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In the 1960s and 1970s the "New Left" in the United States included such groups as Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), numerous feminist organizations, and people aligned with or inspired by the "Black Power" movement. The members of the New Left generally favored radical reform and sometimes revolution. While they adopted a variety of different causes, they tended to oppose the Vietnam War (circa 1965-1973) and usually sought to expand on and transform the civil rights movement and advocate for marginalized persons and communities. In Chicago, activists, such as Helen Shiller, championed the goals of the New Left while some politicians, such as Mayor Richard J. Daley, drew support from citizens who disagreed with the New Left or objected to what they saw as the overly aggressive methods used by its members, some of whom resorted to violence.
Horizon Hospice in Chicago, which opened in 1978, was the first hospice in the city’s history. It fostered new ways to treat patients in their last days, focusing on palliative care. Explore the challenges the hospice faced as struggled to meet end of life needs.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 and its aftermath in the decades that followed were some of the most pivotal developments of twentieth-century history. People worldwide looked on the newly established Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR, or Soviet Union) as a guide for how a socialist revolution might play out in their own countries. In the United States, socialists, labor leaders, conservatives, and liberal reformers commented on, worried over, and argued about what was going on abroad. Some drew inspiration from the Soviet example while others saw it as a warning about the excesses to which revolution could lead.
At the turn of the twentieth century, tuberculosis (TB) was a leading cause of death in the United States, and Chicago was among the hardest-hit cities. To combat this illness, the Chicago Tuberculosis Institute (CTI) was founded on March 17, 1906 by Miss Harriet Fulmer and Dr. Theodore Sachs of the Visiting Nurse Association. The CTI’s advocacy and outreach led to significant reforms in Chicago's health laws and decreased the number of citizens with tuberculosis every year. With the introduction of antibiotics and better medical care, TB rates declined dramatically in the United States by the mid-20th century. As the threat of tuberculosis waned, the Institute evolved to address other respiratory diseases and causes. Accordingly, it changed its name to the Chicago Lung Association in 1972 and in 2007 became the Respiratory Health Association.
By the late 1800s, a growing number of Americans began to offer new answers to face the challenges caused by industrialization, immigration, the growth of cities, and political corruption. But collectively, they came to be known as "progressives," united by their desire to change the face of society and government. These individuals differed greatly among themselves about what the problems were, which ones were more important, and how to go about addressing them. One important group advocated for settlement houses, which represented an attempt to help immigrants and the poor directly by living among and learning from them. Examples of such advocates include Jane Addams, founder of Hull-House, Lea Demarest Taylor, who was active with Chicago's settlement house movement from the 1920s to 1950s. The heyday of the settlement house movement probably lasted from the 1890s through the 1930s, but it continued on for decades afterward.
Chicago banned smoking in bars and restaurants in 2006, and the Smoke Free Illinois Act of 2008 banned all forms of tobacco smoking in most public places and in places of employment in the state. Supporters of the bans cited the well-documented health risks posed by smoking. They worried especially about “secondhand smoke,” which according to public health studies, endangered even non-smokers. People opposed to the bans, however, worried that the city and state governments intruded on the right of adults to freely choose to take their own risks. The Respiratory Health Association played a key role in advocating for the bans. Explore that organization’s records to learn more.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs empowered unions and explored unprecedented ways for the federal government to regulate the workplace. Union advocates usually applauded these reforms, citing what they saw as the judicious use of government to help working people. Others, especially certain business owners, thought the reforms went too far. They feared that a too powerful federal government threatened their ability to run their businesses how they wanted. Still others believed that these reforms did not go far enough, arguing that the New Deal was a conservative measure designed to forestall more radical and, in their eyes, more beneficial changes.
Through most of Chicago's history, safe and affordable housing and was not easy to get and not available to all. That was particularly true for Black Chicagoans, who found that a number of factors excluded them from many neighborhoods and compelled them to settle into overcrowded and underserved portions of the city's south and west sides. Homeowners and residents in "white" neighborhoods sometimes banded together, and sometimes resorted to violence, to protest against and intimidate new Black residents. A federal regulations, known as "red lining," gave incentives to banks to deny home loans based in part on race. And some real estate agents used of exploitative selling tactics, such as contract buying agreements, which made it difficult for prospective homeowners to pay back their mortgages.
Beginning in the 1940s and gaining steam through the 1970s and beyond, reformers sought to address this situation. They promoted "open housing" policies designed to outlaw racial discrimination in buying and selling real estate and end unfair lending practices. In reaction, some (mostly white) homeowners objected, fearing that the reforms jeopardized what they called the "distinctive character" of their neighborhoods and led to lower property values. They sought, and sometimes won, the support of local politicians to slow down or stop the reforms.
In the early 1900s, a number of reformers in the Chicago area campaigned for the creation of forest reserves right outside the city. By 1916, the Forest Preserve District of Cook County was formed, with the mandate to "protect and preserve" designated forest lands. Explore this successful campaign for conservation reform. How did these reformers win the support of voters? Who opposed this reform and why? How did this reform fare in during the Great Depression of the 1930s? How did it deal with external challenges, such as the attempt by the University of Illinois in the 1950s to establish a campus on Forest Preserve property?
