To the Seeker After Truth: Amplifying Chicago's Black Art History, Page 4

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

University of Chicago, Visual Resource Center

Justine DeVan, Black Women Emerging, 1977. Photograph by George Stahl.

Georg Stahl Mural Collection

Publicly available collection of more than 600 photos of Chicago murals from the 1970s.

Robert A. Sengstacke, Opportunity Please Knock, 1967. Courtesy of the Robert A. Sengstacke Archive and Chicago Defender Charities. ©Myiti Sengstacke-Rice

Robert Sengstacke Photography Archive

Publicly available collection of more than 5,000 images from South Side photojournalist Bobby Sengstacke’s negative collection. An exhibition of select images from this collection was curated by Rashieda Witter in February 2025.

Untitled, Elizabeth Catlett, undated. Digital Images of SSCAC Art Collection, University of Chicago Visual Resource Center

South Side Community Art Center

Publicly available collection of images from Chicago’s South Side Community Art Center

University of Illinois at Chicago

Cover of Great Negroes Past and Present, designed and illustrated by Eugene Winslow, 1991. Eugene Winslow papers, Special Collections & University Archives, UIC

Eugene Winslow papers

(1885–1993), 2.5 linear feet of material consisting of correspondence, memoranda, notes, clippings, certificates, programs, photographs, brochures, sketches, graphic designs, schematics, and published documenting the life and career of designer and illustrator Eugene Winslow.

Emmett McBain, The Contemporary Black Librarian, 1978

Emmett McBain papers

1962 to 2000, 4 linear feet. Emmett McBain was born in 1935 in Chicago and attended Sexton Elementary School and Tilden Technical High School. He then studied advertising design at Ray Vogue Art School, American Academy of Art, and the Illinois Institute of Technology. McBain became a prominent African American advertising designer, working as a designer for Vince Cullers and Associates, an art supervisor for J. W. Thompson in Detroit, and a creative consultant for Soft Sheen.

Black Mayor for Chicago by Richmond A. Jones, 1974. Chicago Urban League records, (Folder IV-781), Image 1, University of Illinois at Chicago. Library. Special Collections and University Archives Department (Richard J. Daley Library)

Richmond A. Jones Design papers

1970-2000, 12.25 Linear Feet. Richmond A. Jones is a Chicago-based advertising art director and freelance graphic designer. Jones' education included study at The University of Illinois, American Academy of Art, The Lill Street Ceramics Studio, The Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago, and the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He worked in New York as an art director at Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborn.

Tom Miller at Goldsholl Associates, 1975. Thomas H. E. Miller Design Papers, Special Collections and Archives, University of Illinois at Chicago.

Thomas H. E. Miller design papers

Miller (1920- ) has worked as a successful visual artist as well as a graphic designer. While stationed abroad during World War II, Miller sold oil paintings in England, France, and Belgium. He was known for using the monotype technique, a subtractive technique in which pigment is removed from paint-coated glass. After World War II, Miller moved to Chicago where he formally studied art for the first time at the Ray Vogue School of Art. He received his degree in design in 1950. Also in 1950, he was one of two African Americans accepted into the Society of Typographic Arts.

Branding materials for the Black Expo, at one time the largest gathering of Black businessmen in history.

LeRoy Winbush design papers

1955-1992, 0.25 linear feet. LeRoy Winbush is an African-American design consultant who became famous for his innovative work with elaborate advertising displays in Chicago's financial district. In addition to the work he did with his design firm Winbush Associates, Winbush served as the Art Director of Ebony Magazine and was instrumental in the creation of that publication. Winbush taught Typography and Visual Communication classes at Columbia College and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Charles Harrison papers

1947-1997. The collection includes examples of Charles Harrison's work from his time at Sears. There are design sketches, blueprints and product presentation boards, along with several awards received during his time with Sears.