Infant
Welfare Society of Chicago collection of visual materials, 1908-1970
Finding Aid for the Collection at the Chicago History Museum, Research Center
By S. Tamulonis; rev. by D. Ryan, 1989 and by D. Rinder,
2008
© Copyright 2014, Chicago Historical Society, 1601 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60614-6038
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Title:
Infant Welfare
Society of Chicago collection of visual materials [graphic]
Main entry: Infant Welfare Society of Chicago, Woman’s Auxiliary
Inclusive dates: 1908-1970, bulk 1910-1949
Size:
Call #: 1980.0170 PPL:
1018
photographic prints : b&w ; 37 x 61 cm. (14 1/2 x
24 in.) or smaller.
Call #: 1980.0170
PFL:
11
broadsides ; 56 x 72 cm. (22 x 28 in.) or smaller.
24
photomechanical prints : b&w ; 46 x 36 cm. (18 x
14 in.) or smaller.
12
pictures : design drawing ; 44 x 77 cm. (17 x 30 1/4 in.) or smaller.
Call #: 1980.0170
PLS0052-0068:
190
transparencies : lantern slide ; 9 x 11 cm. (3 1/2 x 4 in.)
Call #: 1980.0170 PPN0016:
12
negatives : b&w ; 8 x 10 in. or smaller.
8
transparencies : b&w ; 5 x 7 in.
Call #: 1980.0170 PNN:
58
negatives : cellulose nitrate ; 8 x 10 in.
Call #: 1980.0170 PGN0003:
1 negative
: glass ; 9 x 11 cm. (3 1/2 x 4 in.)
Call #: 1980.0170
PCT0012-0013:
87
transparencies : col. ; 35 mm.
Call #: 1980.0170 PNG:
1
folder of non-graphic material
Accession #: 1980.0170
Restriction: To consult lantern slides, glass,
or color items in the Research Center it is necessary to make an advance
appointment (email: Research@chicagohistory.org ).
Restriction: Nitrate negatives
restricted from access, see reference copies instead.
Terms of use: Credit photographers.
Alternative format available: Nitrate reference copies available online http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm/ref/collection/chm_pp/id/76
Description of the collection:
This
collection represents approximately 1500 images of the activities of the IWS
including many photographic formats, from 1908 to the early 1970s. Over 1,000
photographs, both individual prints and in albums, 190 lantern slides, and
50-odd nitrate negatives with some matching prints, constitute the bulk of
images made during the 1910s through the early 1930s and the bulk of the
collection.
The IWS
recognized that the wave of Eastern European, German, and Italian immigrants
and poor African American women and their families required access to prenatal
and postnatal instruction, physical and mental hygiene practices, nutritional
programs, and day-care services if their newborns and children were to enjoy a
healthy first six years. The photoprints and lantern slides particularly show
interiors of these families' homes during IWS nursing instruction and care and
of the interiors of various IWS stations throughout the city.
During
these early decades IWS employed, among others, the studio of Burke and Atwell,
Chicago photographers. Although most images show elements of a life now gone
and which we find historically interesting, the photographers attempted to
evoke pity for the family's desperate economic situation or even encourage
condemnation in the family's seemingly naïve acceptance of a wretched fate.
Many photographs have a staged, wooden feeling to them; indeed most were posed.
Fewer prints, however, catch the spontaneity of the moment, contrast sharply
against the posed shots, and bring a sense of humanity to the scene.
From
the 1930s through the early 1970s, the ethnic population moving to Chicago
changed to Hispanic; second-generation African American Chicagoans increased as
well as populations from elsewhere within the United States. Photoprints, 35mm
and larger transparencies document these groups. Scenes of activities
concerning physical and mental hygiene practices increase in numbers during the
post World War II years.
In the
1950s IWS acquired the building at 1931 N. Halsted which is now the IWS Family
Development Center. The building, constructed in 1870, was the site of the Chicago
Nursery and Half-Orphan Asylum at the time of the 1871 Chicago fire (the
Asylum's name was later changed to Chapin Hall for Children, Chicago). The
building's original entrance and address was 175 Burling St. (now number 1932),
east of Halsted. Architects' models, floor plans, and before and after shots of
the building's exterior are included in the collection. The firm of John H.
Alschuler, Inc. was chosen for renovation. IWS occupied the building in
September 1969.
