Daley Family Collections: Richard M. Daley Papers

Finding aids are inventory lists of what is in the collection. Their purpose is to help researchers narrow down which boxes and folders they would like to see.

The Richard M. Daley Papers holds correspondence, memoranda, news releases, newspaper clippings, speeches, reports, photographs, audiovisual recordings, digital media, and artifacts. Mayor Richard M. Daley, members of his staff, or those working at the behest of the mayor's office generated or maintained most of these materials.

The collection is divided into nine (9) series and a number of subseries.

Series 1: Executive Office, 1976-2011 (bulk 1989-2011)

This series contains subject files created in the day-to-day management of Mayor Richard M. Daley's office. Most of these papers were generated by the mayor's administrative staff and assistants, by task forces and other committees the mayor appointed, by the heads of the various city departments and by aldermen. In some cases, these files were generated by persons from outside city government. This series is organized chronologically by year and then alphabetically within that year, with minor exceptions.

Series 2: Scheduling Office, 1989-2011

This series contains the records of Mayor Richard M. Daley's scheduling office. The office arranged the mayor's daily schedule, planned special events, managed his trips outside Chicago, and fielded invitations and requests for private meetings.

Subseries 1: Daily Schedules, 1989-1998

These files contain the mayor's schedule for specific dates. Many contain additional materials, such as letters inviting the mayor to that day's events, copies of speeches or remarks he planned to make that day, and notes from the scheduling office about making that day's schedule. This series is organized chronologically.

Subseries 2: Trip Books, 1997-2007

Trip books, organized chronologically.

Subseries 3: Trip Files, 1999-2011

Trip files, organized chronologically.

Subseries 4: Travel Reference Files, 1989-2011

Travel reference, organized alphabetically.

Subseries 5: General Scheduling Office Files, 1989-2004

These files are organized alphabetically by folder title. They pertain to the day-to-day operations of the scheduling office.

Series 3: Press Office, 1989-2006

This series contains the records of Mayor Richard M. Daley's press office. The office managed much of the mayor's public relations. It monitored his press coverage, prepared proclamations, helped draft his speeches, and published press releases.

Subseries 1: Speeches and news releases, 1989-2004

This subseries contains speeches, remarks, talking points, and news releases that the press office prepared for Mayor Daley. These files are organized chronologically.

Subseries 2: Proclamations, 1992-1996  (Bulk, 1994-1996)

This subseries contains a number of proclamations the press office prepared for Mayor Daley, which were official statements commemorating events and greeting event participants. These files are organized chronologically.

Subseries 3: Subseries 3: Daley Dailies, 1995-2006

This subseries contains packets the press office created and delivered daily to the mayor's staff. These packets included newspaper clippings and synopses of radio and television shows about the mayor or of interest to city government. The Daley Dailies are organized chronologically.

Subseries 4: General Press Office files, 1990-2007  (Bulk, 1997-2007)

This subseries contains the Press Office reference files and is organized alphabetically by folder title. Numerous files are marked as "miscellaneous" by the Press Office. These "miscellaneous" files usually contain some or all of the following types of materials: internal and external correspondence, news clippings, office management memos, phone messages, handwritten notes, and reports.

Series 4: Correspondence Unit, 1996-2010 (bulk 2000-2009)

This series contains the communications handled by Mayor Richard M. Daley's correspondence unit. The unit reviewed each piece of correspondence addressed to the mayor, assigned it a reference number and routed it to the appropriate city official, or to the mayor, for a response. When possible, the unit tracked and kept copies of subsequent communications to and from the person who generated the original correspondence.

Subseries 1: Alphabetical files, 1996

This series contains files which the correspondence unit organized alphabetically, usually by name of correspondent.

Subseries 2: Reference number files, 2000-2009

This series is organized by reference number. The reference numbers have two parts. The first is a two-digit prefix indicating the year. The second number represents the order in which the piece of correspondence was received by the correspondence unit that year. With some exceptions, the lower the number, the earlier in the year that piece of correspondence was received.

Subseries 3: Code 63 files, 2008 and 2010

This series contains files to which the correspondence unit assigned the code "63." These were letters the correspondence unit chose not to forward for a response from the city.

Series 5: Staff Files, 1989-2011

This series contains the records kept or created by specific staff persons of and assistants to Mayor Richard M. Daley. Depending on the staff person, these records include reports, invoices, correspondence, notes, and photographs.

Subseries: Katherine Gehl, 1993-2002  (Bulk, 1997-2002)

Gehl served as Special Assistant to Mayor Richard M. Daley for Technology and Economic Development.

Subseries: Dan Gibbons, 2003-2011

Gibbons served as Special Project Coordinator for the City of Chicago from 2003 to 2006 and Assistant to Mayor Richard M. Daley from 2006 to 2011.

Subseries: Marty Gutierrez, 1997-2001

Gutierrez served as Assistant to Mayor Richard M. Daley from 1993 to 2004. Dates: 1997-2001.

Subseries: Eileen Hubbell, 2002-2011

Hubbell served as Director of International Relations for the City of Chicago.

Subseries: Ron Huberman, circa 2000-2004

Huberman became a Chicago Police Officer in 1995, and from 2000 to 2004, he served as Assistant Deputy Superintendent for the Chicago Police Department. He was Executive Director of Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications (2004), Mayor Richard M. Daley's Chief of Staff (2005-2007), President of the Chicago Transit Authority (2007-2009), and CEO of the Chicago Public Schools (2009-2010).

