Historical Chicago Images (and a 2004 Calendar!) Available for Downloading from the UIC Library
Almost 1 million images of Chicago from 1856 to 2003 are in the University Library's newly-acquired James S. Parker Collection, and a selection of the photographs is available for viewing at http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/greet/2003/. You can download monthly and quarterly versions of the University Library's 2004 Parker Collection calendar at that same Web location.
The Parker Collection includes approximately 50,000 black and white images (8x10) and more than 850,000 35-mllimeter negatives of on Chicago, its political figures, neighborhoods, streets and buildings. It will be housed in the Richard J. Daley Library's Department of Special Collection, and eventually much of it will be available online.
The University Library was able to acquire the Parker Collection with funds from John Needles Chester Trust, which was established to purchase items such as rare books or works of art that enhance the overall cultural and educational life of the University of Illinois. Because Mr. Parker believes that UIC can give his collection the care and public access it warrants, UIC was able to acquire the collection at a fraction of its actual value, although Parker notes that the collection is "priceless" given its historical significance.
View the past years' greeting cards: 1999 2000 2001 2002.
For more information about the photographic collections or the political papers in the UIC Library's Special Collections Department, see http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/specialcoll.
