National Archives at Chicago

Attention military service members! If you are looking for copies of your military service records, look no further. You can request your DD-214/separation documents, Official Military Personnel File, replacement medals, and medical and health records online. Recent military service and medical records may not be available.
https://loom.ly/c9X7Qt4

📸: National Personnel Records Center at St. Louis.

U.S. Army United States Air Force U.S. Navy U.S. Marine Corps U.S. Coast Guard Veterans of Foreign Wars VFW DAV The American Legion National Headquarters

As we celebrate the 55th anniversary of , it’s a great time to reflect on one of the festival’s most iconic performances and the intriguing history of one legendary guitarist. Jimi Hendrix, known for his electrifying set at Woodstock, had a background that many might not immediately associate with rock stardom—he was a U.S. Army veteran.

The National Archives holds fascinating records related to Hendrix’s military service, offering a unique glimpse into the early life of one of rock's greatest icons. One of these documents is his Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) held at the National Archives at St. Louis. If you notice box 16 labeled “Avocations and sports,” you will see “Plays guitar (3yrs).” https://www.archives.gov/st-louis/jimi-hendrix-ompf

📸: Page 64 of 96, Jimi Hendrix's OMPF, May 1961-62.
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/57288864?objectPage=64

Woodstock

Meg Phillips, NARA's External Affairs Liaison (center), stopped by the National Archives at Chicago to meet with some of the Archives staff. It was great to meet with Meg and discuss different options available for outreach opportunities within our profession and our community in Chicago! Meg is in town for the Society of American Archivists conference in downtown Chicago.

As part of their research with the Newberry Library here in Chicago, students from the Newberry Consortium in American Indian and Indigenous Studies (NCAIS) Summer Institute visited the National Archives at Chicago for an informational tour of the facilities as well as to learn about conducting research onsite. The students viewed a wide range of records from Record Group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Record Group 21, Records of District Courts of the United States, and spent time conversing one-on-one with our archivists. We’d like to thank the instructors, Dr. Marcus Macktima (San Carlos Apache), Northern Arizona University and Dr. John Little (Standing Rock Dakota), University of South Dakota, as well as all of the students for visiting and for bringing such insightful questions for our archivists!
RG 75 records displayed include the series Keshena Agency, Employment Relocation Office, Administrative Files NAID 4725950; La Pointe Agency, Records Related to Heirship Examinations (Records of W.D. Goodwin, Examiner of Inheritance), NAID 5730655.
RG 118, U. S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, Records Related to Legal Precedents, NAID 5890859. Matter of Disposing of Ardent Spirits to an Indian Involving Bug-o-nay-keshig NAID 40305043
RG 21, Records of District Courts of the United States - Wau-pe-man-qua, alias Mary Strack vs. Charles H. Aldrich NAID 297910175; Frank Elie, et al vs the Illinois Central Railroad Company et al NAID 222562978; Pka-wah-ash-kum v. Edward Sorin, et al. NAID 7000125

The theme for this round of the Archives Hashtag Party is CAMPFIRES. We knew there’d be plenty in the series Historic Photographs from Record Group 95: Records of the Forest Service.

This image is titled Photograph of Cooking Noonday Meal over Open Fire at Girl Scout Camp Tocanja, which is in Twin Lake, Michigan. It is image 502907 and has a date of August 1962 and the photographer is Prater.

The last time the Olympics were in Paris, in 1924, Johnny Weissmuller went home with three gold medals and a bronze in swimming. In 1928 in Amsterdam, he won two more gold medals. Born in what is now Romania in 1904, he emigrated with his family as a child to Chicago, where he learned to swim at Fullerton Beach on Lake Michigan. According to olympics.com, “Weissmuller set 28 world records. His 1927 world record for the 100 yard freestyle was unbeaten for 17 years. This was a remarkable length of time during a period of rapid development in the sport. Much of his success was due to his revolutionary high-riding stroke, flutter kick and head-turning breathing.”
Also in 1927, while relaxing on the beach in Chicago, Weissmuller aided in rescue work when a passenger steamer, the Favorite, capsized in Lake Michigan.
After his Olympic glory, he became an actor, most famously playing Tarzan. In his later years, he went into business, selling residential swimming pools. It was during this time, in 1964, that men’s magazine SAGA published an article about Weissmuller titled “The Messed-Up Life of Johnny Weissmuller”. He filed a libel suit against the publisher, Mac Fadden-Bartell Corporation. The case was dismissed in favor of the defendant.

