Tonight is Game Three of the World Series. To celebrate we’re highlighting a few pictures of baseball in Illinois. There is a rich debate about the origins of baseball, both in terms of its evolution- and place, but we know that by the mid-19th century, baseball was already ingrained into American life and community. Both Union and Confederate soldiers documented baseball games in their diaries, including games played as prisoners of war. After the war communities formed clubs of their own, making baseball one of the first instances of communities establishing their own identities. In Illinois, as early as 1869 the Cairo Bulletin was reporting on games in bordering Missouri. By 1870, the Cairo Deltas and Egyptians were playing in Missouri, Kentucky, and Illinois as clubs and regional leagues began to form across the state. Below are some of the greatest hits from Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County, Cherry Valley Historical Society, Chicago History Museum, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign showing how the game was played in our communities from the 1880’s onward, and became an international phenomenon in the early 20th century.
The Dunn Museum’s Fort Sheridan Collection includes several images of baseball as a part of life on the Fort.
Woman Playing shortstop, C.1945. Unknown Photographer. Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County (IL). Fort Sheridan collection. Permission to display was provided by the Bess Bower Dunn Museum.
Man in Army Uniform Shaking Hands, Exchanging Baseball Bat, C. 1920. Unknown Photographer. Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County (IL). Fort Sheridan. Permission to display was provided by the Bess Bower Dunn Museum.
The Cherry Valley Historical Society Cherry Valley Local History Collection includes team portraits of Cherry Valley Wildcats, and little leaguers from the first half of the century, showing what community sports looked like and how communities supported teams during baseball’s most nostalgic moment.
Cherry Valley Baseball Team, C. 1916. Unknown Photographer. Cherry Valley Historical Society. Cherry Valley Local History Collection. Permission to display was provided by the Cherry Valley Public Library District.
Cherry Valley Baseball Team, C. 1916. Unknown Photographer. Cherry Valley Historical Society. Cherry Valley Local History Collection. Meanwhile, the Chicago History Museum’s Museum Collection and Prints and Photographs Collection includes artifacts and photographs from Chicago’s MLB teams, the Cubs and the White Sox:
Chicago Cub Ron Santo catching a foul ball at Wrigley Field, 1969. Jack Lenahan, photographer, Chicago Daily News Inc. Chicago History Museum. Prints and Photographs Collection. Permission to display was provided by the Chicago History Museum.Wrigley Field from Sheffield and Waveland avenues, 1964. F.S. Dauwalter, Photographer. Chicago History Museum. Prints and Photographs Collection. Permission to display was provided by the Chicago History Museum.
And lastly, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Picture Chicago Collection includes this great picture of the Chicago White Sox and New York Giant’s in front of The Great Sphinx during their 1913-1914 world tour:
Chicago White Sox and New York Giants in front of the Sphinx during their World Tour 1913-1914, 1914. Unknown Photographer. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Picture Chicago.
Happy October! The Illinois Digital Heritage Hub will be at the Chicago Research Summit and the Illinois Library Association Conference later this month.
Join Keri Cascio, chair of the IDHH Marketing Working Group and Chicago Public Library’s Assistant Chief of Technology, Content and Innovation at the Chicago Research Summit on October 18th. Keri will introduce the new IDHH website and search portal and its potential as a resource for educators and students of Chicago History.
Joshua Lynch, IDHH metadata specialist and webmaster, will present on the IDHH Website and Portal at the Illinois Library Association Annual Conference during both exhibits sessions on Wednesday, October 23rd and Thursday, October 24th. Learn about the IDHH and the DPLA and the website as a tool for new and current contributing institutions, educators and learners, and other user groups.
We look forward to seeing you there and want to hear your thoughts on the site!
2019 marks the 125th anniversary of the Pullman Strike and Boycott, a momentous event in the history of organized labor in Illinois and the U.S., taking place throughout the late Spring and Summer of 1894. In commemoration of the Pullman Strike, the IDHH examines its place in the history of labor and workers’ rights movements in Illinois and U.S. Collections provided by the Pullman State Historical Site provide particular insight into the event and its cultural and historical milieu. The scholarship of and input from Pullman State Historical Site Services Specialist, Martin Tuohy, was indispensable in developing this post.