Some
publicity scenes from the 1910s, more so from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s,
nurses' portraits, Mayor Richard J. Daley at a reception at the Art Institute
of Chicago for the donation of IWS's statue of Lorado
Taft's Mother and Child, and various photographic formats of the statue itself
constitute a small part of the collection.
This
collection was given to the Chicago Historical Society in 1974. The Library,
Archives and Manuscripts Department, and Prints and Photographs Department each
has holdings from IWS. Archives and Manuscripts transferred the visual
materials to this Department in 1978. The collection was partially processed in
1980. During 1985-87 the Department received a National Endowment for the
Humanities grant which enabled to staff to reprocess the collection in its entirety.
The
collection is initially arranged by photographic format for conservation
requirements. Within each format a topical arrangement, begun in 1980, had been
retained during reprocessing and expanded when necessary. In February 1961, the
Chicago Historical Society exhibited some of the early photoprints in its
"Feature of the Month" for IWS's fiftieth anniversary.
The
Prints and Photographs Department also has the Visiting Nurse Association of
Chicago Collection (1980.089). Their goals and activities are closely related
to those of IWS and similar images can be seen from the early parts of the 20th
century.
Negative numbers assigned at office
of origin do not always match photoprints with the same numbers.
Some photoprints (boxes 7-11) also
available as copy negatives ICHi # 03840, 03843,
03844, 03852, 03854, 15007, 17664, 19589-19598.
Related materials at Chicago
History Museum, Research Center, include IWS photographs in the Image file
(Master Vertical File) and the Infant Welfare Society of Chicago records.
Transferred
to the Photographic Ephemera collection: 1 nitrate negative lid, 8x10 in.
Gift of the Infant Welfare Society
of Chicago, Women's Auxiliary, 1974 (1980.0170).
Storage:
Box Lot (2 boxes, 8 x 10 in.; 4 boxes, 11 x 14 in.; 6 boxes, 16 x 20 in.),
Lantern Slides (17 boxes, 4x5 in., Unit # 5-68), Nitrate Negatives (1 box, 9x12
in., Unit # 6), Negatives (1 folder, Unit #16), Glass negatives (1 folder, Unit
#3), Transparencies (2 folders, Unit #12, 13), Photographic ephemera (nitrate
negative lid), Non-graphic material (1 folder)
List of online catalog headings:
Daley, Richard J., 1902-1976
Infant Welfare Society of Chicago
Art
Institute of Chicago
John
H. Alschuler, Inc. (Chicago, Ill.)
Infant
Welfare Society of Chicago. Child and Family Development Center.
Lake
Forest Dairy (Ill.) -- 1910-1919.
Physicians -- Illinois -- Chicago.
Polish Americans -- Illinois --
Chicago.
Streets -- Illinois -- Chicago.
Women -- Illinois -- Chicago.
Women
-- Health & welfare -- Illinois -- Chicago.
African
Americans -- Illinois -- Chicago.
Charitable
organizations -- Illinois -- Chicago.
Children
-- Clothing & dress -- Illinois -- Chicago.
Children
-- Health & welfare.
Children
with disabilities -- Illinois -- Chicago.
Dairying
-- Illinois.
Domestic
life -- Illinois -- Chicago.
German
Americans -- Illinois -- Chicago.
Health
care -- Illinois -- Chicago.
Infants -- Illinois -- Chicago.
Interiors -- Illinois -- Chicago.
Italian Americans -- Illinois --
Chicago.
Mothers
& children -- Illinois -- Chicago.
Nursing
-- Illinois -- Chicago.
Chicago (Ill.)
Ephemera.
Group portraits.
Letterheads.
Photograph albums.
Cellulose nitrate negatives.
Dry
plate negatives.
Dye
coupler transparencies.
Film
negatives.
Film
transparencies.
Halftone photomechanical prints.
Lantern slides.
Silver gelatin prints.
Slides.
Added
entry:
Infant
Welfare Society of Chicago
Container list of box and folder numbers
and titles:
Call #: 1980.0170 PPL: 1018
photographic prints : b&w ; 14 1/2 x 24 in. or
smaller.
