Historic documents and artifacts help people remember their history, but keeping track of everything can be overwhelming, especially when the items come from an entire community.
That’s the job of the Ridge Historical Society in Chicago, which is working to garner donations until the end of October that will be matched by a donor up to $10,000 to pay for an archivist. Although the society has 10,000 items in its digital collection, it also has thousands of artifacts, and boxes and boxes of unsorted material.
“This tells the story of our community, and in order for that to be accessible, it has to be processed. In order to achieve this, we need the help of a professional to go through the backlog we’ve assembled,” said Kate Nadolski, a professional librarian who has led the society’s Collections Committee for about two years.
“Future exhibits, future features are done from having a better idea of the collections. We have missed opportunities for research and learning because we don’t have a full grasp on what we have,” she added.
Five-year board member Tim Blackburn, a historian for the society for about a year, said elevating knowledge about the archives is important. “The items we collect really are unique. You can’t go to a library and see them. They’re gone,” he said. “It’s a desire to preserve them. … It’s a way of helping people understand our history – what people did, what organizations did. Who were we?”
Although archivist George Brosnan has been volunteering his time, turning that into a part-time paid position will allow him to do more work. He has experience working with new archiving technologies. Nadolski and Brosnan are helped by Collections Committee member Steven Wright, curator for the Joliet Area Historical Museum, who also volunteers for the society.
“We need to process material and make looking for our material easier,” Nadolski said. “For example, George is processing a collection. It comes in boxes, many states of condition. We work to preserve, organize and manage the collection and make it available for research.”
Another goal is to allow “discoverability” of the society’s collections, she added. “Digitizing is a possibility, such as taking photos of items. Importantly, any researcher in the world could have access.”
Although most people who visit the society’s archives are local, “others need to know if it’s worth their time to make the trip,” Blackburn explained.
To that end, Brosnan will help the society create “finding aids,” which tell a researcher such things about a collection as dates, the material’s scope, context, location within the repository, size and access – such as if it’s confidential or extremely fragile – “what’s in each box. It saves time as a researcher,” Nadolski said.
The Ridge Historic District – the third largest in the National Register of Historic Districts in the country – is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. It straddles the land between Chicago’s Beverly and Morgan Park neighborhoods but includes some of the Washington Heights and Mount Greenwood neighborhoods.
“Our collection is heavy on Beverly and Morgan Park. We have a lot from Washington Heights,” Blackburn said. “We want to continue to represent all four communities.”
One of his favorite artifacts is a Humber bicycle from 1889 or 1890, used when a Baptist seminary was in the community, which was founded as a Baptist temperance area. “That’s where the University of Chicago got its start. The hope was to build it here, but the Rockefellers got involved so it ended up in Hyde Park,” Blackburn said.
Ira Price, a U of C professor, had a house in Morgan Park but had to get to Hyde Park and used that bicycle at least a few times for the 6- to 7-mile trip, writing about it in his journals. “It’s one of the models that looks like a modern bike with a diamond frame” instead of having wheels of different sizes, he added.
Another is a steam whistle that came from the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company, which was the area’s biggest employer before 1890 when it moved to Chicago from Minnesota. Blackburn said residents would set their time by the whistle. A flagpole from the factory also has been installed at the society’s office in a historic home.
Nadolski, who studied history but is fairly new to the society, said she “really fell in love” with the first collection she processed there, which documents the Morgan Park Catholic Youth Ministry, known as the Blue House. The house is still there but the ministry has been shut down.
“It was a great introduction for me to fully appreciate our organization and efforts in this area and their mission to support young people” with education opportunities, especially the youths who were chosen, she said. “It was stunning to see the photos in this program and the programs they’d held for young people.”
For instance, the collection includes meeting minutes of early members of the organization, which lasted from the 1970s to 2019, as well as photos and newsletters. She said the collection fits in about five boxes, or about 12 cubic feet. “This is why we’re here. This is what we’re supposed to be doing.”
She’s also blown away by all of the information related to the area’s architecture. “I learned about the history of my own home before I moved in, thanks to RHS. We’ve helped to have all that information for homeowners to learn about their new house,” Nadolski shared. “It’s how we draw people in.”
The donations are going well thus far. “We’ve had donations online, so there’s good support,” Blackburn said, adding that he’s confident the goal will be reached. “This will only help us cover an archivist for a short time, but the need is so significant.”
He said $20,000 “is an initial goalpost, but the personnel and supplies – they’re really expensive.”
Donors can click ridgehistorical.org/challenge before Oct. 31 to boost the fund. They also can drop off or mail checks to the society’s headquarters at 10621 S. Seeley Ave., Chicago IL 60643, but need to include a note specifying the donation is for the matching grant. Information is available by email at ridgehistory@hotmail.com.
Nadolski said feeling overwhelmed with the volume of material – and the work that needs to be done to document it – is not unusual.
“Having a backlog is normal, but at the end of the day, it’s to the detriment of the collection,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be like this. I think what George is doing is helping us whittle away the backlog. It’s a lot of behind the scenes. The public doesn’t see the stacks. It isn’t glamorous work, but it’s important.”
Melinda Moore is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
