In 2006, many Chicago-area residents were crestfallen when all Marshall Field & Company stores were rebranded as Macy’s stores. A local institution, Field’s was the premier Midwestern department store with industry-leading customer service standards. Generations of Chicagoans cherish their memories of the flagship State Street store’s holiday windows, lunching in the Walnut Room, and the lengths the store’s associates would go to ensure customer satisfaction.

Field’s corporate parent in 2006, Federated Department Stores, and its previous owner, Target Corporation, recognized the importance of Field’s history. Shortly after the switch to the Macy’s name, each firm donated a large portion of its Field’s-related materials to the Chicago History Museum. These donations were mammoth in size and rather sudden.

A reproduction of the famous clock, most likely used in a window display, 2007.100.5. All images by CHM staff

There were hundreds of three-dimensional objects that have only recently been more fully processed and catalogued. This collection includes items from every period of the store’s history, such as architectural pieces from the State Street store and its restaurants, figures used in window displays, vintage wooden and cast-iron toys, and labels from Field’s own clothing lines. A highlight from the early years is founder Marshall Field’s roll-top desk.

Robert Blythe and a Collections staffer examine the uncrated roll-top desk purportedly used by Marshall Field, 2007.99.6.

Robert Blythe displays an assortment of Christmas tree ornaments in their newly constructed archival storage boxes.

Some of the artifacts offer glimpses into the lives of store employees, such as the photographs of the shoe department sales force c. 1900, a trophy won by members of the Field’s Choral Society, and twenty-five-year service pins that became obsolete with the name change.

The Marshall Field & Co. archival collection comprises nearly one thousand boxes. Throughout its history, Field’s was conscious of its role as a leading US retailer, so it retained company records; catalogues, advertisements, and other promotional items; records from its subsidiaries; internal communications; and thousands of photographs.

To help researchers navigate this large collection, archives staff in the Collections department recently created a finding aid that provides a high-level inventory of some of the collection. These materials show how Field’s sought to position itself in the marketplace over the years and respond to changing consumer preferences. Field’s kept scrapbooks of its newspaper advertisements, and an enterprising scholar would find much material for a history of twentieth-century advertising. Promotional material from the early twentieth century was often aimed at more affluent customers—the “carriage trade.” After World War II, Field’s shifted its marketing toward the burgeoning middle class.

Field’s commissioned original art for the covers of Fashions of the Hour such as this one from 1926. [Folder 14053(5)]

The home goods catalogue from spring 1967 features a then-popular fondue set. [Folder 14060 (8)]

The Dayton-Hudson Corporation owned Field’s from 1990 to 2004, as indicated here on the Winter 1996 catalogue. [Folder 14172(14)]

The collection contains a complete run of Fashions of the Hour, a large format magazine/catalogue that Field’s published, dating from 1916 to 1978. Press kits and press releases by the thousand are present, including those prepared for store visits by the likes of author Carl Sandburg and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. We may never see another retail giant like Field’s, but we can savor its memory through the collection.

> Peruse the finding aid for the Marshall Field & Company collection

> Learn more about Marshall Field & Company

 > It’s now FREE to visit the Research Center, so plan your visit today

Lyn Millner.  The Allure of Immortality: An American Cult, a Florida Swamp, and a Renegade Prophet.  Gainesville, University of Florida Press (2015).

How many visitors to today’s Fort Myers Beach, Florida, have any idea that this was the site of one of the most peculiar of America’s religious utopias?  Cyrus Teed, who saw himself as a prophet, took his mostly-female flock from Chicago to that location in 1894.  He died in 1908, and the last survivor of the cult died in 1974.  Lyn Millner’s very well-written book tells this fascinating story.  Some aspects of the “Koreshans” are as exotic to hear about today as they were to newspaper readers in their own time.  (For example, they believed that we live in a hollow earth, with the rest of the universe inside). As history, it is useful both for understanding this cult in its own context—the succession of religious revivals in nineteenth-century America—and for understanding millennial cults in general.  After all, the impulse to follow a charismatic leader to a remote location where life proceeds under nonconformist rules and the believers await some sort of apocalypse is still with us.

