To the Seeker After Truth: Amplifying Chicago's Black Art History, Page 2

The following resource documents Black visual arts collections across more than 20 BMRC member institutions. Based on a survey conducted by Rashieda Witter, BMRC Visual Arts Researcher from Nov. 2024–Nov. 2025, it provides collection descriptions, scope, strengths, gaps, and access notes, while highlighting connections among artists and institutions. Supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, this resource is intended to amplify visibility, foster research, and encourage creative engagement with these collections.

This resource is best explored on a desktop or laptop for full accessibility. It is organized alphabetically by the name of our member institutions. A pdf of the full survey findings can be downloaded here: To the Seeker After Truth: Amplifying Chicago's Black Art History

DePaul University

All of Mankind Coalition records

(1906-2020), 0.25 Linear Feet. The collection includes history and background information on the coalition and All of Mankind mural, Chicago Public Art Group correspondence and All of Mankind Coalition materials with a focus on planning and contact lists created and collected in efforts to save the mural. Also included is a Chicago Conservation Center assessment of the All of Mankind mural, maps, and history of the Strangers Home Missionary Baptist Church at 617 West Evergreen Avenue, interviews and articles profiling William Walker, and newspaper articles and clippings covering the preservation efforts of All of Mankind Coalition.

Wrightwood Neighborhood Association records (1956-2015)

1956-2015, 6.7 Linear Feet (17 boxes). The Wrightwood Neighborhood Association records include newsletters, correspondence, meeting minutes, membership lists, financial documents, flyers, reports, surveys, photographs, initial bids from contractors, initial plans, guidelines, fundraising materials, maps, reports, and photographs. Includes a folder related to Richard Hunt and his public sculpture, Eagle Columns.

Dominican University

4007 Faculty Records, 1922-1994 – Individual Faculty – McCullough, Geraldine

Images, exhibition materials, and newspaper clippings related to sculptor and educator Geraldine McCullough.

DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center

Margaret Burroughs Papers

(1937-2010), 70 linear feet: The papers include personal correspondence, writings, documents originating from the DuSable Museum of African American History, personal material, publications, and photographs.

Charles Dawson papers

(1912-1980), 4 linear feet, includes original artwork, unpublished writings, personal correspondence with family members, photographs, and documents pertaining to Dawson’s time as curator of the Museum of Negro Art and Culture at the George Washington Carver Museum at Tuskegee Institute.

Eugene Winslow papers

(1933-1971), 2 linear feet, Eugene Winslow was born on Nov. 17, 1919. He attended Froebel High School in Gary, Indiana and received a B.A. degree from Dillard University in New Orleans in 1943. Winslow's lifelong interest in art drew him to the Institute of Design in Chicago where he studied from 1948 to 1951. Eugene Winslow enjoyed a successful professional career that included work as a graphic designer, cartoonist, publisher and executive.

Jackie Ormes papers

1938-1985, 0.5 linear feet. Jackie Zelda Ormes, born Zelda Marvin Jackson (1911-1985), was the first African American female to gain prominence as a cartoonist. She created four cartoon and comic series between 1937-1956, each one featuring African American female protagonists, and addressing social and political issues of the mid-twentieth century. The Jackie Ormes papers span from 1938-1985 and reflect her professional work and her social life in Chicago.

Henry Jackson Lewis collection

(1891-1990), 1 linear foot. Henry Jackson Lewis (1837?-1891) was an African American artist who gained notoriety for his political cartoons, the majority of which were published while he worked for The Freeman, in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Henry Jackson Lewis collection spans from 1891-1967, and contains copies of cartoons by Henry Jackson Lewis that were originally drawn during the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction era, personal material of his sons Chester Arthur and Henry W. Lewis, information regarding the collection, and research on Henry Jackson Lewis.

Loyola University Chicago

Department of Fine and Performing Arts Records

Consists of 3.29 linear feet and spans the years 1972-2008. Records consist of exhibit flyers, posters, postcards, advertisements, exhibit pamphlets, exhibit overviews and related publications, photographs, slides, resumes, magazines, and educational booklets

Crown Center Gallery records

1978–2008, Approximately 8 linear feet of files consisting of artists’ vitae and statements, press releases, exhibition announcements and object lists, correspondence, clippings and articles, entry forms, a few photographs, and other materials relating to art exhibitions held from 1978 to 2009 in Crown Gallery of Loyola University Chicago (Lakeshore Campus) and to individual artists whose work was shown. In addition, 10 binders of slides document individual artworks as well as exhibition installations. Later exhibitions are additionally documented with digital files (as are exhibitions since 2008, held in the Ralph Arnold Gallery). Artists represented include Willie L. Carter, Keith Allen Crown Jr., Chris Dayman, Nicole Ferentz, William Frederick, Roland Ginzel, Michelle Grabner, Caroline Greenwald, Gendron Jensen, Louise Kames, Claire Wolf Krantz, Paul LaMantia, Peggy Robinson, Susan Schwalb, Clare Zeisler, and others.

