The American Indian Center of Chicago and Urban Native American Histories

FAIN: PY-258677-18

Northwestern University (Evanston, IL 60208-0001)
Kelly Wisecup (Project Director: June 2017 to March 2021)

Three digitization events to collect local history materials and a complementary public outreach symposium focused on Native American history in Chicago. The events would be managed by Northwestern University in collaboration with Chicago’s American Indian Center. Current historical collections about Native Americans in Chicago focus largely on organizational records rather than community history, so the proposed project would solicit photographs, newsletters, artwork, and other objects that document the history of the community. With donor permission, digitized items would be preserved through the Northwestern University Libraries, which would also make the materials available through a digital exhibit.

This digitization event and digital archive project will help to preserve previously undocumented materials about the American Indian Center of Chicago (AIC), focusing especially on its importance to the Chicago Native American community between 1960 and the present. The event will enable the AIC community to share their materials and memories with one another at several community events. The project will result in a digital archive through which they can continue to access their heritage materials and share them with the general public.