Did you know that the Chicago History Museum is one of the founding members of the Chicago Collections Consortium? This organization of libraries, museums, and archives has significant holdings about Chicago history and has doubled in size since its inception in 2012—from twelve to twenty-four members. Membership has many benefits, and one of the best is inclusion in Explore Chicago Collections (or EXPLORE).

EXPLORE allows the public to search archival collections and digital images held by member institutions. This online catalog went live on October 22, 2015, and has had over 58,000 unique visitors and more than 419,000 page views its first year. In the Museum’s Research Center, it has made our work so much easier. We are frequently asked, “If you don’t have this, then who does?”—a question that’s been difficult to answer until now. Within weeks of the launch of EXPLORE, our staff was able to direct a History Fair student to a collection at Northwestern University, point a graduate student from Princeton University to a collection at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and lead a student in New York to Polish collections across the consortium. Not only can we help researchers more efficiently, but we’re also increasing our knowledge of member holdings. And, our own collections get more exposure. Win-win-win!

> Read more about Chicago Collections

> Search Explore Chicago Collections

> Follow Chicago Collections on Twitter

The 1908 Chicago Cubs team at West Side Grounds after winning the World Series. Photograph by the Chicago Daily News, SDN-006934A

In the 108 years since, a lot has happened. Here are a few highlights:

