Roosevelt University Archives

10/14/2021

The RU Archives is sad to hear of the death of historian Timuel Black.

Black strategized with Martin Luther King Jr., challenged the Democratic Party machine and fought to desegregate housing and public schools.

01/08/2020

Please join us as we commemorate the 90th anniversary of Anne Frank's birth. Many events to choose from.

09/03/2019

New Location, Same Great Resources

The RU Archives has moved. The office is now in AUD 1107 (in the back corner of the Performing Arts Library). Contact information is the same. We still have some finishing touches to put on but this new layout will provide more efficient service and improved researcher space.

Before and after

08/08/2019

Come one, come all

05/23/2019

Throwback Thursday

We say goodbye to former Vice President for Business Affairs Harold Bland, who passed away May 15th.

Portrait of Harold Bland, 1974. Photo by Don Rocker.

05/01/2019

Collection of the Month – Speech Collection, 1945-2005

What do Richard J. Daley, Coretta Scott King, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Dan Rather, and Margaret Thatcher have in common? They are all in the Speech Collection in the RU Archives. This collection includes speeches and lectures given at Roosevelt University or by people associated with Roosevelt including commencement addresses, Walter E. Heller Lectures, and others. Find out more on the Archives Online Catalog

04/17/2019

Happy Founder's Day!

On this date in 1945, Edward Sparling, President of Central YMCA College resigned rather than enforce quotas that would exclude non-Protestants and people of color. One week later, most of the faculty joined him and started a new college, open to all.

04/11/2019

Throwback Thursday

As we welcome James Forman, Jr. for the Mansfield Institute lecture on his book Locking Up Our Own, we throwback to James Forman, Sr., class of ’57, co-founder of the Chicago Area SNCC, and civil rights leader.

Portrait of James Forman, October 1963. Photographer unknown.

04/01/2019

Collection of the Month – Broyles Commission Investigation, date unknown and 1945-1955

The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and those organizations suspected of having Fascist or Communist ties.
Illinois had its own version of HUAC. In 1947 State Senator Paul Broyles (R., Mount Vernon) called for a commission to investigate communism in Illinois. The legislature created the Seditious Activities Investigation Commission, or Broyles Commission. The Illinois investigations occurred in a time of increasing frenzy over communist infiltration into public life. The inquiries lasted well into the 1950s, with Broyles mainly targeting the University of Chicago and Roosevelt College.
This collection contains materials related to the Broyles Commission investigation of Roosevelt University (once dubbed “The Little Red Schoolhouse”).
Find out more at:

03/06/2019

Collection of the Month – Women’s History Month Edition

Keenleyside Scrapbook, 1940-1949

Marjorie Keenleyside, who served as Head Librarian at Central YMCA College until 1945, and then became the founding Librarian for Roosevelt College, compiled a scrapbook of articles from the College newspaper, Central YMCA College Central News, that relate to the library, its staff, events, and functions.

02/28/2019

Throwback Thursday - Chicago Mayors Edition

December 1948 - Vice President of Student Council Harold Washington addressing a Student Assembly as Dean of Faculties Wayne A.R. Leys, President Edward J. Sparling, Advisory Board member Marshall Field, III, and Trustee Chair Harold Ickes look on. 35 years later, Washington was elected the first African-American mayor of Chicago. Photographer unknown.

02/21/2019

Throw Back Thursday

Left to right: High school students Darell Thomas, Edna Carr, and Nedra Wooldrige meeting with Black Business Advisory Group (BAG) secretary Stan Miller and president Bill Harlan at a special business Career Day, February 1971. Photo by Allan Weber.