CHICAGO (January 03, 2006) - James R. Grossman of the Newberry Library has been named a 2005 Chicagoan of the Year by Chicago magazine for his significant contributions to the 2004 publication of The Encyclopedia of Chicago, a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive historical resource on metropolitan Chicago.
Grossman served as director of the ten-year project and co-edited the encyclopedia with Ann Durkin Keating of North Central College in Naperville, Ill. and Janice L. Reiff of the University of California-Los Angeles. He and co-editor Durkin Keating will be recognized at a special luncheon on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago. In addition, the pair will be featured in the January 2006 issue of Chicago magazine with several other difference makers who were selected from a distinguished list of Chicagoans nominated by readers, community leaders and Chicago magazine staff.
Past recipients of the award include talk show host icon Oprah Winfrey, former Sara Lee chairman John H. Bryan, singer and musician Ella Jenkins, Antigun crusader Timothy Jordan and University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno.
"The Encyclopedia represents an extraordinary collaboration among individuals and among institutions across metropolitan Chicago," said Grossman who is vice-president for research and education at the Newberry. "Its authors live and work in four continents, pointing to the importance of Chicago to people interested in the world's great cities."
"Jim Grossman's contribution to the Encyclopedia, a publication that has already become a classic, is a real gift to the city of Chicago and anyone interested in urban, metropolitan or American history. But it is just one of many valuable contributions that Jim has made to the Library and on its behalf during his distinguished service here," said David Spadafora, Newberry Library President and Librarian.
People across the country are impressed by his work as a historian and an institutional leader."
The Encyclopedia of Chicago was a collaborative project of the Newberry Library and Chicago Historical Society. The 1,001-page encyclopedia covers the full range of Chicago's neighborhoods. Fifty-six original maps cover topics such as blues clubs in Chicago, Chicago's Deep Tunnel system, Indian settlement patterns in 1830, street railways in 1890 and 400 thumbnail maps that show where each municipality and neighborhood is located in the Chicago region.
The Newberry Library's extensive collections relating to the Chicago region are especially notable for their maps, literary manuscripts, and materials on specialized topics from dance to journalism to politics. The Encyclopedia of Chicago was published by University of Chicago Press and is available for purchase at the Newberry's bookstore and in all major bookstores.
Grossman, a resident of Hyde Park, Ill. and a native of Hartsdale, N.Y., has worked at the Newberry since 1990 and is well-known across the country for his work as a historian. He earned a doctorate degree in history from the University of California, Berkeley and earned a bachelor's degree in industrial and labor relations at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.
ABOUT THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY
Lewis and Clark and the Indian Country is on display through Jan. 14, 2006, at the Newberry. The exhibit builds on what visitors already know about this epic journey - three years, 33 explorers, 4,000 miles of territory, and a Jeffersonian mandate to find a northwest trade passage. It then broadens the traditional narrative by spanning more than 200 years of American history to tell the other half of the story, the Native American story.
Royko! is on display at the Newberry through Jan. 14, 2006. The exhibit includes select items from a collection of papers and memorabilia that were saved by Mike Royko, the legendary Chicago newspaperman and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. Judy Royko, his widow, donated the personal collection to the Library in the summer of 2005.
The Newberry Library is an independent library open to the public for research and reference in the humanities. One of the largest independent research libraries in the United States, the Newberry holds an extraordinary collection of more than 1.5 million books, 5 million manuscript pages and 300 thousand historic maps. As one of the world's leading repositories of a broad range of books and manuscripts relating to the civilizations of western Europe and the Americas, the Library's mission is to acquire and preserve research collections of such materials, and to provide for and promote their effective use by a diverse community of users.