From United States District Court, Chicago Civil Case 65C2178

July 24th marks the 109th anniversary of the capsizing of the SS Eastland in the Chicago River in 1915. This accident resulted in the deaths of 844 people, including 22 entire families. The victims were boarding the ship to take a day trip to Michigan CIty, Indiana, which was chartered by the majority of the victims' employer, Western Electric in Cicero, Illinois.

In the holdings at the National Archives at Chicago, there are at least 14 currently identified court cases relating to this disaster, including U.S. District Court, Western District of Michigan, Southern Division Grand Rapids Criminal Court case #1628. and U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division in Chicago, In the Matter of the Petition of St Joseph-Chicago Steamship Company, Owner of the Steamer Eastland, For Limitation of Liability #32231.

This disaster did not spell the end of this ship. It was raised, salvaged, repainted and sold to the United States Navy, gaining a new name, the USS Wilmette. The Wilmette was in use through the end of the WWII, and eventually scrapped in 1945.

90 years ago today, in Depression era Chicago, John Dillinger was gunned down by F.B.I. G-Men after leaving a movie at the Biograph Theater in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Earlier in the year, he escaped from the Crown Point, Indiana jail, and continued to rob banks, and eventually underwent surgery to remove his fingerprints and change his appearance. Dillinger was abetted by his attorney, Louis Piquette, who introduced him to the surgeon that performed the alterations. Ana Cumpănaș, better known as Anna Sage, made a verbal deal with authorities to squash her immigration issues in exchange for Dillinger’s whereabouts. She let them know that she would be attending the film on July 22nd, 1934.

In our holdings we have the case that Sage brought against the Government after they started deportation proceedings. We also have cases against Piquette for harboring a fugitive. A Criminal case against Dillinger was filed for taking a stolen car over state lines, but it was closed after his death. Dillinger also had a U.S. Attorney case file, which includes a hand drawn map of the Crown Point jail.

Cases included in this post are from United States District Court Criminal Case Files, 28341-2 and Law Case File 44811, Hammond Criminal Case File 797, and US Attorney John Herbert Dillinger Case File, NAID 231363203 (These will all be in the catalog later this year)

On April 14th, 1937, George Wilfong, Bernard McGuire, and Ray Stevenson “by threat of force and violence and by the use and display of dangerous and deadly weapons. To-wit, one sawed-off shot gun and two pistols” robbed the National Bank of Grand Rapids, Michigan of $32,990.86. Stevenson was arrested and sentenced to 40 years that November, but Wilfong and McGuire, under the names Jim Corrigan and Kelly Harmon, went on the lam and were eventually arrested the following March in Stockton, California. After their arrest, they were photographed individually and handcuffed together. Wilfong spent his many years in prison petitioning the court for an early release. The case documents include numerous letters sent from his cell in Alcatraz. Newspaper accounts show that he was finally released in the early 1960’s, only to be arrested again for bank robbery.

Cases 4354 and 4403 from Criminal Case Files, U.S. District Court for the Southern (Grand Rapids) Division of the Western District of Michigan. NAID 1112213

Some of our more historically significant and unique documents and items are now featured on the National Archives webpage.

One is the Chicago Pile -1 (CP-1) Chianti Bottle which was signed by scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project on Wednesday, December 2, 1942.

https://www.archives.gov/chicago/highlights

Finishing out our trilogy of featured cases relating to the 1894 Pullman Strike, this is “In the Matter of the Application of William J. Stark, for a Writ of Habeas Corpus”.

