Louis McGill
DePaul Univsersity
As one looks between the portraits of General Ulysses S. Grant and General George H. Thomas that grace the walls of the first floor of the Harold Washington Library, one can't help but wonder if they ever guessed that some time in the future, their images would be locked in an eternal staring contest on the walls of a library, with a portrait of Abraham Lincoln watching over like a chaperone, as if to keep them out of trouble.
With Memorial Day approaching, Chicagoans may want to pay them a visit.
These three paintings come from a vast collection of civil war art and artifacts housed in the library in the Special Collections department. Among the paintings and sculptures are such items as cavalry swords, uniforms, diaries, manuscripts, photographs, and weapons. The collection even has in its possession Grant’s saddle, and Mary Todd Lincoln’s underskirt.
This collection was acquired from the Chicago branch of the Grand Army of the Republic veterans association, which formerly shared a building with the Chicago Public Library’s main branch, which is now the Chicago Cultural Center.
The site of the building was originally contested by the GAR. “The GAR felt that the former site of Fort Dearborn would be better used as a veterans home rather than a library,” says Sarah Welshman, librarian for the Special Collections and Preservation department. The two organizations compromised, and a large part of the second floor was leased to the GAR for fifty years.
Over the years, the Grand Army collected many of the artifacts that are now in the Library’s collection. While they still controlled part of the library’s second floor, they kept these items on permanent display. When the lease ran up the library declined to extend, and when the last Chicago veteran of the Civil War died, he donated the whole collection to the library.
On the ninth floor of the current library, in the Special Collections reading room, historical faces line the windows. Heroes and politicians, immortalized in bronze and marble, stand watch over the cases of artifacts on display.
Due to the Grand Army keeping so many of the artifacts on permanent display in the former library, the items on display in the library are a mere fraction of what the collection holds.
“Since there was no protection from the sunlight, many items in the collection were damaged and are now protected”, says Welshman. The idea of permanent display rejected for the sake of preservation.
The library does allow people to view the items, however. All it takes is a reservation with the Special Collections department and a wealth of history is available to any patron or researcher who wishes to view or study the artifacts. According to Welshman, people come from all around to view the extensive collection.Because of the generous donation by the Grand Army of the Republic, the Harold Washington library could be the most battle-ready library in the nation. There aren’t many other cities that have cannons perched on their sixth floors, defending the library’s wealth of art and literature from the office building across the street.
Sources:
Sarah Welshman
(312) 747-4300 (Harold Washington Library number)
Multimedia:
Video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4499017632849352804&q=harold+washington+
library&total=26&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
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