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You want to do some research as you develop a new tour. You Google your topic – but nothing comes up that you don’t already know, or the information is thin or generic. How can you find sources with information that will enhance and enrich your topic?

Well, help is at hand. The Education and Library committees have put together a team to gather and share on-line resources for docents and volunteers – the Digital Library/Electronic Resources initiative.  We are all excited to begin this project while we must be away from the center.

Initially we are looking at:

• Sources related to tour content and tour development.
• Sources to broaden knowledge of Chicago history and architecture.
• Information about architecture in other cities in the U.S. and around the world.
• Articles that enrich and entertain.

The first list of resources is featured this week.   Thanks to Mark Purdome for organizing the comments.

Digital Resources Volume 1

If you’d like to explore historical maps, images, and photographs, the Newberry Library (http://digcoll.newberry.org/) has a number of digital resources with search options to narrow down the collection. For local exploration, the Chicago and the Midwest Digital Archives (https://www.newberry.org/chicago-digital-collection) has several thousand historical images. If you’d like to uncover the fascinating history of an early Chicago personality, there is a 40-minute program with historian Ann Durkin Keating about Juliette Kinzie, who is an important––if complicated––chronicler of Chicago’s early history (https://www.newberry.org/04142020-juliette-kinzie-and-chicago-fire-virtual-conversation).

There are fascinating interviews with architects in the Ryerson Library of the Art Institute of Chicago. For more than twenty years, the Chicago Architects Oral History Project (https://digital-libraries.artic.edu/digital/collection/caohp) documented the contributions of architects to Chicago during the 20th century.

The Society of Architectural Historians (www.sah.org) has a number of digital resources. Be sure to check out the SAH Archipedia (https://www.sah.org/publications-and-research/sah-archipedia), an authoritative online encyclopedia of the U.S. built environment. It contains histories, photographs, and maps for over 20,000 structures and places. In addition, the JSAH, the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, is free online through June (https://www.sah.org/publications-and-research/jsah), and their Chicago Architect Project (https://www.sah.org/publications-and-research/chicago-architects-project) is a research project illustrating the relationships among architects in the Chicago area, presented as a dynamic family tree.

Finally, for quick research into the collections of a number of research institutions in Chicago, including museums, research institutions, and universities, take a look at Chicago Collections (https://chicagocollections.org/). Here you will find over 100,000 maps, photos, and letters held by their member institutions. Unfortunately, not everything is available online in digital form, but their collections contain extensive primary source materials that chronicle the rich history of Chicago.

Moving forward, the committee will continue to research and share digital resources, and we will provide a resource center on The Bridge for search. We are also looking ahead to when we will be able to visit the CAC library and will be investigating cataloguing systems for the books that could be accessed on-line.  Stay tuned.

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Digital Library/Electronic Resources committee members include Leigh Gates, Bobbi Pinkert, Mark Purdome, Steve Redfield, Dave Utech, and Donna Gabanski, Library chair.