Earl Bush papers

Scope and Content

During 2003, Earl Bush donated these papers to the Office of the University of Illinois at Chicago Historian. The original order of the collection appears to have been mostly chronological and to have been organized into two general categories. The University Historian named these categories the "Chronological Files" and the "Topical Files."

This collection is organized into two series to reflect that original order. Series I, the "Chronological Files," consists primarily of speeches, memoranda, background materials, some newspaper clippings, and press releases. This series has been organized in chronological order. Series II, the "Topical Files," include items that Bush collected and kept together separately. This series has been organized mostly in chronological order. A few files with no assigned dates have been organized alphabetically. Finally, twenty-two files of newspaper clippings, organized chronologically, appear together at the end of Series II.

The bulk of this collection covers the years 1955-1973, during which Bush served as an official advisor to Mayor Richard J. Daley. A few items date back to the months and years that preceded Daley's election in 1955. A large number of files contain materials that pertain to the decade following Bush's departure from the mayor's office. This collection includes originals and photocopies of originals, and researchers may find that some files occasionally have duplicates of items found in other files. Bush also often attached short notes, some handwritten and some typewritten, to the speeches. These notes contain his view of the significance of the speech in question.