Stark was nominated and appointed as a “true and lawful Deputy United States Marshal with full power and authority to execute all lawful process” on June 30th, 1894. On July 6th, 1894. Stark claimed that a “large assemblage of persons came upon the right of way of (the) Illinois Central Railroad Company and Michigan Central Railroad Company, and riotously and by force and violence tore down the orders of injunction.” Stark claimed he was “obliged to draw a pistol” and “shoot at… the mob, not only for the purpose of preserving the life of your petitioner” but to be able to “keep the peace of said District.”

A bystander, William E. Anslyn was struck and died from the shooting on July 9th. Anslyn died at 11339 Curtis Avenue, after being shot between 113th and 115th Streets. The coroner determined that death occurred from paralysis of the spinal cord.
Stark filed a Writ of Habeas Corpus claiming he was “unjustly and unlawfully detained in the county jail.” His defense claimed that the injunction of the week before barred any sort of strike or protest. Anslyn was not thought to have been involved in either, but was an innocent bystander that was watching the incident with neighbors.

Illustration of a shooting is from the July 7 1894 Chicago Tribune which does not seem to depict the facts of the incident. The illustration of the burning train is from the Chicago Record from the same date.

From United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Admiralty and Law Case Files, 1871-1911 #8861 NAID 350829294 - This case is fully digitized.

We're getting ready to celebrate at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC!

If you can't join us in person, you can still tune in and watch the Declaration of Independence reading ceremony on our YouTube () and Facebook channels starting at 10 a.m ET. youtube.com/usnationalarchives

See the full event schedule for the day at archivesjuly4.org/schedule/day-of-celebration
July 4th at the National Archives is made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation () through the generous support of Comcast Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, John Hancock, and Dykema.

***

On July 2, 1894, federal judges in Chicago issued an injunction prohibiting Eugene Debs and striking members of the American Railway Union from interfering with the regular transmittal of mail via the railroad. The injunction against the strike affirmed a broad power of the federal government to ensure the free flow of interstate commerce, essentially making national strikes illegal. (Pullman National Historical Park Illinois).

The Pullman Company significantly cut wages without lowering rents in the company town, which led to the strike, and it spread throughout the country and other railway workers went on strike in solidarity. As the strike continued and the injunction failed to halt the strikers, Pullman and other railroad owners called on President Grover Cleveland for support. The President sent in Regular Army troops to quell the violence and subdue the strikers. What became known as the Pullman Strike turned into a failure for Debs and destruction for the ARU. Convicted of violating the injunction, Debs was sentenced to six months in jail.

The case includes copies of the injunction, and transcribed messages from employees of the union used as exhibits attempting to prove that they incited violence.

From the Civil case “The United States v. Eugene V. Debs, George W. Howard, L. W. Rodgers, Sylvester Keliher and the American Railway Union” RG 21, Records of District Courts of the United States, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, U.S. Circuit Court, Chicago, Civil Case Files, 1871–1911, Equity Case 23421. The case, among other 1894 Pullman Strike cases, is fully digitized in our catalog. NAID 286733526

The 1894 Pullman Strike, which took place during May through July of 1894, came to a climax during the end of June and first week of July, when the American Railway Union, headed by Eugene Debs, boycotted any train carrying a Pullman car in solidarity with the Pullman workers. The Pullman Company significantly cut wages without lowering rents in the company town. “An injunction against the boycott was secured on the grounds of the violent nature of the strike and the threat to interstate commerce, citing the Sherman Anti-Trust Law of 1890” (National Parks Service) which “affirmed a broad power of the federal government to ensure the free flow of interstate commerce, essentially making national strikes illegal.” This injunction led to the sending of federal troops to Chicago and violent conflict between the government and labor.

The Pennsylvania Company, owner of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, and Chicago Railroad sued the City of Chicago for failure to protect their property during the strike. The Pennsylvania Company wanted damages from the city to repair and replace structures, equipment, including tracks, switches, signs, and railcars damaged during the strike. Included is a request from the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad to join the lawsuit with the Pennsylvania Company against the City of Chicago.

This case, United States Circuit Court, Chicago, Civil 23719 NAID 42942017 focused on incidents that took place July 6th and 7th on the South Side of Chicago. The material consists of testimony and transcripts of the court hearing as well as exhibits, maps, diagrams, lists of damages, signed verdict from the jury, court costs, subpoenas, briefs, and appeals for a new trial. The testimony and maps included in this post show and discuss the events that led to the burning of the trains, with instructions to the jury.

