Preserving the Past: Exploring the Legacies of Vivan Harsh and Helen Zatterberg

I love learning about history, although that hasn’t always been the case. On one hand, there’s so much to learn from other people’s lived experiences. On the other hand, the stories found in historical narratives are often complex, sometimes troubling, and the lessons aren’t always easy or clear-cut. 

As a librarian at the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature, the largest collection of African American history and literature in the Midwest, I often find myself thinking about the people who preserve the histories I have the honor to help people access. This Women’s History Month, I’d like to explore the legacies of two such women, whose careers as Chicago Public Librarians wrought important historical collections from which so many of our patrons derive important research and learning, and often, inspiration.

The Harsh Research Collection is named to honor Miss Vivian Gordon Harsh, who founded and grew the collection in her role as the head librarian of the George Cleveland Hall Branch. Born in 1890, Harsh began her career at CPL in 1909 after graduating from Wendell Phillips High School. She was appointed to manage Hall Branch, located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, when it opened in 1932. Harsh spent the year prior to Hall's opening collecting Black history materials for what would become her “Special Negro Collection”. She also visited other institutions already collecting Black historical texts, so that she could learn from their practice. Her tenure at Hall branch was marked with well-attended programming such as the Book Review and Lecture Forum, which attracted some of the literary greats associated with the Black Chicago Renaissance-- Langston Hughes, Arna Bontemps, Gwendolyn Brooks. The library also hosted the DuSable History Club, noting in a 1954 report that the club had been meeting for 12 years.

Fascinatingly, another librarian dedicated to preserving and building community around shared histories overlapped with Harsh’s career at CPL. Her name was Helen Zatterberg. After graduating from Lake View High School in 1920, Zatterberg (born in 1902) started her career at CPL in 1921. She spent most of her career at Hild Regional Library, on Chicago's North Side, where she oversaw the Historical Collection.

Zatterberg founded the Ravenswood- Lake View Historical Association at Hild Regional Library, on Chicago’s North Side, and served as a member of its board. The organization, which convened its first public meeting in 1935 to "discuss Old Times in Ravenswood and the preservation of its local history", focused primarily on the history of the adjacent community and its early “settlers”. During her tenure, she kept meticulous notes on her attempts to connect with members of the local community, both providing reference for and outreach on behalf of the Historical Collection at Hild.

Neither woman had children; and both women’s extraordinary dedication to the preservation of history were mentioned in their obituaries. The Chicago Defender lauded Harsh as “The Historian Who Never Wrote”, and Zatterberg’s contributions to preserving local history were noted in her 2002 obituary in the Chicago Tribune. To me, this is a testament of how the daily work of librarians and archivists touches communities, preserves histories, and helps us learn more about who we are as Chicagoans.

You can learn more about Harsh’s legacy by contacting or visiting the Harsh Research Collection, located at Woodson Regional Library. The collection houses the George Cleveland Hall Branch Archives that document Harsh’s career, reference materials which include those in her original “Special Negro Collection” and early acquisitions such as the Illinois Writers Project Papers. Learn more about Helen Zatterberg’s legacy by contacting or visiting the Northside Neighborhood History Collection, which houses the Helen Zatterberg Collection, Ravenswood-Lake View Community Collection, and the Ravenswood-Lake View Community Digital Collection.