Subseries: Pat Kilroe, 1994-1995 and 2010

Kilroe served as treasurer for some of Richard M. Daley's campaigns for mayor.

Subseries: Hugh Murphy, 2001

Murphy served as Chief Management Officer for Mayor Richard M. Daley's correspondence unit.

Subseries: Constance Vidos, 1989-1999  (Bulk, 1997-1999)

Vidos served as Assistant to Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Series 6: Personal and Early Career, 1936-2003 (bulk, 1970-1989)

This series contains materials, such as documents, photographs and artifacts that pertain to Mayor Richard M. Daley's pre-mayoral career and to his personal life. It also contains records he or members of his family may have kept on his behalf before he became mayor.

Series 7: Event Photographs

Unprocessed as of April 2018.

Series 8: A/V and Digital Media

Unprocessed as of April 2018.

Series 9: Artifacts and Ephemera, 1934-2011 (bulk 1989-2011)

This series contains a sampling of the objects received, created or kept by Mayor Richard M. Daley and his staff. Materials found in this series include artifacts, artwork, books, ephemera, framed photographs, and other materials. Other series in the Richard M. Daley Papers also have artifacts and ephemera. As of April 2018, this series is partially processed.

Subseries: Gift logs, 1989-2011 (with gaps)

Logs of gifts given to Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Subseries: Conference Room and Personal Office, circa 1989-2011

Subseries: Topical, circa 1989-2011

The event photographs of the press office are found in series 7 of the Richard M. Daley papers. Detailed listings of the photographs can be found in two spreadsheets. One spreadsheets lists the photographs by event,\. The other lists the photographs by the folder title in which they are found. Both spreadsheets identify the box number and folder number of the corresponding photograph or CD-Rom.

Researchers can access those spreadsheets by using the UIC Special Collections and University Archives SKCA/CuadraStar search tool. (See Guide to using SKCA/CuadraStar.) You can also Ask a Librarian for help accessing the spreadsheets.

Series 4 of the Richard M. Daley papers contains correspondence sent to the mayor's office. The contents of part of that series are documented in a spreadsheet. Researchers can access that spreadsheet by using the UIC Special Collections and University Archives SKCA/CuadraStar search tool. (See Guide to using SKCA/CuadraStar.) You can also Ask a Librarian for help accessing the spreadsheet.

How to use the spreadsheet

This excel document contains descriptions of correspondence that Mayor Richard M. Daley's Correspondence Unit organized by reference number.

Steps

1. Browse the excel document or sort according to year, reference number, person name, organization name, subject/topic or notes assigned by archivist.
2. Note the year and reference number from the correspondence you would like to see.
3. Go to the finding aid for the Richard M. Daley Papers Correspondence Unit files, Series 4.
4. Scroll down to subseries 2, "Reference number files, 2000-2009."
5. Find the box that has the range of reference numbers that match the reference number you wish to see. For example, correspondence item #03-1454779 is likely to be foundin box 4-16, which he finding aid says contains reference numbers "03-1449291 to 03-1476936."
6. Request the box you would like to see.
7. Search the folders in the box until you find the reference numbered item.

What the columns on the spreadsheet mean

• Year: The year in which the reference number was classed. In most cases, the year refers to the year in which the correspondence was written. The information from this column was supplied by the mayor's correspondence unit.
• Reference number: The reference number assigned by the correspondence unit.
• From (person last name): Last name of the individual who initiated the correspondence with the mayor's office. When more than one individual initiated the correspondence, only the first named person is included. The information for this column was supplied by the mayor's correspondence unit.
• From (organization): Name of the organization that initiated the correspondence. The information for this column was supplied by the mayor's correspondence unit.
• Subject/topic: The subject or topic of the correspondence, as noted by the mayor's correspondence unit.
• Notes, supplied by the processing archivist: Additional notes about the correspondence, supplied by the processing archivist. With a some exceptions, the processing archivist supplied notes only when the mayor's correspondence unit supplied no information.

Note about correspondence unit files

The range of reference numbers for each box is an estimate only. Some reference numbered items are out of order and might not be found in the expected box. Therefore, it may be difficult to locate the correspondence related to any reference number on the item-level listing.

The year assigned to a reference number may not necessarily match the year in which the correspondence was written. In some cases, for example, correspondence written in late 2004 may be classed as a "2005" item. Or correspondence written in early 2007 may be classed as a "2006" item.

Thank-you letters/cards, letters/cards of condolence, greeting cards to or from the mayor's office, some duplicates, financial records for incidental office expenses, and invitations regretted by the mayor’s office were sampled by the archivist. Personnel information about low-level staff or third parties was removed when discovered, but no systematic attempt has been made to uncover this information. Archival copies have been made of water-damaged materials and the originals deaccessioned. Unrelated books and magazines were deaccessioned.

• In general, the first five (5) series are organized by the office that maintained, received or created the materials. For example, Series 3, "Press Office," contains materials maintained by the Mayor's Press Office.
• For most questions related to Richard M. Daley's tenure as mayor, the best place to start is usually Series 1, "Executive Office." However, all processed series are available to researchers.
• For questions about unprocessed portions of the collection, please Ask a Librarian.