LALS/HIST 290: A Guide to Special Collections Research: Find Primary Sources at UIC and Beyond

The Chicago Collections Consortium aspires to increase public and scholarly interest in and study of the Chicago region's diverse history and culture. On this website, you can search and browse hundreds of collections from 20 different Chicago-area libraries, including UIC!

Dr. Louise A. Kerr, Professor of History and Associate Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs at University of Illinois at Chicago, studied Mexican and Mexican-American immigration to Chicago in the post World War II ear. This collection consists of oral histories conducted by Louise Kerr's students in 1996. These oral histories continue the research Kerr began more than twenty years prior, expanding our knowledge of Mexican migration during the 1970s and providing a fuller account of the origins and growth of the Mexican community in Chicago.

The Emmanuel Presybyterian Church located at 1850 S. Racine, Chicago, Illinois played an active role in efforts by the United Presbyterian Church and United Church of Christ to proselytize communities of Latino immigrants in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. Some materials from ALAS (Alianza Latino-Americana para el Adelanto Social) and PLAC (Program Cabinet of the Presbytery of Chicago) also form part of these records.

Settlement houses provided a way for affluent, native-born Americans to learn from and help immigrants and less prosperous citizens in their own neighborhoods. Women were prominent in settlement staffing and many settlement houses became involved in local and national political issues.

The Immigrants Protective League was founded in 1908 as a resource for all new immigrants arriving in Chicago. The Immigrants Protective League records contain agendas, reports, memoranda, case histories, affidavits, legislative bills, dissertations, press releases, resolutions, photographs, maps, addresses, statements, clippings, articles, reports, published materials, divided into five series.

In August of 1940, with financial assistance from Marshall Field III, Saul Alinsky founded the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), which he intended to serve as an umbrella organization for the community groups he was developing across the United States.

The Mexican Community Committee of South Chicago sought to help Latino youth and especially those who had trouble with law enforcement. It also sponsored an adult-education program, "Project Venceremos." This collection contains a minutes, correspondence, event programs, and information on programs for youth that were run by the Mexican Community Center of South Chicago during its first decade. It also includes two pamphlets, one from 1920 and one from 1940, that deal with Mexico or U.S.-Mexico relations.

The Rafael Cintron-Ortiz Cultural Center (RCOCC) records contains material documenting the 20th Anniversary Oral History Project; various administrative records including budget material; conference and symposium material; events and programs including Brotherhood Day, Cinco de Mayo, film festivals, Dia de los Muertos and Escucha Mi Grito, various dance, theater and music recitals and concerts; flyers for events; Latin American Studies material; Latin American Recruitment and Educational Services material; information on the 1995-96 Mural Project; various Latino organizations such as the Confederation of Latin American Students (CLAS), Health Oriented Latino Association (HOLA), The Julian Samora Institute, and Mexican Students de Aztlan (Me.S.A.); political activities; publications; and speakers that have visited the Center or University.

Rodolfo “Rudy” Lozano, (1951 to 1983) was an activist and a community organizer in the predominantly Mexican-American Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago. On June 8, 1983, Lozano was shot to death in his home. Lozano’s career including projects with many organizations including: National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression; Centro de la Causa; Midwest Coalition for the Defense of Immigrants; Hispanic American Labor Council; Coalition for Labor Union Women; Latin American Council for Labor Union Advancement; Por Un Barrio Mejor; Citizen’s Information Service; Operation PUSH; Chicago Urban League; Chicago Peace Council. Lozano was a Midwest organizer for the International Ladies Garments Workers Union (I.L.G.W.U.).