The Chicago Calligraphy Collective was founded in 1976 to promote the study, practice, and appreciation of calligraphy in all its historical and present-day applications. This annual juried exhibit of members’ work includes handmade artists’ books and broadsides as well as three-dimensional works executed in various media and styles, from classical to contemporary.
Core Collections
Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern Studies
A collection rich in printed and manuscript sources from 1300 to 1800, with strengths in Western Europe and the Americas.
Chicago and the Midwest
The collections contain extensive materials on the history of Chicago and the Midwest, including its growth, politics, and eclectic inhabitants.
History of the Book
The Newberry’s collection on the history of printing and the book arts is one of the world’s leading collections in its field.
Religion
The Newberry collection for religion focuses on sources from Europe and the Americas, from the late Middle Ages through the early 20th century.
From the Stacks
John Adams Letter
In the early spring of 1788, John Adams returned from Europe, where he’d spent a decade conducting diplomatic business. He arrived in Massachusetts at a seminal moment; he was stateside, acclimating to his Braintree home, when the U.S. Constitution was formally ratified.
May Day
This bilingual broadside, written by labor activist Adolph Fischer, calls on “workingmen” to attend a rally in Chicago’s Haymarket Square. In the demonstration’s aftermath, eight anarchists (including Fischer) were unfairly accused of slaying police officers. An openly biased judge sentenced seven of these defendants—known as the Haymarket martyrs—to death; the eighth was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In 1887, four were executed, after one committed suicide.