YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO COLLECTION, 1860-YOUNG

YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago collection of visual materials

Finding Aid for the Collection at the Chicago History Museum, Research Center

Rev. by D. Rinder, 2008

Digitization and preservation of the nitrate negatives was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

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Title: YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago collection of visual materials [graphic]

Main entry: YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago

Inclusive dates: ca. 1860-1962, bulk 1890-1959

Size:

Call #: 1986.0359 PPL:

30 photomechanical prints ; 11 x 14 in. or smaller.

3 collages : design drawing ; 36 x 28 cm. (15 x 11 in.) or smaller.

3 prints : b&w ; 5 x 7 in.

9 albums (208 photographic prints) ; 29 x 38 cm.

Call #: 1986.0359 PFL:

3327 photographic prints : b&w ; 62 x 76 cm. (24 1/2 x 30 in.) or smaller.

Call #: 1986.0359 PCLF:

32 photographic prints : col. ; 12 x 25 cm. (4 3/4 x 9 1/2 in.) or smaller.

26 negatives : col. ; 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 in.

Call #: 1986.0359 PLS0015-0039:

317 transparencies : lantern slide ; 9 x 11 cm. (3 1/4 x 4 in.) or smaller.

Call #: 1986.0359 PPN0041-0044:

415 negatives : b&w ; 8 x 10 in. or smaller.

Call #: 1986.0359 PNN:

85 negatives : cellulose nitrate ; 9 x 15 cm. (4 x 6 in.) or smaller.

Call #: 1986.0359 PGN0004:

1 negative : glass ; 3 1/4 x 4 in.

Call #: 1986.0359 PCT0023-0025:

81 transparencies : col. ; 8 x 10 in. or smaller.

48 transparencies : slide, b&w ; 35 mm.

Call #: 1986.0359 PNG:

1 folder of non-graphic material.

Accession #: 1986.0359

Restriction: To consult lantern slides, glass negative, negatives, or color materials in the Research Center it is necessary to make an advance appointment (email: research@chicagohistory.org).

Credit photographers.

Restriction: Nitrate negatives restricted from access, see reference copies instead.

Terms of use: Credit photographer.

Alternative format available: Nitrate reference copies available online http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm/ref/collection/chm_pp/id/14.

Description of the collection:

Visual materials that chronicle the initial years and subsequent growth of the YMCA, a social service organization in the Chicago metropolitan area. Subjects include staff members (individuals and groups); annual meetings; program activities for adults, teens and children; campsites and camp activities in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin; international service including war work with the armed forces (both World Wars), and YMCA facilities. Most items are identified. Most negatives are printed.

Related materials at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago records.

Gift of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, 1981 (1986.0359).

Storage: Box Lot (21 11 x 14 in. boxes; 2 20 x 24 in. boxes; 16 x 20 in. box), Glass Photonegatives (1 folder, GN0014), Lantern Slides (25 4 x 5 in. boxes, LS0015-39), Horizontal (1)-Chicago-"Social Service" (1 folder), Transparencies (3 folders, T0023-25), Nitrate Negatives (1 folder), Color Photoprints (1 folder, CP0026), Photonegatives (8 x 10 in. box, Unit N0041; 3 4 x 5 in. boxes, Unit N0042-44), Non-graphic material (1 folder)

Note: YMCA's Photograph Index filed in Information File Cabinet. Boxes 1-13 and 23-24 indexed by YMCA; Boxes 14-22 unindexed by YMCA. Index stops around 1962 and does not always include earlier images.

List of online catalog headings:

YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago

World War, 1939-1945 -- Illinois -- Chicago.

Adult education -- Illinois -- Chicago.

African Americans -- Illinois -- Chicago.

African Americans -- Spiritual life -- Illinois -- Chicago.

Anniversaries -- Illinois -- Chicago.

Auditoriums -- Illinois -- Chicago.

Banquets -- Illinois -- Chicago.

Camps -- Illinois.

Camps -- Michigan.

Camps -- Wisconsin.

Children -- Illinois -- Chicago.

City & town life -- Illinois -- Chicago.

Community service -- Illinois -- Chicago.

Organizations -- Illinois -- Chicago.

Organizations' buildings -- Illinois -- Chicago.

Physical education -- Illinois -- Chicago.

Recreational facilities -- Illinois -- Chicago.

World War, 1914-1918 -- Illinois -- Chicago.

Chicago (Ill.) -- Social life and customs.

Advertisements.

Broadsides.

Ephemera.

Group portraits.

Photograph albums.

Portrait photographs.

Cellulose nitrate negatives.

Film negatives.

Glass negatives.

Lantern slides.

Photomechanical prints.

Silver gelatin prints.

Slides.

Slides -- Color.

Transparencies.

Container list of box and folder numbers and titles:

Call #: 1986.0359 PPL:

Box 1 Division I - Historical - Chicago (number system devised by agency's index; for subjects, see that index)

Box 2 Division II - Historical - Chicago

101-145

Box 3 Division III - Historical - General YMCA

501-515

Box 4 Section IV - Buildings and Facilities

600-674

Box 5 Section IV - Buildings and Facilities (continued)

675-758

Box 6 Section V - Groups and Teams

800-899

Box 7 Section V - Groups and Teams (continued)

900-990s

Section VI - Individuals - Donors

1001-1012

Box 8 Division VII - Historical Individuals

2001-2009

Box 9 Section VIII - Individual Secretaries (see also biographies)

3000-3088

Section IX - Activities - Boys

4001-4046

Box 10 Section X - Activities - General

5001 - 5099a-55

Box 11 Division XI - Historical World Service and War Work

6001-6054

Box 12 Division XII - Camps

7001-7199

Box 13 Section XII - Camps

7200-7299

YMCA index ends with Box 13; continues with Box 23

Box 14 Albums

1 [YMCA Departments ca. 1880-1890]

2 Metropolitan Office Picnic, July 27, 1969 at Camp Duncan

3 The Negro and His Needs [ca. late 1910s], Maxwell Street Area; South Water Street Markets

Box 15 Albums

1. Veterans of the General Secretary's cabinet, YMCA of Chicago.

A memorial volume to members of the Cabinet of the General Secretary, compiled 1955-1956.

