News

This new Northwestern University Archives exhibit shows how three Northwestern alumnae became early radio stars.

"Tune in Again: How Three Northwestern University Alumnae Created One of Radio's First Soap Operas" tells the story of the "Clara, Lu 'n' Em" radio show. The show ran from 1930-46 and was written and performed by three alumnae of Northwestern's School of Speech (now School of Communication). "Clara, Lu 'n' Em" was the first radio show written by women. Its midmorning timeslot and sponsorship by a manufacturer of dishwashing detergent made it the first "soap opera."

“Tune in Again” features scripts, news clippings, posters, photographs, audio, and artifacts from the show, received as a donation to the University Archives from “Em’s” family. While documenting the life of the program and its creators, the exhibit also illustrates how radio stations publicized their programs and how sponsors pushed their products. Audio wands give visitors the opportunity to listen in and laugh along with original broadcasts of Clara, Lu ‘n’ Em programs.

The exhibit runs through 21 March 2014 at Northwestern University’s Deering Library in Evanston. The exhibit is free and open to the public. Special tours can also be arranged by contacting archives@northwestern.edu.

Additional information and hours are available at http://www.library.northwestern.edu/news-legacy/2014/february/meet-clara-lu-n-em.

The minutes from the January 14 CAA Steering Committee Meeting have been approved and are available to view online here.

The Park Forest Historical Society will present "Along the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Rail Line" by author Cynthia Ogorek on Sunday, 23 February 2014. Ogorek will be selling and signing her books at the event.

Ogorek is a public historian and author based in Calumet City, Illinois. Specializing in Calumet Region history, she has produced a series of three books on the region’s transportation history. Her latest, Along the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Rail Line, has won awards from the Illinois State Historical Society, the Illinois Women’s Press Association, and the National Federation of Press Women.

The author says the secret subtitle for the book is “The non-rail fan's guide to the South Shore--a history of the railroad for ‘the rest of us.’” Once a treasure in the Sam Insull utilities empire, today it is the only functioning electric interurban in the United States.

Ogorek will give an overview of the history of the company as well as describe how an electric interurban line works and the historic sites you can see from the windows of the South Shore train as it travels the ninety miles between downtown Chicago and the South Bend airport. From a world-class city through the rolling agricultural acres, from steel mills through a national lakeshore, some 200 vintage photographs illustrate the unique view of the Calumet region that South Shore passengers have experienced since it started in 1901 as a three-mile-long trolley line in East Chicago, Indiana.

Date: 23 February at 2:30 PM
Location: Park Forest Village Hall, 350 Victory Drive in Park Forest.

For more information about the event, contact Jane Nicoll of the Park Forest Historical Society at 708-481-4252. Learn more about the Historical Society at www.parkforesthistory.org.

Photos: Beverly Shores South Shore Railroad Station, Broadway Avenue & North side of U.S. Highway 12, Beverly Shores, Porter County, Indiana. Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, HABS, Reproduction Numbers: HABS IND,64-BEVSH,12--2 and HABS IND,64-BEVSH,12--4.

The Park Forest House Museum is decorated in February with vintage valentines and decorations in the "Step Back Into a 1950s Valentines Day" exhibit. The classroom, representing Park Forest's first school, is decorated for a 1950s Valentines Day party with crepe paper candy baskets, and construction paper heart-shaped valentine “mailboxes” on each desk. Red honeycomb, puffy hearts, and vintage valentines are on display throughout the house.

Three seats on the Steering Committee for the 2014-16 term are open beginning March 2014.

Candidate statements of interest are posted in the Members Only Forums section.

CAA members will need to be logged in to the website to access these documents. If you do not remember your login information, click “Forgot password” at the top right of the page. Instructions for resetting your password will be sent to the email address associated with your member registration.

