News

Invisible to Whom? Selections from the Robert A. Sengstacke Archive

Black Metropolis Research Consortium

University of Chicago’s Regenstein Library

February 12 through June 30, 2025

In response to Ralph Ellison’s 1952 novel Invisible Man, author Toni Morrison posed a profound question: “Invisible to whom?” Morrison challenged the idea of the Black protagonist’s “invisibility,” arguing that it reflected a worldview shaped by white supremacy. This exhibition rejects the white gaze, celebrating the powerful and profound connections that emerge when Black people see and affirm one another.

Robert A. “Bobby” Sengstacke (1942–2017) was a prolific photographer who devoted over half a century to chronicling Chicago’s cultural and political landscape. Best known for his work with the newspaper, The Chicago Defender—where he also served as editor—Sengstacke was pivotal in visually documenting the city’s Black community. This selection of photographs reflects his deep compassion and tenderness for his people, inviting us to reimagine what it means to see and be seen in a racially stratified world, while underscoring the power of controlling our own narratives and representations.

Curated by Rashieda Witter, this exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Black Metropolis Research Consortium, Myiti Sengstacke-Rice, Chicago Defender Charities, UChicago’s Visual Resources Center, the Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, the Terra Foundation for American Art, and the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation.

Digital Exhibit: https://bmrc.lib.uchicago.edu/portal/exhibits/invisible-to-whom-selections-from-the-robert-a-sengstacke-archive/

Information for Your Visit:

Regenstein Library

1100 E. 57^th Street

Chicago, IL 60637

Mon- Thursday 8am – 12 midnight; Fri 8am -11pm; Sat 9am-11pm; Sunday 9am to 12 midnight

Free and open to all

https://bmrc.lib.uchicago.edu/   

For more information, contact: Rashieda Witter, rashieda@uchicago.edu

Are you launching a new exhibit?

CAA members are welcome to share news of exhibits on view at their institutions. Please tell us more on this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSesaDrz5BstR9CMUtLNlVVl-uiwUSr_sbE6L1TK7BY2ehbV1w/viewform

A Pressing Call: 500 Years of Women Printing
University of Chicago Library, Special Collections Research Center
January 2 through April 18, 2025

Quick, name a printer! Johannes Gutenberg, Aldus Manutius, or John Baskerville might come to mind—men whose printer's devices hang across the hall outside the Special Collections Exhibition Gallery. If asked to name a woman who worked as a printer, however, many of us will draw a blank – though it is not for a lack of women participating in the printing industry. From the earliest era of hand-press printing in late 15th-century Europe, women have worked in the print trade in a variety of roles including as publishers, print shop proprietors, typesetters and compositors, and booksellers. Using case studies and the works of women printers from Yolande Bonhomme to Virginia Woolf, this exhibition explores the following questions: Who qualifies as a printer, and how has that definition changed during 500 years of technological innovations to printing in the West?

Digital exhibit: https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/collex/exhibits/a-pressing-call-500-years-of-women-printing/

Information for Your Visit:

Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
University of Chicago Library
1100 E. 57^th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
M, Tu, Th, F 9 am-4:45 pm, W 10 am-4:45 pm
Free and open to all

https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/scrc/

For more information, contact: Patti Gibbons, pgibbons@uchicago.edu

Are you launching a new exhibit?

CAA members are welcome to share news of exhibits on view at their institutions. Please tell us more on this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSesaDrz5BstR9CMUtLNlVVl-uiwUSr_sbE6L1TK7BY2ehbV1w/viewform

Forty-seven members of CAA gathered for the 2024 Holiday Party on Thursday December 12th, 2024. Returning to the Exchequer in the Loop for the first time in some years, members were treated to drinks, pizza, and general merriment. The event was well attended and it was a great way to reconnect with members and make new connections.

Raffle prizes were given out and a silent auction was held benefiting the Archives and Archivists of Color travel fund.

Thanks to the Holiday Party Planning Committee for organizing the event, thank you to all who donated prizes, and a special thanks to Gretchen Neidhardt for making the event possible.

On to 2025!

Thanks to Jerice Barrios for the photos.

Twenty-three CAA members and guests joined us for the Archives and Archivists of Color interest group's tour of the Newberry Library's exhibit Indigenous Chicago on Saturday, November 23, 2024. We got a guided tour of the exhibit from one of its curators, Analú María López, the Newberry’s Ayer Librarian and Assistant Curator of American Indian and Indigenous Studies. The exhibit included everything from original documents such as diaries, dictionaries, treaties, and maps to comics and other artwork by contemporary Native American creators. It will be viewable at the Newberry through January 4, 2025.

Photographs by Kheir Fakhreldin and Analú María López

Over 25 archivists joined us on Thursday, November 14 at Orchestra Hall to hear Weber's The Ruler of the Spirits Overture, Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major featuring Francesco Piemontesi on piano, and Bruckner's Symphony No. 3 in D Minor, conducted by Marek Janowski. Our thanks to CAA member Frank Villella for arranging the evening.

Photographs by Elliot Mandel Photography, courtesy of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association

Moderator Patti Gibbons, Head of Collection Management at the University of Chicago Library’s Special Collections Research Center, guided the Q & A after Nick’s presentation. 