The Pullman Strike and Boycott began as a walkout of the Pullman Palace Car Company by shop workers in May 1894. By July, it included 150,000 railroad workers over 20 railroads across 27 states. Pullman workers and allies across the country protested both the particulars of the Pullman workers’ grievances, such as layoffs and deep wage cuts while the Pullman company town maintained its rent rates, as well as the power of capital over workers that the grievances represented. The strike and boycott was part of wider developments in Workers’ Rights organization and came in the wake of several other significant demonstrations in the late 19th century along with the often oppressive responses to grassroots organization by companies and industry leaders. Company founder, George Pullman, played a significant role in exacerbating tensions between workers for obstinately emphasizing the company’s right to rent profits over most workers’ grievances.
The Carbuilder. March 1955. Pullman State Historic Site. Permission to display was provided by the Pullman State Historic Site.
Pullman Train Car Interior. C. 1880s. Pullman State Historic Site. Permission to display was provided by the Pullman State Historic Site.
Pullman Car Works Postcard. C. 1880s to 1890s. Pullman State Historic Site. Permission to display was provided by the Pullman State Historic Site.
Beyond Pullman and throughout the late 19th Century U.S., increased mechanization during the Second Industrial Revolution played a role in depressing wages and an ever increasing division of labor often alienated workers from their work and the products they produced. Moreover, while westward expansion in the late 1860s and early 1870s brought with it an increase in industry and investments, especially those related to railroads, the 1870s and 1880s were marked by significant economic declines. When times were difficult, workers were often hardest hit, facing frequent layoffs and wage cuts between the early 1870s and mid 1890s. In response, workers increasingly organized and acted by facilitating collective bargaining, and striking and boycotting when necessary. Strikes by miners and other factory workers throughout the 1880s and 90s, including the Haymarket Affair, set important precedents for the Pullman Strike. Oppressive responses by capital against unions, activists, and union leaders often left workers feeling, at best, under-represented and, at worst, at the whims of their employer.
The Pullman Strike and Boycott had some key differences from earlier actions, however; instead of organizing via craft unions, the Pullman Workers had the support of the fledgling but formidable American Railway Union (ARU), which included members across a range of professions and company leadership roles. Workers from the Midwest to Washington State struck and boycotted trains with cars built by the Pullman Company. It became the largest and one of the longest work stoppages up to that time in U.S. history and effectively shut down railway travel from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest. The strike was ultimately broken by a combination of the limited resources of workers after going months without pay, injunctions by federal courts, military force, and the imprisonment of union leaders and activists, including ARU president, Eugene V. Debs. Its leaders indicted or imprisoned and hundreds of its members blacklisted from future employment, the ARU collapsed.
Fraternal Ribbon, Fidelity Lodge No. 54, International Association of Car Workers. Date unknown. Pullman State Historic Site. Permission to display was provided by the Pullman State Historic Site.
Pullman Train Car and Employees. C. 1920s. Pullman State Historic Site. Permission to display was provided by the Pullman State Historic Site.
Pullman Strike Leads to Community Change Newspaper Article. 1968. Pullman State Historic Site. Permission to display was provided by the Pullman State Historic Site.
The Pullman Strike precipitated the role of the state as an arbitrator between workers and railroad companies with the passing of the Erdman Act in 1898. This was the first in a series of Congressional acts aimed at regulating and reforming railway labor which laid the foundation for national labor laws enacted in the 1930s. The strike and its aftermath also raised important questions about the proper role of law enforcement, the military, and the state in cases of mass demonstrations within and beyond the realm of workers’ rights and industrial interests. At the local level, the Illinois Supreme Court forced the Pullman Company was forced to sell its residential property and many workers were able to purchase their long-rented abodes. The original town of Pullman is now a National Monument and Illinois State Historic District.
For further reading, refer to Martin Tuohy’s articles on the “Pullman Strike and Boycott” and “George Pullman” in Encyclopedia of U.S. Labor and Working-Class History (2007). All of the IDHH items related to the Pullman Strike can be found here. Explore material related to George Pullman, including correspondence and portraits.
It’s the middle of summer and with the warm weather and school vacations, it’s peak season for outdoor activities. This time of the year, kids in Chicago take advantage of the city’s more than 500 parks, over 90 of which are featured in the Chicago Public Library’s Chicago Park District Records Photographs collection.
What better way to keep cool during the summer heat than at the pool? Chicago’s parks boast more than 70 pools across the city, just three of which are pictured below. As these photos suggest, pools have been an integral part of outdoor summertime activities in Chicago at least since the turn of the twentieth century.
