Historical material often contains violent acts, offensive language or negative stereotypes reflecting the culture and language of a particular period or place. These items are presented as part of the historical record. The Chicago History Museum has an institution-wide initiative to critically consider the language used to describe people and materials, and we invite you to read more about our related projects.
The word "ephemera" is used to describe things that were made for temporary purposes, without intending to be kept or preserved for longevity. Often times the materials are physically fragile because they were meant to serve a single or short-term function, like a ticket stub for a sports game, a flyer for a weekend music performance, or a souvenir postcard.
You can find these collections by searching our catalog, ARCHIE, however a few of the most popular types are categorized and linked below with their finding aids or inventories. Enter a search term in ARCHIE with words like 'postcard' or 'scrapbook' to find more!
Reference desk staff is available to answer questions or email research@chicagohistory.org.
The Advertising Cards Collection includes trade cards used by proprietors and individuals to promote their businesses and services, similar to business cards today. Advertising cards often included humorous images, word-play phrases, or creative illustrations to make them memorable.
The Ephemera Collection consists of miscellaneous ephemeral material collected by the Chicago History Museum covering the 20th Century, with the bulk being the 1940s - 1980s. Material of note includes a substantial folder of material relating to the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations. The collection is arranged by subject, with each heading representing a folder of material. Some folders may consist of as little as one item, whereas others may be more substantial. To request material, please consult the attached finding aid, fill out a blue call slip including the word "ephemera" then the subject line. The collection is a work in progress and additional updates are forthcoming.
Greeting Cards Collection [graphic] 1840s-1990s: Photomechanically printed greeting cards and paper cutouts, some grouped in albums or scrapbooks, that document over a century of commercial graphic design. Holidays primarily represented are Christmas, St. Valentine's Day, New Year, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Halloween, St. Patrick's Day, and Thanksgiving. Additional cards include birthday, get well, thank you, wedding, anniversary, new baby, congratulations, merit awards, sympathy, patriotic, graduation, friendship, vacation, invitation, and calling cards. Other paper materials like paper dolls, trade cards, and stationery are also included. The bulk of the cards are blank, but some are addressed, signed, and/or dated.
Menus Collection at Chicago History Museum, 1853-[ongoing]: The menu collection is arranged in five sections. The largest section consists of commercial menus from Chicago area hotels, restaurants, or banquet halls.
Each section has its own catalog record, linked below. Inventories are at the top of the records.
Use a blue call slip to request material by call number, menu name, and year
The Research Collection includes thousands of performance programs related to music, dance, opera, and theater. Each collection has its own catalog record in ARCHIE. Collections are arranged by venue and include both major venues and popular performance companies to small venues that hosted community ensemble casts. The individual collections started as one large inventory decades ago and were only recently subdivided. It is best to search across all inventories when searching for a performance, venue, production company, or title of a show. Each collection's inventory is linked at the top of the catalog record.
Some programs relate to a theatrical or performance company that performed at several different theaters. Some programs include information about more than one play or performance. Some programs relate to variety acts or vaudeville performed on stages within movie theaters. Some programs include brief biographies of actors, actresses, directors, producers, theatrical managers, conductors, musicians, dramatists, and others.
Postcards collection [graphic]: Collection primarily contains commercially distributed color postcards with views of Chicago (Ill.) arranged by topics. Major groupings include office, commercial, and civic-ceremonial buildings; churches and other religious buildings; hotels and restaurants; museums and art galleries; hospitals; stockyards; street scenes (filed by address); parks and beaches; the Lake Michigan waterfront, lake steamers, and other vessels. Also includes categories of people, such as ethnic groups; entertainment and sports; stadiums; Riverview Park and White City amusement parks; zoos; railroad stations and street transportation, such as the subway and the elevated railroad system (the "L"); and businesses, including department stores. Some postcards have manuscript messages and cancelled stamps.
Morgan Park (Chicago, Ill.) postcard collection [graphic]: Photographic postcards showing the Morgan Park community of Chicago (Ill.), most organized by street name and house number, but a small selection of postcards are organized by subject because the locations are unidentified.
Charles R. Childs postcard and photograph collection [graphic]: Picture postcards, photographic postcards, photoprints, and photonegatives of Chicago people, places, and events that mostly were taken by photographer Charles R. Childs and sold as postcards. A few views show Childs' place of business, and one photograph shows Childs on an outing with a group of people. Collection also includes a few postcards not made by Childs.
The Research Collection includes hundreds of scrapbooks. Scrapbooks are unique to the person or organization that created them, often including newspaper clippings, receipts, award ribbons, small buttons, notes, flyers or programs, letters, and other two-dimensional memorabilia.
Search ARCHIE with your search term and the word "scrapbook" to material related to topics, people, organizations, and events.
Call slip information and availability is always located at the bottom of a catalog record.