At the turn of the twenty-first century, Chicagoans debated how to address the challenges their city faced. Some, like Mayor Richard M. Daley (served 1989-2011) sought to make Chicago a "global city," a home for businesses and workers a new economy focused on information technology and worldwide trade networks. Others, such as Alderperson Helen Shiller (served 1987-2011), urged the city to take care of the least advantaged and most marginalized Chicagoans so that they not be left behind. While those visions were not necessarily incompatible, they existed in conflict with each other. Explore the perspectives of both Daley and Shiller as they and their allies debated over the best path for the city.
After 1900 and especially after World War I (1914-1918), Americans who opposed immigration gained more influence in national policy. They eventually won passage of the National Origins Act of 1924. That law severely restricted immigration, using a quota system that especially targeted persons from eastern and southern European countries. It also reaffirmed and strengthened existing race-based prohibitions against immigration from East Asian countries, such as China and Japan. Explore how immigrants in Chicago and their allies coped with and sometimes resisted this new reform.
After World War II ended in 1945, the U.S. federal government worked with cities and states to expand public housing for their residents. Chicago was a key site for this reform, especially under Richard J. Daley. During his years as mayor of Chicago (1955-1976), dozens of new high rise public housing “projects” were created. These new sites housed thousands of people. Some observers praised these projects as an earnest attempt to resolve the city’s perennial housing shortage. But others criticized the projects, alleging that building the high rises destroyed existing neighborhoods and that the result was to segregate and trap mostly Black and Brown Chicagoans into substandard, mismanaged, and unsafe and crime-ridden buildings.
By the late 1990s, Daley’s son, Mayor Richard M. Daley (served 1989-2011), announced his “Plan for Transformation” to improve public housing. A key component of this plan was to replace much of the existing public housing with mixed use residences for people of all income levels. Supporters of the plan saw it as an energetic, even progressive, effort to revitalize the city and help public housing residents find better homes. Critics, however, argued that the plan was more reactionary than progressive. According to them, the plan did not live up to its promise, it marginalized those it intended to help, and it represented a retreat from the city’s obligation to care for its poorest residents.
Should money in the United States be pegged to precious metals like gold or silver? Or should the government be allowed to print “fiat” currency? What role should banks play in creating money? Should the federal government regulate those banks and if so, how?
Those questions may seem abstract, arcane, and academic. But the answers have real-world consequences for everyday people, affecting the rate of job growth and the rate of inflation. Americans have debated them since the creation of the United States, and from 1865 through the 1910s, this debate was a frequent, sometimes decisive factor in American politics. Those who supported the gold standard, such as wealthy industrialists and (sometimes) wage workers, believed that it imposed a much-needed sense of order in uncertain times and that it helped keep prices low. Others, especially farmers, supported a silver standard or even a “greenback” currency backed only by the full faith and credit of the U.S. They hoped that such currency would increase the money supply and make it easier to manage the heavy debts that in their view unfairly prevented them from making ends meet.
The Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty was created in reaction to a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court decision that reinstalled the death penalty after a four-year hiatus. The coalition finally realized this reform in 2011 when Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation abolishing capital punishment in the state. Winning this reform required the coalition to answer objections of people concerned about crime.
An archival collection is any collection of documents, photographs, or other materials that have been donated or maintained for safekeeping. Donors can be persons or organizations. The materials in an archival collection are usually available for public access, and they are usually one-of-a-kind and cannot be found anywhere else. Archival collections are also called archival records or manuscript collections.
Archives house archival collections. You can often find them in libraries and museums, and they are usually called "special collections" or "archives." Some archival collections are housed in places other than libraries or museums. For example, some organizations keep their own archives on their premises. And some people keep their own collection of documents or other materials they own in their house or apartment.
Archives also house what are known as rare books. Most of these are books that are out of publication and might be difficult to find elsewhere. Some of them are very old and fragile and need special care. Others might not be rare yet, but reflect the topical strength of the library. At UIC Special Collections, we have thousands of rare books on Chicago History and other topics. Many of them were donated by generous collectors who wanted to make their vast personal libraries available to the public. To see a list of some of these rare book collections, click here.
Historians use archives to find and study primary sources. A primary source is a firsthand account from history, and examples of primary sources can include a letter someone wrote, a diary, a photograph, or a newspaper article written by a reporter who witnessed an event or interviewed those who did.
Think of archives as one way to travel back in time and find out what other people in years gone by were thinking and doing.
Historians use these sources in several ways. The most obvious is to find out more about the person or organization who donated the materials. But sometimes they use archival collections more creatively. For example, they might use a collection to learn about a famous politician the donor may have known, about the neighborhood he or she lived in, or about a famous event he or she witnessed.
But archives are not just for historians. They serve all sorts of purposes. Genealogists use them to trace their ancestry. Journalists use them to supplement their reporting. Students use them to write research papers. Homeowners use them to trace their house's history. In short, people use them to explore whatever may be of interest.
Archives at public universities, public libraries and museums, and even some private libraries, are generally open to anyone who wishes to use them. Some archives that are not usually open to the general public might still their collections available on a case-by-case basis. It never hurts to ask.
And remember: UIC Special Collections is open to the general public. So make an appointment and give us a visit!