Newberry Library

Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. ephemera collection

1990-2012, 2.7 linear feet. Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. was born and raised in Louisiana. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and worked as a systems analyst for many years. In the late 1980s he gave up his career to become a printer. Kennedy operated the Jubilee Press (or Jubalee Press) outside of Chicago, Illinois. He has printed material under a number of press names including York Show Prints, Kennedy & Sons, Fine Printers, and Kennedy Prints! This collection includes letterpress posters, paper fans, broadsides, greetings cards, and other ephemera.

Art & Soul records

1917-2018, Series 1 contains files and documents concerning Art & Soul’s operation, including proposals for funding and set-up, courses taught, and future plans for the space, as well as copies of photographs of Art & Soul, interview transcripts, and media coverage. Series 2 is comprised of Ann Zelle’s subject files on African American history and art, museums, cultural and educational programs, and museum science. It includes DVD documentaries, slides, programs for museum and gallery exhibitions, newspaper clippings, and magazines dedicated to the Black Arts Movement.

Never The Same Ephemera Collection

1968-2014, 53 Linear Feet. Ephemera collected by Never The Same, a project begun by Northwestern University Professor Rebecca Zorach and Daniel Tucker, founder of AREAChicago. Never The Same collects items documenting socially and politically engaged art in Chicago since the 1960s. Collection consists of brochures, fliers, postcards, pamphlets, posters, artwork, books, journals, CDs, DVDs, and 3-dimensional artifacts emanating from a wide variety of sources, both individual and organizational.

Chicago Black Lives Matter Protest Collection

2014-ongoing, 4.4 linear feet. Announcements, flyers, artwork, buttons, newsletters, photographs, posters, t-shirts, and other materials collected by various individuals at Chicago protests, 2015-2016, responding to recurring police violence and civil rights violations against black citizens. This documentation was solicited as part of a 2016 Newberry Library exhibition, From Civil War to Civil Rights, and also includes responses to events posted by visitors to the exhibition.

Northern Illinois University

Black Arts Council

1970. This file may include announcements, clippings, press releases, brochures, reviews, invitations, small exhibition catalogs, and other ephemeral material related to NIU’s Black Arts Council.

Northwestern University Libraries, Archival and Manuscripts Collection

1960s-1970s Social Movements Ephemera Collection

primarily consists of printed ephemera— documents such as flyers, posters, and newsletters that are created for a specific, limited purpose and intended to be discarded after use. Series 3. Black Activism, 1928-1980 and undated, contains materials relating to the Civil Rights Movement, Black Power Movement, and other organizations dedicated to combating anti-Black racism and improving the lives of Black people. It includes posters, pamphlets, newspapers and magazines, mailings, press releases, and other printed ephemera.

Northwestern University, Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies

Poster Collection

a variety of social, political, and cultural issues, including public health, education, liberation and independence, political campaigns, the anti-apartheid movement, Biafra, Darfur, economics, art, publishing, and music. Through these collections, scholars and students can explore how institutions and organizations communicated with African populations from the mid-19th century through the present day.

Winterton Collection of East African Photographs

1860-1960, The Humphrey Winterton Collection of East African photographs is comprised of about 6,500 photographs organized in 75 primary collections of separate albums, scrapbooks or loose collections. Primary collections range from a single photograph to a set of several photograph albums plus envelopes of loose photographs.

Political Barber Shop Sign Collection

The Herskovits Library’s collection of political “barber shop” signs has grown substantially and depicts politicians and events that resonate with South Africa and its interaction with the world. President Mandela, President G.W. Bush, Hillary Clinton and the World Cup, are just some of the images represented in this new and flourishing collection of ephemera.

Africa Embracing Obama

This collection documents the extraordinary cultural outpouring of celebratory materials from across the continent of Africa. They represent Africa’s pride in, ownership of and hopefulness for the candidacy and presidency of Barack Obama. Includes paintings, textiles, souvenirs and more.