A total of twenty-nine attendees participated in the event.

A recording of the webinar, the slide deck, and additional resources are available at:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iSu25nv44mN-XFjsNtJ__GMwuwW6D2fe

On October 24, 2024, five CAA crafters met at the Cenacle Archives in the Chicago Loop for networking, snacks, and, of course, crafting. It was a very fun evening, and CAA hopes to make it a recurring event, so if you missed this craft night, keep your eyes open for the next one!

The photo shows attendees happily displaying their craft projects. From left to right: Madisyn Mettenburg, Gretchen Neidhardt, Angelica Hernandez, Grace Fosselman. Photographer was Jerice Barrios.

On View: Exhibition Announcement

Akito Tsuda: Pilsen Days

Chicago Public Library

Harold Washington Library Center

June 3, 2024 through April 15, 2025      

Akito Tsuda arrived in Chicago from Japan in 1988 at the age of 21 and enrolled at Columbia College Chicago in 1990. On a class photography assignment, Tsuda encountered Pilsen, where he was accepted in the homes and lives of the residents. Despite knowing only some English and no Spanish, Tsuda developed relationships with the people he photographed and made over 500 striking and intimate images in collaboration with the community.

Digital exhibit: https://www.chipublib.org/news/exhibit-akito-tsuda-pilsen-days/

Information for Your Visit:

Chicago Public Library

Harold Washington Library Center, 9th floor, 400 S. State Street, Chicago, IL 60605

M-Th, 9:00am-8:00pm; F-Sa, 9:00am-5:00pm; Su, 1:00-5:00pm

Free and open to all

https://www.chipublib.org/

Special Event Information:

https://www.chipublib.org/news/exhibit-akito-tsuda-pilsen-days/

For more information, contact: Johanna Russ, jruss@chipublib.org

Are you launching a new exhibit?

On View: Exhibition Announcement

Indigenous Chicago

Newberry Library

September 12, 2024 through January 4, 2025

Home to the Potawatomi, Odawa, Ojibwe, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Myaamia, Wea, Sauk, Meskwaki, and Ho-Chunk peoples, the place we now call Chicago has long been a historic crossroads for many Indigenous people and remains home to an extensive urban Native community. Yet most Chicagoans are unaware of the city’s history as a home to diverse Indigenous peoples and the vibrant Indigenous communities present today. Part of a multifaceted initiative developed in partnership between the Newberry, advisors from the Chicago Native community, and representatives from tribal nations with historic connections to Chicago, this exhibition reflects the dynamic and complex aspects of Native life in Chicago from the seventeenth century to the present. The exhibition draws largely on the Newberry's collection while also showcasing new work by contemporary Native artists, including Jason Wesaw (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi), Camille Billie (Oneida), and Jim Terry (Ho-Chunk).

Digital exhibit: https://indigenous-chicago.org/

Information for Your Visit:

Newberry Library

60 West Walton Street, Chicago, Illinois 60610

Tuesday – Thursday: 10am – 7pm; Friday and Saturday: 10am – 5pm

Free and open to all

https://www.newberry.org/calendar/indigenous-chicago

For more information, contact: info@newberry.org  

Are you launching a new exhibit?

CAA members are welcomed to share news of exhibits on view at their institutions. Please tell us more and share details on this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSesaDrz5BstR9CMUtLNlVVl-uiwUSr_sbE6L1TK7BY2ehbV1w/viewform

We Are America

Swedish American Museum

Opened on 6/1/2024

We Are America, the Swedish American Museum's new core exhibit, explores Swedish immigration to Chicago. Through a range of documents, photographs, artifacts, and interactives, visitors will learn about the lives Swedish immigrants built in the U.S. Personal stories are highlighted to help tell this immigration story. You will meet Elin and Birgitta Hedman, a mother and daughter who stayed overnight at Ellis Island waiting for Elin’s husband. You'll also learn about Thor Rydholm, a Swedish-American from Lee Country, Illinois who served in the U.S. military during World War I, and Anna Elisabet Martinsson, who traveled to America by herself in 1925. There are a variety of interactives in the exhibit, aimed at engaging all ages and audiences. We Are America also invites visitors to compare this story with others from Chicago.

Digital exhibit: https://swedishamericanmus.wixsite.com/my-site-4

Information for Your Visit:

Swedish American Museum

5211 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60640

Tuesday - Friday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Saturday & Sunday 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Adults $6, Children/students/seniors $4, Families $15 (2 adults and 3 children under 18). Free for members.               

https://swedishamericanmuseum.org/

Special Event:

Free (with admission) guided tour of the Museum's new core exhibit, We Are America, on Saturday, Oct. 12, 11 a.m.

Register here: https://www.swedishamericanmuseum.org/product/33672

For more information, contact: Lisa Lindstrom, Collection Manager, llindstrom@samac.org

Are you launching a new exhibit?

CAA members are welcomed to share news of exhibits on view at their institutions. Please tell us more and share details on this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSesaDrz5BstR9CMUtLNlVVl-uiwUSr_sbE6L1TK7BY2ehbV1w/viewform