Box 1
Photoprints ca. 5x7 in. or smaller
1
Mother and child alone
2
Babies or children alone, single child, 1 folder of 2
3
Babies or children alone, single child, 2 folders of 2
4
Babies or children alone, two children
5
Babies or children alone, three or more children
6
Clients' homes, interior
7
Clients' homes, exterior
Box 2
1 IWS
stations, interiors, daycare
2 IWS
stations, interiors, with doctors
3 IWS
stations, interiors, other various activities
4 IWS
stations, exteriors
Box 3
Photoprints ca. 8x10 in. or smaller
1
Babies or children alone, single child
2
Babies or children alone, two children
3
Babies or children alone, three or more children
4
Mother and child alone
5
Clients' homes, interior
Box 4
1 IWS
stations, interiors, measuring and weighing
2 IWS
stations, interiors, daycare, 1 folder of 2
3 IWS
stations, interiors, daycare, 2 folders of 2
4 IWS
stations, interiors, other activities
Box 5
1 IWS
stations, interiors, with doctors
2 IWS
stations, exteriors
3
Album: "Notes on IWS Lecture, Dept. of Health, Chicago, 1908"
4
Album: [1955 Shots at IWS Stations and in Clients' Homes]
Box 6
1
Publicity activities, miscellaneous
2
Annual Report, 1969, layout
3
Capital Fund
4
Publicity Lunch, 1965
5
[Reception?] at Art Institute of Chicago marking the donation of Lorado Taft's sculpture, Mother and Child
6
Mother and Child sculpture by Lorado Taft
Box 7
Photoprints ca. 15x19 in. or smaller
1
Babies or children alone, single child
2
Babies or children alone, two children
3
Babies or children alone, three or more children
Box 8
1
Clients' homes, interiors
2
Clients' homes, interiors
3
Clients' homes, interiors
Box 9
1
Clients' homes, exterior
2 IWS
stations, interiors, with doctors, 1 folder of 2
3 IWS
stations, interiors, with doctors, 2 folders of 2
Box 10
1 IWS
stations, interiors, various activities
2 IWS
stations, interiors, various activities
3 IWS
stations, exteriors, publicity displays
Box 11
1
Mother and child alone
2 Dairy
operations
3 IWS
nurses, group portraits
Box 12
1
Halftones
2
Contact sheets
"Baby
Week" photoprint, matted
Annual
Report, 1968, layout (incomplete)
Duplicates
Call #: 1980.0170
PFL:
Box 13
(16 x 20 in. box)
1
Broadsides for National Baby Week
2
Broadsides with photographs for National Baby Week
3
Photographs (1 baby; 1 IWS building--1931 N. Halsted)
4
Posters for Infant Welfare Society
Box 14
(20 x 24 in. box)
1
Annual Report, 1971--Artwork
2
Photograph of building at 1931 N. Halsted
Horizontal
items
Annual
report, 1969--Artwork
4
exhibition boards with photographs
Duplicates
of photoprints : 1 box 16x20 in.
Call #: 1980.0170
PLS0052-0068: 190 transparencies : lantern slide ; 3 1/2 x 4 in.
Box 1-3
[Lecture] "Abilities of a Child from 1-4 Years"
Box 4-6
Clients' homes, interiors
Box 7
Clients' homes, exteriors; Mother and Child sculpture by Lorado
Taft; Maps
of
Chicago; Mother and child alone
Box 8
Babies or children alone
Box 9
Miscellaneous; nurses alone
Box 10
IWS stations, exteriors
Box
11-12 IWS stations, interiors, with doctors
Box 13
IWS stations, interiors, includes measuring and weighing
Box 14
IWS stations, interiors, general activities
Box 15
Slides with Text: charts
Box 16
Slides with Text: images, text alone
Box 17
Slides with Text: text alone
Call #: 1980.0170 PPN0016:
Unit 13
Includes 5x7 in. b & w transparencies from the 1960s and 1970s, and Translites from the 1960s
Unit 16
1 folder of 8x10 in. negatives or smaller (all printed but one), 1930s-1940s
Call #: 1980.0170 PNN: 58
negatives : cellulose nitrate ; 8 x 10 in. or smaller.
Box 1
58 negatives IWS stations, babies and children alone, a few clients' homes'
interiors taken in the 1910s through the 1920s by H. F. Holbrook (ca. 1932)
Call #: 1980.0170 PGN0003:1
negative : glass ; 3 1/2 x 4 in.
Unit 3
1 negative 3-1/2x4 in. from the 1910s
Call #: 1980.0170
PCT0012-0013: 87 transparencies : col. ;
35 mm.
Unit 12
Includes 35mm color transparencies from the 1960s and 1970s
Description
by: S. Tamulonis, May 17, 1986
dmr,
July 5, 1989