School News
Few may realize that the impressive building on the corner of Clark and North Avenue is a hands-on laboratory for SAIC students. The Chicago Historical Society leads the pack in Cooperative Education jobs this semester, with a whopping 14 student internships in Photography, Rights and Reproductions, Exhibition Design, Production and Graphics, and five fashion student assistants in the Hope B. McCormick Costume Center.
The Chicago Historical Society's multi-faceted approach to exhibitions, publications, research, and preservation provides student interns a glimpse into the past, present, and future of Chicago. Their mission is to collect, interpret, and display the multicultural history of Chicago and Illinois. The oldest pieces in the Costume Collec-tion date to the 18th century, and the photo archives have holdings dating from the medium's invention to the present day, including nitrate and glass negatives, and millions of transparencies, prints, and film negatives.
Sara Lasser, who worked as a Co-op student in Rights and Reprodu-ctions at the Historical Society for the fall semester of 2002, said, "The most interesting part of my job is the way I am learning about the history of Chicago through the orders that I fill. I learn about events, places, and personalities through materials I process and research."
She added, "This is the most enjoyable part of my work at CHS. After searching for images of riots from the Democratic National Convention of 1968, I processed a series of images related to the Leopold and Loeb case of 1924. Next [I researched] Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies Van der Rohe, the history of Walgreen's and Playboy, the tragic Our Lady of Angels school fire, the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and architectural history of Chicago's most famous buildings."
The Hope B. McCormick Costume Center stores more than 50,000 articles and accessories. Some are delicately stuffed and placed in archival boxes (dresses), some are specially shaped and mounted to hold their form (corsets and hats), and the rest (shoes and accessories) are filed away in an industrial room-size motorized commode. Tim Long, the Curator of the Costume Collection, has been painstakingly assessing, re-cataloguing, and digitally photographing the collection. Essentially a one-man staff, Long relies on the Cooperative Education Program to supplement his efforts.
Rena Krause has been a Co-op student in the Costume Collections for both semesters this year. She said, "This experience has been the best art history lesson that I could have received. Working with all the old-fashioned costumes has inspired me to bring some things back into fashion. The construction of each item is so detailed and extremely amazing to see."
Maintaining such a large collection is meticulous work. On a standard day, Rena and the other Co-op assistants Jennifer Iacovelli, Alyssa Murphy, Anne Novotny, and Alison Strycker pull items out of storage, which they measure, photograph, mark with an accession number, write descriptions of, check its donor and object records, and research its provenance. Co-op fashion students will also tackle specialized projects, such as meticulously rehousing the eyewear collection (1000 to 2000 pieces dating back to the 1700s), making mounts specific to each object.
CHS internships are not only beneficial to student historians, but provide a wealth of practical experience for the more technically inclined.
Danielle Nelson spent the fall semester of 2002 as a Co-op student in the CHS Photography Department: "Since I spent 14 hours a week printing photographs, I feel that my printing skills have improved tremendously. I'm excited to print my own work because I know that my prints will be a lot better. This job was really encou-raging because it made me realize that there are jobs out there that need my skills."
The CHS Research Center holds 20 million historical documents and artifacts, and is serviceable to students. "This job provides me with a valuable resource that the school's library could never compete with. Being an architecture student, it is very exciting when I come across old photos of how Chicago used to look. Plus, I have access to the plans and blueprints of most of Chicago's famous and historical buildings," explains Catherine Henry, who is spending her spring semester as the Rights and Reproductions Assistant in the Department of Prints and Photographs.
Co-op student Melanie Archer stated that she learned many valuable hands-on things in CHS Exhibition Design last fall that really complimented her more "conceptual" education at SAIC.
There are currently five temporary exhibitions and several permanent exhibitions showing at the Chicago Historical Society. Through the Co-op Program, students can work with the Exhibition Development, Design, Production, or Graphic Design departments at CHS. John and Sarah: A Family's Journey to Freedom and Rising Above Jim Crow: The Paintings of Johnnie Lee Gray both close May 26, 2003. The textile exhibition On the Fringe will be up through July 13. One can peruse the history of local athletics in the show Chicago Sports, currently on view.
For more information about Co-op, visit Sharp 707, call (312) 629-9160, or email Jill Bugajski, the Assistant Director, at jbugaj@artic.edu.