1. William Howard Taft became the first president to throw a ceremonial first pitch (1910).
2. Maxwell Street Market opened (1912).
3. The RMS Titanic sank on its maiden voyage (1912).
4. Oreo sandwich cookies were introduced (1912).
5. The Qing dynasty ended (1912).
6. New Mexico and Arizona became US states (1912).
7. Harriet Monroe launched Poetry: A Magazine of Verse (1912).
8. Chicago hosted seven Republican National Conventions (1912, 1916, 1920, 1932, 1944, 1952, and 1960).
9. The Great Migration began (1915).
10. The Edgewater Beach Hotel opened (1916).
11. The Chicago Cubs moved from West Side Grounds to Weeghman Park, now known as Wrigley Field (1916).
12. The National Park Service was founded (1916).
13. Navy Pier was constructed (1916). After being used as a shipping terminal, wartime training center, and college campus, it reopened as an entertainment destination in 1995.
14. Denali National Park and Preserve was established (1917).
15. The Austro-Hungarian Empire fell (1918).
16. John Lloyd Wright invented Lincoln Logs (1918).
17. The Volstead Act enforcing the prohibition of alcohol sales was passed (1919) and repealed (1933).
18. Weeghman Park was renamed Cubs Park (1920).
19. Women won the right to vote (1920).
20. The Curtiss Candy Company started making Baby Ruth bars (1921).
21. The first baseball game was broadcast on radio: Pittsburgh Pirates versus Philadelphia Phillies (1921).
22. The Chicago Bears played at Cubs Park/Wrigley Field from 1921 to 1970.
23. The Ottoman Empire ended (1922).
24. The William Wrigley Jr. Building was completed (1924).
25. The Tribune Tower was completed (1925).
26. Aviator Charles Lindbergh began daily mail delivery flights between Chicago and St. Louis (1926).
27. Cubs Park was renamed Wrigley Field (1927).
28. Mount Rushmore National Memorial was constructed (1927–41).
29. Walter Diemer invented bubble gum (1928).
30. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin (1928).
31. The Chicago Board of Trade Building was completed (1930).
32. Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto (1930).
33. Jane Addams won the Nobel Peace Prize (1931).
34. Thomas Andrew Dorsey invented gospel music (1932).
35. Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean (1932).
36. Wrigley witnessed Babe Ruth’s famous “called shot” during Game 3 of the World Series between the Cubs and the New York Yankees  (1932).
37. Chicago hosted seven Democratic National Conventions (1932, 1940, 1944, 1952, 1956, 1968, and 1996).
38. The Chicago History Museum moved to a new home (1932), expanded it (1971), and renovated it twice (1988 and 2006).
39. Comiskey Park hosted the first Major League All-Star game (1933).
40. Chicago hosted the A Century of Progress International Exposition (1933–34).
41. Pablo Picasso created Guernica (1937).
42. Bill Veeck planted ivy in Wrigley’s outfield and oversaw the construction of the scoreboard and bleachers (1937).
43. Al Pacelli opened Chicago’s first Italian beef joint, Al’s Italian Beef (1938).
44. Cubs catcher Gabby Hartnett hit his famous “Homer in the Gloamin’ ” off of Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher Mace Brown (1938).
45. Author Richard Wright published Native Son, the first major novel about the black experience in America (1939).
46. The first televised Major League baseball game was broadcasted: Cincinnati Reds vs. the Brooklyn Dodgers (1939).
47. America entered two world wars (1917 and 1941).
48. Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to win an Oscar (1940).
49. Velcro was invented (1941).
50. University of Chicago scientists, led by Enrico Fermi, achieved the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction (1942).
51. Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley launched the All-American Girls Professional Ball League in an effort to keep baseball alive during World War II (1942–43).
52. The National Basketball Association was founded (1946). Chicago has a long basketball history.
53. Baseball became an integrated sport with Jackie Robinson joining the LA Dodgers (1947).
54. Chicago and much of Chicagoland got 312 as their area code (1947).
55. Garrett’s Popcorn opened (1949).
56. The Eisenhower Expressway was built (1949–60).
57. The first issue of Playboy was published (1953).
58. Ernie Banks joined the Cubs, becoming the first African American to play for the club (1953).
59. The first McDonald’s opened in Des Plaines, Illinois (1954).
60. Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile (1954).
61. The first Illinois Toll Road opened, running from O’Hare Airport to the Wisconsin border (1958).
62. Alaska and Hawaii became US states (1959).
63. Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun debuted (1959).
64. Queen Elizabeth II visited Chicago, the first reigning British monarch to do so (1959).
65. D. Searle & Company introduced the birth control pill (1960).
66. The Berlin Wall was built (1961) and demolished (1990–92).
67. Ed Reulbach, the last surviving member of the 1908 Cubs team, passed away (1961).
68. The Dan Ryan Expressway was built (1961–62).
69. Carl Sandburg became the first poet laureate of Illinois (1962).
70. The Lava Lite was invented (1964).
71. The Civil Rights Act was enacted (1964).
72. Interracial marriage was legalized (1967).
73. Marina City, designed by Bertrand Goldberg, opened (1967).
74. Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant (1967).
75. Americans landed on the moon (1969).
76. The John Hancock Center was completed (1969).
77. Chicago’s Union Stock Yard closed (1971).
78. The first mobile phone call was demonstrated by John F. Mitchell and Martin Cooper of Motorola (1973).
79. The Sears Tower, now the Willis Tower, opened (1974).
80. Apple Inc. was founded (1976).
81. The “Cheezborger, Cheezborger” sketch, a tribute to the Billy Goat Tavern, debuted on Saturday Night Live (1978).
82. The US ice hockey team defeated Russia en route to winning Olympic gold (1980).
83. Elwood Blues falsified his driver’s license renewal, giving his address as 1060 W. Addison (Wrigley Field) (1980).
84. The Taste of Chicago festival opened in Grant Park (1980).
85. Jack Brickhouse retired after broadcasting more than five thousand Chicago Cubs and White Sox games (1981).
86. Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female US Supreme Court Justice (1981).
87. IBM released the first personal computer (1981).
88. Chicago saw fifteen mayors pass through office, including the first female mayor (Jane Byrne, 1979–83) and the first African American mayor (Harold Washington, 1983–87).
89. Hermès released the iconic Birkin bag, named after actress and singer Jane Birkin (1984).
90. The Chicago Bears released the Superbowl Shuffle three months prior to their win in Super Bowl XX (1985).
91. Martin Luther King Jr. Day became a federal holiday (1986).
92. Ferris Bueller spent part of his day off at Wrigley Field (1986).
93. Wrigley hosted its first night game (1988).
94. The Simpsons first aired on television (1989).
95. Marty McFly brought hope to Cubs fans everywhere when he time traveled to 2015 and saw news coverage of Chicago sweeping Miami, 5–0, in a fictional best-of-nine World Series (1989).
96. President George H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990).
97. Chicagoan Carol Moseley-Braun became the first African American woman elected to the US Senate (1992).
98. Dolly the sheep was cloned (1997).
99. Millennium Park opened (2004).
100. The Chicago History Museum celebrated its 150th anniversary (2006).
101. Western Union sent its last telegram (2006).
102. Chicago instituted a ban on foie gras (2006) and repealed it (2008).
103. The US saw nineteen presidents pass through the White House, including the first African American president (Barack Obama, 2009–17).
104. Wrigley welcomed Lord Stanley during a Crosstown Classic game as part of the Chicago Blackhawks’ victory celebration (2010).
105. Wrigley Field turned 100 (2014).
106. Same-sex marriage was legalized in the US (2015).
107. Lennie Merullo, the last surviving member of the 1945 Cubs team, passed away (2015).
108. The Chicago Cubs captured the National League pennant and the World Series came to Wrigley (2016).

