"Dean of City Hall" Talks about Chicago Politicians on May 4 at UIC's Celebration of His Audio Archive Gift
The Robert P. Crawford Audio Collection at the University of Illinois at Chicago University Library will have its official opening with a presentation by Bob Crawford at 3:00 pm on Tuesday, May 4, in Chicago Rooms B and C, at the Chicago Illini Union. CIU is located at 828 S. Wolcott on the UIC campus. A reception follows the program.
For more than four decades, until his retirement in December 2001, Bob Crawford was a reporter for the Chicago CBS radio affiliate WBBM-AM, most notably on the public affairs program "At Issue." Considered by many local journalists to be the "Dean of City Hall," Crawford was inducted into the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame in 1995.
Crawford's audio archive includes 2,136 separate entries: speeches, press conferences and interviews with some 175 noteworthy figures from government, politics, religion, law, civil rights and various other fields. It is housed in the Richard J. Daley Library Special Collections Department. Researchers can contact Special Collections for more information about accessing the materials.
Dick Simpson, UIC professor of political science and former Chicago alderman, will introduce Crawford at the May 4 event. Crawford will talk on the contents of his archive and present the audio portion of some memorable moments in Chicago history.
