Institution Bios
Chicago State University
History of the University
Chicago State University opened its doors as a teacher training school in a leaky railroad freight car in Blue Island, Illinois on September 2, 1867. Today, in contrast, the university is a fully accredited public, urban institution located on 161-picturesque acres in a residential community on the Southside of Chicago. During the first year of its founding, CSU enrolled 62 students. The current student enrollment is nearly 7,200.
The path from then until now has been marked by change. During more than 140 years, CSU has changed its name, focus, governance and location. But with each transition, the university has kept sight of its educational mission and enhanced its services to Chicago and its surrounding communities.
Under the name of Cook County Normal School, the school found its first permanent home in 1870. Daniel S. Wentworth was the institution’s first principal. The original building contained 27 rooms and a model grammar school. A few years later, Cook County Normal School added a dormitory that earned it a jump in enrollment and a national reputation. The school was acquired by the Chicago Board of Education in 1897, and renamed Chicago Normal School. In 1913, it became Chicago Normal College, and still later Chicago Teachers College. A major change, reflected in a broadening of the college’s curriculum, came in 1965, when control of the school passed into the hands of the State of Illinois. The revamped institution was renamed Illinois Teachers College: Chicago South. Soon after, the legislature acted to remove the title of “teachers college” from all state colleges and universities. In 1967, the school became Chicago State College. Throughout the 1960s, Chicago State expanded its academic programs and began to move toward fulfilling its new, more comprehensive role as a liberal arts institution. The school was renamed Chicago State University in 1971.
In November 1972, the university made the monumental move from its 6800 South Stewart Street campus, where it had been located for 102 years, to its present location at 9501 South King Drive, 12 miles from the Loop. A new student union and a 360-bed residence hall opened in August 1995, giving CSU students an opportunity to experience the convenience of living on campus in an enriched academic, social and cultural environment.
Today, CSU is governed by a Board of Trustees appointed by Governor of Illinois. The university’s five colleges- Health Sciences, Arts and Science, Business, Education, and Pharmacy - offer 36 undergraduate and 25 graduate degree-granting programs. In addition, CSU has a Division of Continuing Education and Non-Traditional Programs that reach out to the community with extension courses, distance learning and not-for-credit programs.
From its humble origins, Chicago State University has evolved into an outstanding, nationally acclaimed university that provides a value-added education for all who enter its hallowed halls. Consistently evolving to reflect state-of-the-art trends in higher education, Chicago State University prepares students for success in the twenty-first century.
Chicago State University Archives and Special Collections Mission Statement
Chicago State University’s Archives and Special Collections department collects manuscripts and records that reflect the historical, literary, and academic traditions of CSU and the south side community of Chicago. ASC’s core mission lies in its commitment to serve as a resource and learning laboratory; it seeks to stimulate and nourish teaching and learning, serve scholarship, and raise the profile of the University by making CSU records and special collections widely available. ASC also encourages interdisciplinary research by members of the University and broader academic communities. All materials are carefully protected through strict conservation policies, professional processing, and our state of the art library facilities. We also administer the campus records management program, which helps offices and departments comply with the State University Records Retention Schedules.
Collection Areas
CSU Special Collections are focused primarily on African American history, literature, and politics; Chicago Neighborhood History; and the history of education.
The Progressive Education Collection contains material on the early history of Chicago State University (first known as the Cook County Normal School), including writings by some of the early leaders-Francis W. Parker, Arnold Tompkins, and Ella Flagg Young-who made the school an internationally renowned center of progressive education.
The Minority Leadership in America Collection features the paper of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus and several of its members who served in the Illinois General Assembly, including Senator Margaret Smith and Representative Paul L. Williams.
The extensive Rare Book section contains the Thomas H. Wirth Collection of African Americana. Included are rare first editions of by authors such as Phillis Wheatley, John Marrant, David Walker, Frederick Douglass, William Wells Brown, Henry O. Flipper, and Sojourner Truth. A second division of the Wirth Collection features 20th century non-fiction by Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Paul Robeson, Kelly Miller, James Weldon Johnson, and Carter G. Woodson.
The Chicago History Collection aims to document social and cultural life in Chicago during the 20th century, with particular attention to the neighborhoods of south side Chicago. Highlights are the Steve Balkin Maxwell Street Photographs, the Chicago Theater Pamphlets, and the CSC Oral History Project.
Illinois State University
Illinois State University serves 20,502 graduate and undergraduate students, 1,180 faculty, 1,142 civil service staff and 792 administrative/professional employees. Hundreds of international students bring their global perspectives to Illinois State. We serve the citizens of Illinois and beyond. Illinois State University will continue to occupy a unique position of strength and visibility among the institutions of higher education in Illinois, the nation, and the world.
Illinois Wesleyan University
Founded in 1850, Illinois Wesleyan has grown to become one of the nation's leading liberal arts institutions. The University enrolls just over 2,000 undergraduates from across the nation and around the globe and our graduates can be found in all 50 states and 52 countries.
The Ames Library opened in 2002 and is staffed by eight tenure track librarians, nine paraprofessionals, and 75 undergraduate student assistants.
Northern Illinois University
The Regional History Center at Northern Illinois totals 10,900 linear feet and encompasses 3 collections: The University Archives, Regional Collections, and the Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD). These first two collections are actively growing and continue to receive an ever-increasing number of donations in electronic form. Currently, the majority of these electronic media are printed, and both the storage device and the analog copy are added to the collection. If the material is a born-digital record it is stored on a library's server in a loosely systematic method. We recognize that these is not sustainable practices, but have not yet implemented new policies.
Existing audio-visual content is slowly being digitized as a DVD or stored on a library server. We also continue to digitize our own photographs and parts of collections to share with our patrons, yet we only have the library's server and a disjointed file naming structure. Nearly all are in JGP or TIFF formats.
Content digitized through our library's Digital Initiatives Department are available for patrons via their website. Most digitized photographs are available for viewing on Flickr, but the archived copy, as well as any other collected born-digital material, is not available for public access.