Box 16 Albums

1 Retirement of Frank Hathaway, 1954, General Secretary

2 Washington Park, Campaign Plans, Ground Breaking (Indiana and Wabash Buildings), 1949-1950

3 YMCA War Prisoners Aid (2 albums; pictures removed and stored in this box, in folders) (World War II, 1939-1945)

Box 17 Y Buildings

1 Chicago Buildings: Auburn to Isham (North Ave.) Departments

2 Chicago Buildings: Logan Square to YMCA Hotel

3 Chicago Buildings: Roseland Y 1899-1903

4 Harvey, Niles, Palos, Park Ridge YMCAs

5 Miscellaneous or Unidentified Y Buildings

Box 18 Individuals (administrative)

1 Arthur, George Robert - Cummings, Nathan

2 Dickson, Burce Welsey - Freeman, Alexander

3 Gebhardt, H. L. - Girffith, Carroll, L.

4 Hall, Arthur B. - Litchenfield, Grover P.

5 MacLean, M. H. - Nelson, J. L.

6 Oates, James F. Jr. - Rosenwald, Julius

7 Schuessler, Walter E. - Wynat, Andrew R. E.

8 Unidentified

Box 19 Groups (administrative)

1 Ed Compton, Claude M. Finnell, Ralph Richardson, Lawrence Terril

2 Friends YMCA Chicago

3 Sand Dunes of Indiana, 1900s

4 Training Camp, Lake Geneva Wisconsin, June 1915

5-9 Miscellaneous Groups and Activities (mostly unidentified)

Box 20 Activities (non-camp)

1 Measured Mile on N. Michigan Ave. April 21, 1963; miscellaneous

2 Y's Up Anniversary March 22, 1958, International Ampitheatre

3-5 Unarranged

Box 21

1 Camps: Arthur [?] - Kroehler

2 Camps: McClean - Sherwood Forest

3 Camps: Unidentified

4 City of Chicago

5 Design Works

6 World Service

Box 22 Miscellaneous

1 World Council Meeting of the World Alliance of YMCAs, ca. 1950s, Tozanso Japan

2 Buildings, camps, other activities

3 Duplicates [ca.87]

Boxes 23 and 24 indexed by YMCA; their "W" sized images; see index for subjects

Box 23 "W" images (see also Horizontal Chicago Storage)

1 unindexed (ca. 1962 Annual Meeting), 55, 123, 124, 125, 126

2 127, 129, 130, 131

3 623, 624, 627

4 628, 629, 630

5 631, 632, 634, 635

6 636, 637, 638, 639, 643

Box 24 "W" images (continued)

1 706, 717A, 763

2 800, 801, 822, 823, 837

3 960, 961, 962, 990

4 1010, 3007, 5080, 5099a-54

Call #: 1986.0359 PLS0015-0039: (Lantern Slides)

Topics arranged by agency; all, ca. 1885-1910s

Box 1-3 Chicago Y Events

Box 4-6 Y Personnel; George Williams Campus (Lake Geneva, Wisconsin), Social Service

Box 7-8 Social Service

Box 9 Graphics of World War I-Savings stamps sales campaign

Box 10 Miscellaneous

Box 11-12 Life of Christ

Box 13-14 Homer Buckley's Letter Clinic Lecture (text)

Box 15-18 Safety First lecture by Railroad of Chicago YMCA

Box 19-25 Views of Chicago YMCA in the Making of Men

Storage: Horizontal Chicago "Social Service"

Numbers assigned by agency-"W" sized images (see also Lot boxes 23 and 24)

Folder 1 05, 06, 10B, 128, 600, 622, 7272

Other media include:

Broadsides 8 advertisements, ca. late 1940s? for Y membership (search under "Service Organizations")

Call #: 1986.0359 PCT0023-0025: (Transparencies)

3 folders of cartoon images used in training lecture for Y membership drives; graphic and text series for television advertisements, ca. 1950s?; photographs of Y buildings early 1960s; Camp Kroehler ca. early 1950s [same in color photoprints]; and memorial service for Lloyd L. McClow at Palos, Illinois, 1962 [same in b&w photoprints]

Call #: 1986.0359 PPN0041-0044: (B&W Photonegatives)

4 boxes, not printed, of E. Dedmon's book Great Enterprises, 100 years of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, 1957(copy in Library); various activities at Y buildings and camps, ca. early 1940s

Call #: 1986.0359 PNN: (B&W nitrate negatives)

1 folder of 85 nitrate negatives, some printed, depicting various YMCA activities.

Call #: 1986.0359 PCLF: (Color photonegatives)

1 folder of Wabash Y building remodeling March 1965-some printed

Call #: 1986.0359 PCLF: (Color photoprints)

1 folder of Camp Kroehler ca. early 1950s [same in transparencies]; Camp Duncan; unidentified administrative groups; the facade of the projected Y building - Northwest Suburban

Call #: 1986.0359 PGN0004: (Glass photonegatives)

1 each of Richard C. Morse portrait, 1926; the American Railway Employed Boys Club house 1891 or 1900 [printed in Lot Box 4 #642]