Compiled by CHM editors Esther D. Wang and Emily H. Nordstrom

> Take a look at images from our Chicago Cubs archive

> Read more about the history of baseball in Chicago 

In Making Mainbocher, mannequins are dressed from head to toe and no detail is lost. A gifted sketch artist who defined luxury in the early twentieth century, Mainbocher often included accessories in many of his fashion designs to present a polished, comprehensive look to his clients. To evoke his elegant style in this exhibition, a team of volunteers and contracted specialists custom built props for each mannequin and object, including paper wigs, ribbon shoes, and even prop dresses. Similar to the background of a painted portrait, exhibition props are included to support and complement an object—rather than draw attention, they subtly add to the visual experience. These details elevate Mainbocher’s designs in the hopes that the mannequins embody his full vision.

An example of how paper wigs and ribbon shoes can fill in a mannequin’s blank presence. Behind-the-scenes photographs taken by CHM staff

Before any prop was designed, the team conducted research that included both online and print image material. In coordination with curator of costume Petra Slinkard, every prop was created to best reflect the time period of the garment it was meant to accompany.

A paper wig under construction with a visual aid in the background.

The Mainbocher garments in the exhibition range from the 1930s to the 1960s, a time span that saw dramatic changes in fashion, accessories, and hairstyles. Vintage ads in particular were very useful in providing clear images of trends, such as shoe details, and similar photography research was done for the paper wigs that were made for each individual mannequin. We consulted historic dress patterns to construct two dresses that would go under the Mainbocher outerwear.

Sorting through fabrics and conducting ribbon trials.

In addition to period accuracy, style and color were decided by what best complemented the garment. A few trials were done in order to determine the optimal materials. We gathered fabric swatches from local fabric stores and experimented with several types and widths of trim, binding, and ribbons before determining the best option. CHM conservator Holly Lundberg helped us determine if our choices were safe to use under these historic garments.

Fitting the mannequin for a prop dress.

Once we selected the materials and designs, the final step was mounting them on the mannequins. Dressing a garment for exhibition can take many hours depending on the needs of the object. Mannequins are often padded with a soft, stable material such as cotton to help them support the often-fragile garments. The prop dresses were sewn and mounted on the mannequins before the artifacts could be placed over them. All of the ribbon shoes and wigs were applied after the object was mounted onto the mannequins, so as to avoid causing stress to the garment. Working with mannequins has both benefits and challenges. Fitting a dress for a mannequin is much easier than on a human, since they don’t move or change size, but mounting ribbon shoes after the garment was in place meant there was a bit of kneeling and lying on the floor in order to manipulate and secure the ribbon. The end result, however, was worth the effort.

