Hull-House Oral History Collection

An inventory of the collection at the University of Illinois at Chicago

Administrative History

Hull-House, founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr, was the first social settlement in Chicago. The settlement was incorporated in March 1895, with a stated purpose to "provide a center for higher civic and social life, to initiate and maintain educational and philanthropic enterprises, and to investigate and improve the conditions in the industrial districts of Chicago." From 1889 to 1963, Hull-House operated a wide-ranging program from its complex of buildings at 800 S. Halsted St. In 1963, when the settlement vacated the complex on Halsted Street to provide space for the new campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle, Hull-House decentralized and began operating settlement programs in a number of neighborhood locations, and the house was reorganized into the Hull-House museum.

The interviews in the collection were produced under five different projects. In 1980-1981 Stuart Hecht conducted interviews as part of his PhD research on the Hull-House Theatre. These are labeled "Hecht". A variety of individuals outside of museum staff conducted interviews with neighborhood residents to survey how community members felt about the razing of Hull-House and the development of UIC, and took place in 1974; these interviews are designated "Neighborhood". Museum staff conducted interviews with NEH funding in preparation for the 1989 centennial event; the interviews all took place in 1984 and are labeled "Planning". Student interns working for Hull House Association conducted interviews with senior volunteers who were involved with Hull-House, some of whom knew Jane Addams. These interviews took place during 1982 and are designated RSVP. All other recordings labeled "Miscellaneous",are either interviews conducted mostly by Hull-House Museum staff or document speeches or presentations. These recordings span from 1975-2002. Beginning in 2001, the Hull-House Museum transferred custody of the collection to Special Collections.

Scope and Contents

The Hull-House Oral History Collection documents a variety of experiences and memories of Hull-House programs and Jane Addams from community members. The collection includes oral history recordings in several media formats, including CDs, cassette tapes, and reel formats. For the vast majority of interviews, the collection also includes transcripts of the dialogue.

Detailed Description/Box and Folder Listing