Dates: 1807-2021, (Bulk dates: 1871-1970) Size: 43.25 linear feet in 147 boxes, including 152 oversize folders, 1816 photographs, 3 artifacts. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Neighborhood History Research Collection. The Chicago City-Wide Collection consists of a wide assortment of manuscript, printed and photographic materials on multiple topics. It includes biographical, business, cultural, educational, municipal, recreation, religious, social and transportation source materials. The collection is designed to gather together materials that relate to the city as a whole and to include materials from Chicago communities that fall outside of the Library’s existing neighborhood collection strengths. In addition, the collection covers the Loop and Downtown areas and contains a wide range of guide and souvenir viewbooks geared toward tourism; sketches and images from historical events, especially the Chicago Fire of 1871; a series of Chicago maps dating back to 1835; and several significant maps of Chicago parks, including several 19th century maps for West and South Park Commissions and 134 of 171 maps created as part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in the 1930s. [Finding aid]