Riis Park (0123) Activities – Swimming. 1936-07-01. Chicago Public Library. Chicago Park District Records-Photographs collection. Permission to display was given by the Chicago Public Library.
Madden Park (0028) Activities – Swimming. 1976-07-27. Chicago Public Library. Chicago Park District Records-Photographs collection. Permission to display was given by the Chicago Public Library.
Armour Square Park (0003) Features. C.1905. Chicago Public Library. Chicago Park District Records-Photographs collection. Permission to display was given by the Chicago Public Library.
On cooler days or when kids would prefer to stay dry, there are the Chicago Park District’s more than 300 playgrounds around the city. Beyond the slides, swings, merry-go-rounds, and more unusual features, the playground has long been a central place for after-school and summertime activities.
Washington Park (0021) Features – Playgrounds. 1956-06-11. Chicago Public Library. Chicago Park District Records-Photographs collection. Permission to display was given by the Chicago Public Library.
Washington Park (0021) Features – Playgrounds – Bynum Adventure Playland. No date. Chicago Public Library. Chicago Park District Records-Photographs collection. Permission to display was given by the Chicago Public Library.
Avondale Park (0081) Features – Playgrounds. 1935-07-16. Chicago Public Library. Chicago Park District Records-Photographs collection. Permission to display was given by the Chicago Public Library.
July 21 marks the 120th birthday of Illinois-born, internationally-acclaimed author, Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961). To celebrate, the IDHH highlights collections that include materials on several Illinois literary giants, including Gwendolyn Brooks, Carl Sandburg, and Hemingway himself.
Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) is one of the most celebrated U.S. poets, poet laureate of Illinois, and longtime Chicago resident. In 1949, She became the first African American writer to win a Pulitzer Prize. Brooks has a deep connection to African American history and culture, public life, and academics in Illinois. Throughout her life, Brooks spoke at libraries and campuses throughout the state, as demonstrated below in the photographs from the Lake Forest Academy and Ferry Hall Archives collection and Elgin Community College’s campus history collection. Gwendolyn Brooks came to Ferry Hall in 1969 and Lake Forest Academy in May of 1994 to speak to classes and give a reading of her poems. She visited Elgin Community College in 1995 to speak to high school and college English students. Brooks has perhaps the strongest connection to Illinois Wesleyan University, visiting the campus five times from 1972-1999, receiving an honorary doctorate there in 1973. See materials from her visits to Wesleyan. See all of material in the IDHH on Brooks.
Gwendolyn Brooks at the Centennial Celebration, Ferry Hall. 1969. Lake Forest Academy. Lake Forest Academy and Ferry Hall Archives collection. Permission to display was given by Lake Forest Academy
Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks Participates in High School/College English Articulation Activity. 1995. Elgin Community College. Elgin Community College History collection. Permission to display was given by Elgin Community College
Coincidentally, July also marks the death of another of the most celebrated writers in the state and the U.S., Carl Sandburg (1878-1967). Though best known for his poetry, especially his breathtaking naturalist and modernist pieces on urban life in Chicago, he was also a musician, editor, and prose author. One of his three Pulitzers was awarded for a biography on Lincoln. Sandburg was an advocate for civil rights and received an award from the NAACP in 1965. In the photo below from the Chicago History Museum’s Prints and Photographs Collection, Sandburg sits with his biographer, Harry Golden. Sandburg lived most of his life outside of Illinois but occasionally returned to his home state, including a visit to Knox College in 1958. Search all of the materials in the IDHH relating to Sandburg.
Haun, Declan, 1937-1994 (photographer). Carl Sandburg and Harry Golden in Golden’s office. 1961. Chicago History Museum. Prints and Photographs Collection. Permission to display was given by Chicago History Museum.
Finally, the remarkable photographs below from the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, digitized by the Oak Park Library collection in the Illinois Digital Archive, showcase the early life of the author and his family in his hometown, a suburb of Chicago. Hemingway authored more than a dozen novels and short story collections throughout his life, receiving a Pulitzer for The Old Man and the Sea in 1953 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He is pictured below with his siblings, two of whom, Marcelline and Leicester, also became talented writers. Check out all of the IDHH materials on Hemingway.