Candidates will be elected by a vote of CAA members cast electronically. All CAA members in good standing as of February 12, 2014 will receive an invitation by email from elections@electionbuddy.com to vote for 2014-16 term Steering Committee members. Please check your spam filters if the invitation does not arrive in your inbox. Voting will remain open until Monday, March 17, at 5:00pm. At least one reminder will be sent via email in March.

Election results will be announced at the Members Meeting on March 20, 2014.

Please send questions or comments to info@chicagoarchivists.org.

Each year, Chicago Metro History Fair students in grades 6-12 select a topic related to Chicago history, then dive deep into research to develop their own interpretation or argument which they then present for evaluation by community-minded judges. Through this research and evaluation process, students gain important historical and critical thinking skills that will carry them through high school and prepare them for college.

The Society of American Archivists seeks nominations for the 2014 Philip M. Hamer and Elizabeth Hamer Kegan Award.

This award recognizes an archivist, editor, group of individuals, or institution that has increased public awareness of a specific body of documents through compilation, transcription, exhibition, or public presentation of archives or manuscript materials for educational, instructional, or other public purpose. Archives may include photographs, films, and visual archives. Publication may be in hard copy, microfilm, digital, or other circulating medium.

Past winners include the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries March On Milwaukee Civil Rights History Project Team (2011) and Elaine Forman Crane and Northeastern University Press for The Diary of Elizabeth Drinker (1992).

The application deadline is 28 February 2014.

Additional details and nominations forms are available at http://www2.archivists.org/governance/handbook/section12-hamer.

Did you know…? Historian Philip M. Hamer served successively as head of the Library, Accessions, Reference, and Records Control divisions of the National Archives, and was the first executive director of the National Historical Publications Commission.

SAA Diversity Committee is seeking case studies that illustrate diversity in the archival record and/or unique efforts to collect and document a variety of individuals, groups, and organizations.

Archivists, cultural heritage communities, and other information professionals are encouraged to submit projects and collections that illustrate:

• The broadest possible range of individuals, socio-economic groups, governance, and corporate entities in society;
  
• Diversity of viewpoints on social, political, and intellectual issues, as represented both in archival records and among members of the profession;
  
• Diversity in ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation;
  
• Groups and segments of communities that have not been well-documented for a variety of reasons and thus have few extant records;
  
• A variety of formats (for the previously mentioned groups) that are not being preserved.
  

Submissions will be vetted and posted on the Diversity Committee’s website as a resource intended to advance many of the goals outlined in SAA’s Strategic Plan.

Examples of diverse projects and collections include The Mujeres Latinas Project at the University of Iowa and The Milwaukee Transgender Oral History Project.

Read the more about the project and find the submission form here.

Three seats on the Steering Committee for the 2014-2016 term are open beginning March 2014. Candidates will be elected by a vote of CAA members cast electronically. Election results will be announced at the Members Meeting on March 20, 2014.

Service on the Steering Committee is open to all CAA members in good standing. All members with an interest in the profession – students, retirees, professionals and paraprofessionals in all types of archival repositories – are encouraged to volunteer.

Qualifications include enthusiasm, initiative, and a commitment to the profession.

The Steering Committee meets monthly to:

• Establish programmatic goals for the organization
  
• Circulate information to and respond to the needs of CAA members
  
• Represent CAA within the larger profession and to the general public
  
• Set standards to ensure the sustainability of CAA
  

To volunteer, submit a brief (1-2 paragraphs) Statement of Interest outlining your background and motivation for serving on the Steering Committee to info@chicagoarchivists.org. Please include your full name, title, place of work (if applicable), and preferred contact phone and email address. Statements of interest will be distributed to CAA members.

The deadline to submit your Statement is Monday, February 10, 2014 at 5:00pm.

Contact information for current Steering Committee Members is available on the CAA Website if you would like to reach out to ask specific questions about service on this committee. 

Please send questions or comments to info@chicagoarchivists.org.

The minutes from the November 12 CAA Steering Committee Meeting have been approved and are available to view online here.