This list contains manuscript and archival collections comprising five or more items dating from 1700 to the present. Most of the collections form part of the library’s larger special collections, including the Midwest Manuscripts Collection, the railroad archives, the Newberry Library Archives, the Edward E. Ayer Collection, the John M. Wing Foundation on the History of Printing, and the Everett D. Graff Collection. The majority of the collections are North American. Many of the collections have been described previously in a number of publications, in unpublished inventories, and in the library’s online and card catalogs; others have never been cataloged or described.
The list is arranged alphabetically by the names of individuals and organizations responsible for the creation of the collections. Each collection entry includes the inclusive dates of the papers or records and the approximate extent of the materials in cubic feet. Rudimentary subject access is also provided with the general terms Arts, Business, Chicago, Civil War, Clubs and Organizations, Dance, Family Papers, Indians and the West, Journalism, Literature, Music, Newberry Library, Photographs, Politics, Printing and Book Arts, Railroads, Social Action, and Theater.
While the greater percentage of the collections deal with Chicago and Chicagoans, only the most obscure names and family collections have been assigned the “Chicago” subject designation. The term “Photographs” has been used only when the entire collection, or a good portion of it, is photographic images. When more than one subject is appropriate for a collection, the collection entry has been repeated. There are also see references to the main collection entry from joint authors and individuals around whom a collection was formed.
This list marks the beginning of a program to provide online access to manuscript and archival collection inventories and catalog records. An increasing number of collection level finding aids (inventories providing detailed narrative descriptions and box and folder headings) is available online. Where online inventories exist, a direct link has been provided from the collection entry in this list to the fuller description. The Newberry’s online catalog (i-share.carli.illinois.edu/nby/) also contains collection level catalog records for many archival and manuscript holdings.
The list may be browsed alphabetically by the NAMES of the individuals or organizations responsible for the creation of the collections, or it may be browsed by the general SUBJECT terms described above.
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For specific questions regarding the manuscript and archival collections, please e-mail the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections at the Newberry Library: specialcolls@newberry.org, or write: Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections, The Newberry Library, 60 W. Walton St., Chicago, IL.