While the exhibition props are unlikely to steal the show, they do elevate the experience. We hope that when you visit Making Mainbocher, you will appreciate our expression of Mainbocher’s attention to detail that captivated the couture world.

> Learn more about Making Mainbocher: The First American Couturier

> Explore our costume collection

Timothy Stewart-Winter. Queer Clout: Chicago and the Rise of Gay Politics. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press (2016).

“The path of gays and lesbians to political power led through city hall and developed primarily in response to the constant threat of arrest under which they lived.” With this thesis, Timothy Stewart-Winter offers a carefully-researched and richly-textured account of rising gay political power in postwar Chicago. Students of urban history will find familiar themes, such as the politics of a group that migrated to the city. Students of the civil rights movement will recognize their own patterns of movement politics playing out in a different setting. Well-known political figures have roles, such as Alderman Cliff Kelley, an African American who allied with LGBT communities. Mayor Richard M. Daley’s relations with those communities were bumpy at first, but by 1991 he was hosting the induction ceremony for the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame, the first event of its kind in an American city. While the author weaves his account into the political life of the city, he brilliantly pieces together the stories of the communities themselves, with milestones such as the portrayal of the gay and lesbian political “Gang of Four” on the cover of the Chicago Tribune Magazine’s February 7, 1993 edition. Archival and oral history resources in the hands of an expert researcher made this book possible, but when scholars in other cities follow Stewart-Winter’s lead, as I know they will, I wonder what resources will be available to them. Again, the LGBT community might look to the African American community for a model. There, they will find The History Makers, which has built the nation’s largest African American video oral history collection.

> Learn more about Chicago’s gay and lesbian rights movements

One question that Museum staff are frequently asked is “How many artifacts do you have in there?”, which is quickly followed by “How do you keep track of them all?”

Senior collection manager Britta Keller Arendt and collections technician Serena B. Washington demonstrate proper handling of heavy artifacts to collections interns. All photographs by CHM staff.

The answers to these questions are complex and vary with each institution, but here at the Chicago History Museum, we have a dedicated team of collections professionals who work tirelessly to preserve the physical and intellectual integrity of the artifacts both on exhibit and in our storage facilities. Museums don’t have the space or resources to display every single artifact, so managing storage facilities is imperative to preserving collections. CHM is fortunate to be able to store a variety of artifacts—such as costumes, paintings, and decorative and industrial arts—on-site as well as at two off-site locations.

So, how does the Museum keep track of artifacts stored in so many locations? One effective way is to conduct periodic inventories of storage spaces. Ideally, most museums strive to inventory collections on a regular basis, about once every one to ten years, depending on the size and type of collection. Starting in June, we embarked on a journey to inventory the artifacts stored on the Museum’s fourth floor, known by Museum staff as the Decorative and Industrial Arts (DIA) Collection. With the assistance of an amazing crew of interns and volunteers, we were able to inventory a majority of the furniture collection in this space—not an easy task, considering just how large and delicate many of these pieces are.

Set of chairs designed by Abel Faidy in 1927 and made in the shops of Marshall Field & Company. Purchased by CHM, 1977.191.2c-j

Conducting a collections inventory can be a challenging assignment, especially at an institution like this one, which has an extensive artifact collection that’s been accumulating for nearly 150 years. However, we developed a plan and taught the interns and volunteers the importance of executing such a project. We commenced by pulling each artifact from its designated shelf, photographing and measuring each item, and then logging pertinent acquisition information onto an inventory worksheet. Approximately once a week, these worksheets would be reviewed for consistency, and all relevant information updated in the collections database, including the location of each object. On several occasions, historical provenance would be researched to ensure that acquisition-related information was correct and did not conflict with another artifact. When you have three similarly styled gilded mirrors located on the same storage rack, it’s important to verify your data!

Britta Keller Arendt uncovers a storage rack of mirrors that need further research.

