-1917
Established in 1908, the Hyde Park Center was an independent welfare organization providing services to children and youth in the neighborhood, such as a free kindergarten and playground, clubs and activities, and job training for youth.
Formats
Digital
Archives & Manuscripts
Subjects
American History
Chicago and Illinois
Ebenezer Lane Papers Lane, Ebenezer, Family. Papers, 1811-1866
The Ebenezer Lane Family Papers contain materials relating to Lane and his son, also named Ebenezer. The papers of the father (1793-1866) document his career as an attorney and judge, with materials including financial records, legal documents, letterbooks, notes on law cases, and a travel diary.
Formats
Digital
Archives & Manuscripts
Subjects
American History
Chicago and Illinois
Elon N. Lee and Edson S. Bastin Papers Lee, Elon N. and Edson S. Bastin. Papers, 1864-1919
Elon N. Lee and Edson S. Bastin, early students. The Elon N. Lee and Edson S. Bastin Papers consist of Edson S. Bastin's correspondence (1866-1919), Elon Lee's diary (1864-1865), drafts of essays, and miscellaneous ephemera concerning the Old University of Chicago (1867-1881).
Formats
Digital
Archives & Manuscripts
Subjects
Chicago and Illinois
American History
Tax Receipt, 1819 Lewis, Fielding. Papers, 1783-1900
Fielding Lewis, plantation owner. Papers contain business records, legal documents, tax receipts and other records that document the management of an ante-bellum plantation on the James River. The collection also includes receipts for purchase of slaves as well as daily expenses.
Formats
Digital
Archives & Manuscripts
Subjects
American History
Lace curtain fragment and letter of authentication Lincoln Collection. Lincoln Miscellaneous Manuscripts, 1587-1924
The Lincoln Miscellaneous Manuscript section of the William E. Barton Collection of Lincolniana contains material relating to Abraham Lincoln, his parentage, the Civil War, and his presidency. Included are briefs, pardons, and commissions in Lincoln's hand, original letters of Mary Todd Lincoln, one of the few extant letters written by Lincoln to his wife, a letter written by Willie Lincoln while accompanying his father on a trip to Chicago, and letters written by members of the Lincoln cabinet and other notable political and military figures of the time.
Formats
Digital
Archives & Manuscripts
Subjects
American History
Bristol Family Papers Murdock, Fanny Bristol and Sarah Bristol Family. Papers, 1836-1866
These papers contain the personal correspondence of Fanny Murdock, her mother Sarah Bristol, and other family members in the mid-19th century. They document the family life and war-related difficulties of a Mississippi family. Material in the collection dates from 1836 to 1866.
Formats
Digital
Archives & Manuscripts
Subjects
American History
Women's Studies
O'Hara family portrait O'Hara, James E. Papers, 1866-1970
James E. O'Hara (1844-1905), Lawyer and Republican Congressman, 1883-1887. Contains letters from family and constituents, photographs, a biographical sketch (1970) written by O'Hara's granddaughter, Vera Jean O'Hara Rivers, and memorabilia.
Formats
Digital
Archives & Manuscripts
Images
Subjects
American History
African-American Studies
Philip Klutznick Philip M. Klutznick: Community Builder, Jewish and Civic Leader, Diplomat
Digital archive drawn from the Philip M. Klutznick Papers highlighting his multi-faceted life and career as a pioneering community developer, philanthropist, United Nations representative, U.S. Secretary of Commerce and leader of the American and international Jewish community.
Formats
Digital
Archives & Manuscripts
Subjects
Chicago and Illinois
American History
Midwest Planning Map Planning Maps of Midwestern Cities in the 1920s and 1930s
Government planning maps of Midwestern cities from the 1920s and 1930s. Most of the maps are zoning or land-use maps.
Formats
Digital
Maps
Subjects
Political Science
American History
Maps
Geography
Bill of sale Slavery and Indentured Servitude Collection, 1752-1864
Contains seven documents pertaining to indentured servants (1766-1785). The remaining documents relate to slavery and include bills of sale, a memorandum describing the slave trade in Havana (1783), estate inventories, public notices, letters, deeds, a will, and indemnity bonds. Many of the documents are facsimiles.
Formats
Digital
Archives & Manuscripts
Subjects
American History
Brighton Park, prepared by Department of Sociology, The University of Chicago Social Scientists Map Chicago
Geographer Chauncy Harris often argued that Chicago in the first half of the 20th century was the most studied city in the world. This claim is unprovable, but there were certainly an enormous number of scholarly studies of Chicago between the 1920s and the middle of the 20th century. Many of these included maps.
Formats
Digital
Maps
Subjects
Sociology
Political Science
American History
Chicago and Illinois
Maps
UNCAP Folders UNCAP: Uncovering New Chicago Archives Program
Electronic finding aids to contemporary poetry collections and the Chicago Jazz Archive at the University of Chicago Library and to important archival collections that chronicle Black Chicago from Chicago Defender, The DuSable Museum, The Vivan Harsh Collection of the Chicago Public Library, and the South Side Community Art Center.
Formats
Archives & Manuscripts
Subjects
Chicago and Illinois
American History
African-American Studies
United States Supreme Court: Portraits and Autographs Title Page United States Supreme Court: Portraits and Autographs
This collection is based on a bound album of manuscripts collected by Louis Silver (JD ’28), a noted rare book collector. It was donated to the Law School Library in the late 1950’s. The album contains letters and other signed documents from Supreme Court Justices, plus portraits and/or photographs of those Justices.
Formats
Digital
Archives & Manuscripts
Images
Subjects
U.S. Law
Law
American History
Late Nineteenth Century Urban Rail Urban Rail Transit - Late 19th- and early 20th-century maps
Late 19th- and early 20th-century urban rail transit maps that roughly illustrate the history of urban rail transit between the 1860s and the 1920s. These years were the heyday of urban rail transit. Virtually every city in the Western world and in its colonial offshoots had street railroads during much or all of this period.
Formats
Digital
Maps
Subjects
History
Maps
European History
American History
Lincoln Bookplate William E. Barton Collection of Lincolniana
The 1932 purchase of the William E. Barton Collection of Lincolniana formed the nucleus of the Library's distinguished holdings of books, manuscripts, and artifacts concerning the life and times of Abraham Lincoln. The Barton family established an endowment fund that has enabled the University to expand and shape Barton's original 3,500 volume collection into a major resource for exploring the social, economic, and political history of the United States in the nineteenth-century.
Formats
Archives & Manuscripts
Books & Journals
Subjects
American History
Special Collections
Rush Medical College, Matriculation Ticket Winston, Thomas. Papers, 1854-1927
Thomas Winston was a physician with Illinois troops during the Civil War. These papers relate primarily to Winston's activities as a surgeon during the Civil War. Includes biographical material, case histories, lists of medical supplies, receipts for effects of soldiers, and various documents relating to individual soldiers. Also contains some material relating to real estate after the Civil War.
Formats
Digital
Archives & Manuscripts
Subjects
American History
Medicine
Letterhead Republican State Committee Woodruff, Timothy Lester. Papers, 1897-1909
Timothy Lester Woodruff (1858-1913), Republican politician. Lieutenant Governor of New York, 1896-1902. Contains correspondence and a speech. Material deals primarily with campaigns, patronage, and other political issues, some with references to Theodore Roosevelt and Lemuel Quigg. Correspondents include Thomas Platt, Frank S. Black, John D. Rockefeller, James Sherman, and James Wadsworth.
Formats
Digital
Archives & Manuscripts
Subjects
American History
Political Science