Ernest Hemingway. May 1918. Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park in cooperation with the Oak Park Public Library. The Early Years –Ernest and Marcelline Hemingway in Oak Park collection. Permission to display was given by Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park and the Oak Park Public Library
Ursula, Madelaine, Marcelline, Ernest, Leicester, and Carol Hemingway in Walloon Lake. No date. Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park in cooperation with the Oak Park Public Library. The Early Years –Ernest and Marcelline Hemingway in Oak Park collection. Permission to display was given by Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park and the Oak Park Public Library.
Ernest and Marcelline Hemingway in winter attire holding hands. 1903. Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park in cooperation with the Oak Park Public Library. The Early Years –Ernest and Marcelline Hemingway in Oak Park collection. Permission to display was given by Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park and the Oak Park Public Library
We commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the activism for justice and equality that his work is a part of and continues to be exigent to this day. The IDHH highlights collections from the Chicago History Museum that include photographs by DC-area journalist, Declan Haun, as well as an interview with an activist who participated in protests in Chicago in response to King’s assassination in 1968.
The Chicago History Museum’s Prints and Photographs Collection includes photographs from King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech on August 28,1963 (the first image below on the left), his involvement in the March 1965 protests against police brutality in Montgomery, Alabama (top right), and images from King’s Chicago Freedom Movement, including a march in 1966 (bottom right). King was a powerful voice in Civil Rights and inspired many others to stand up for equality for African Americans and all People of Color.
Haun, Declan. Civil rights demonstration lead by Martin Luther King Jr. in Montgomery, Alabama, March 17, 1965. Chicago History Museum. Prints and Photographs Collection. Permission to display was given by Chicago History Museum.
Haun, Declan. Martin Luther King Jr. at the podium during the March on Washington. 1963-8-28. Chicago History Museum. Prints and Photographs Collection. Permission to display was given by Chicago History Museum.
Haun, Declan. Woman raises her fist during Chicago Martin Luther King Jr. Rally. 1966. Chicago History Museum. Prints and Photographs Collection. Permission to display was given by Chicago History Museum.
The Chicago History Museum’s Oral History Collection includes transcripts and audio from interviews conducted by the Museum’s Studs Terkel Center for Oral History. Hear from Marilyn Katz who was involved in protests in Chicago in the wake of King’s assassination. Dr. Martin Luther King’s words, ideas, and the people he inspires live on to work toward social justice.
Several IDHH Institutions have put together exhibits in honor of Dr. King, including the Chicago History Museum’s Remembering Dr. King, which focuses on King’s work in Chicago. Some of the exhibit’s images are online in the Chicago History Museum’s Digital Library and in the DPLA. See all of the Chicago History Museum’s materials relating to Dr. King. See all of the Illinois Digital Heritage hub’s items on Dr. King.
This month we welcomed DePaul University into the IDHH. DePaul University has shared the Deborah Bright Photographs collection, which includes 96 black and white photographs taken by the photographer, Deborah Bright, in 1985.
The images in the collection capture an eerily quiet side of Chicago in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, sparsely populated by people. Bright took these photographs as part of the Lincoln Park Study Group, which was a project directed by Dr. Charles Suchar, and involved many DePaul faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. As part of this, a group was formed to conduct a historical and cultural study of Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, where DePaul is located. Bright’s photographs document the neighborhood as it was at the time, in a process of gentrification.
The collection was donated to DePaul by Bright in 2015 as thirty-seven strips of negatives, with ninety-six exposures, and thirteen 8″x10″ contact sheets containing ninety-eight photos in total.
Here is a sneak peek from the collection.
Deborah Bright, Courtyard of apartment building in Lincoln Park, Chicago, 1985. Deborah Bright Photographs, Special Collections and Archives, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois.Deborah Bright. Alley in Lincoln Park, Chicago. 1985. Deborah Bright Photographs, Special Collections and Archives, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois.Deborah Bright. Residential and commercial buildings along W. Webster Ave., Chicago. 1985. Deborah Bright Photographs, Special Collections and Archives, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois.Deborah Bright. Garden in a residential lot in Lincoln Park, Chicago. 1985. Deborah Bright Photographs, Special Collections and Archives, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois.Deborah Bright. House exterior in Lincoln Park, Chicago. 1985. Deborah Bright Photographs, Special Collections and Archives, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois.
Permission to display here is granted by DePaul University Special Collections and Archives.
There are other many great collections in Illinois that document various aspects of the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, check them out in the IDHH!