L to R: Intern Ryan Meara takes artifact dimensions while interns Elise Cabral and Jessica Cunny record information. Britta Keller Arendt and Serena B. Washington observe and offer advice.

While a time-consuming and demanding endeavor indeed, collections inventory is also very rewarding. Errors are corrected, mysteries are solved, and newer team members get to “discover” some truly amazing artifacts! Collections staff use opportunities such as these to mentor interns and volunteers in the intricacies of collections work, with the hopes that our students will grow to become the next generation of museum professionals. Summer may be coming to a close, but the DIA inventory project continues. New interns will assist staff and learn about this essential task in museum collections management, and more information will be added to our collections database. When asked how many artifacts the Museum has, we can say that there are approximately 100,000 three-dimensional artifacts in the collection. That’s a lot of artifacts to manage, but the collections team can do it!

> Browse the Museum’s collections

> View collection care resources from the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC)

> Connect to Collections Care

Ulrike Groos and Sven Beckstette. I Got Rhythm: Art and Jazz since 1920 / Kunst und Jazz Seit 1920. Stuttgart, Prestel (2015).

Ulrike Groos is the director of the Kunstmuseum in Stuttgart, Germany, and this is the catalogue from the museum’s exhibition “that exemplifies the close connection between jazz and the fine arts.” The timing of the exhibition has a Chicago connection: “100 years ago, on July 11, 1915, a daily newspaper in Chicago published an article in which the term ‘jazz’ appeared probably for the first time in connection with the Afro‐American music style of the same name.”

Laurie Calkhoven. Women Who Changed the World: 50 Amazing Americans. New York: Scholastic (2015).

This is a book for children that, not surprisingly these days, includes an edition on Kindle. Among the fifty women is Chicago’s Jane Addams.

On Saturday, March 26, we were excited to be finally capturing the stories of those who would fill in the gaps of post-1970 East Garfield Park history. For over six hours, our teams interviewed twenty-three community members at Breakthrough’s FamilyPlex building. Breakthrough is the Museum’s partner in East Garfield Park and a social service agency with extensive neighborhood connections.

Much planning went into this day of recording oral history. Over the past three months, we researched our oral history narrators, worked with the Film Crew on oral history techniques, and toured surrounding neighborhoods. The Film Crew, a group of nine middle and high school students who are part of Breakthrough’s Arts and Science Academy, interviewed ministers, arts activists, community leaders, coaches, and passionate volunteers.

Film Crew students interview Carl and Barbara Ellis.
Photograph by Peter Alter

Throughout the day, many narrators expressed how grateful they were to be participating in such a far-reaching project. Some of them recalled their journey to Chicago during the Civil Rights era. Others expressed their hope for an increase in youth development programs. As the Film Crew asked questions about the narrators’ life experiences, they learned about events and changes that had gone undocumented.

Latoya Winters. Photograph by Erin Drewitz

Latoya Winters, a DePaul social work graduate student, prolific poet, and youth worker at Marillac Social Center in East Garfield Park, recalled how youth programs impacted her life despite experiencing violence and other adversity growing up. She spoke of her writing as a channel for her anger and a source of inspiration to others:

We have to motivate and move our children to be more. We have to show them more than what they see every day. We have to tell them and show them. . .the experience we had . . . let them see what we’ve been through that we’ve come out on top. We have to show them that there is a way. You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve come from.

Now that we have captured these stories, we are transcribing the interviews to make them accessible via the Museum’s website. Currently, the Film Crew is reviewing their footage and creating a documentary film that will premiere in the Museum’s Robert R. McCormick Theater this summer. By capturing this history that would otherwise be lost, we hope to showcase new perspectives and challenge current perceptions of East Garfield Park.

The Forty Blocks team at the end of the day.
Photograph by Erin Drewitz

> Read more about the Forty Blocks project on Kickstarter

> Discover more of Breakthrough’s work in the community

> Learn more about the Marillac Social Center and its work