#1894
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/42942017

Happy Juneteenth! On June 19, 1865, U.S. Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3, which informed the people of Texas that all enslaved people were now free. The US National Archives is proud to have this order on display through tomorrow. Come visit: https://museum.archives.gov/featured-document-display-emancipation-proclamation-and-juneteenth

In honor of Pride Month we are highlighting the civil case of Karen Frances Ulane, a pioneering transgender commercial airline captain and decorated army pilot.
Karen Frances Ulane was hired in 1968 to serve as a pilot for the defendant, Eastern Airlines, Inc. Ulane was fired in 1981 after undergoing gender-affirming surgery and filed a charge of sexual discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which issued a right to sue letter.
T.R. Buttion, the Senior Vice President of Flight Operations presented her with a letter of termination on April 24, 1981, that read, "It is our belief that the controversial nature of the operation you have undergone will detract from and prevent any flight crew of which you are a part of from operating in the integrated, coordinated fashion that is necessary to attain the highest degree of safety."
This civil case is a result. Ulane alleges she was discriminated against as a female and as a transgender person in violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The U.S. District Court judge ruled in favor of Ulane on both counts after a bench trial. The case was appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, where the trial court's decision was reversed. The U.S. District Court case file includes the complaint, affidavits, exhibits, notices, motions, depositions, and the transcript of proceedings. Transcripts and selected documents from this case will be digitized for the catalog in the future.
Ulane, an Army veteran who flew combat missions in the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1968, died in a crash in 1989.

From United States District Court, Eastern (Chicago) Division of the Northern District of Illinois. Civil Case 81C4411

NAID 7788662

This week, civil rights icon Rev. James Lawson Jr. died at 95. Lawson was referred to as an architect of civil rights nonviolence, and became a “principal tactician of nonviolent protest during the civil rights movement, leading sit-ins, marches and Freedom Rides that withstood attacks by mobs and police throughout the 1960s” (Washington Post.) He was inspired by Gandhi in his campaign against repressive British rule, and befriended Martin Luther King. Lawson was among the first Freedom Riders arrested in Jackson, Miss., in 1961.

During the Korean War, he refused to appear for induction into the Armed Forces due to his religious beliefs and devotion to non-violence. The Court refused to recognize his status as a conscientious objector, and he was sentenced to three years in prison, which he served more than a year of.
The case includes numerous witnesses for the defense defending his character and beliefs. These documents are part of the criminal case against him in 1951, held in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern (Cleveland) Division of the Northern District of Ohio, case 20286, NAID 280949914



https://catalog.archives.gov/id/280949914

See historic images of the preparation, assault, and sacrifice on the beaches of in this online exhibit of US National Archives holdings: https://artsandculture.google.com/story/lQUxxY4nqwYA8A

This is a criminal case filed in July of 1915 in which Salvatore Lo Bue was accused of sending threatening letters (with some "artwork") through the mail to Frank Damico (D'Amico). This was a violation of the Postal Law, Section 215 - “using the mails in and for executing a scheme devised to defraud.” Lo Bue demanded a sum of one thousand dollars, or he would kill a member of D'Amico's family and destroy his house. One of the letters included in the case consists of a crude drawing of one individual attacking another, "and also a drawing of a tomb with a cross above it". The paper appears to contain blood. The words are in Italian, though the court included a translation (but without the swear words!)

NAID 355459444 - United States District Court, Northern Division of Illinois, Chicago, Criminal Case 5750

Here is some good guidance on preserving your own collection.

The National Archives' experts have released a comprehensive Holdings Maintenance Guide, providing the latest information on best practices for preserving archival holdings. This guidance provides detailed information for paper-based textual records and recommendations for other types of media. Everyone can use this guide! It’s a helpful resource for personal papers in your home and for records found in libraries and museums.
https://www.archives.gov/preservation/holdings-maintenance

Image: Records preservation and storage, 2005.
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/66790605

We celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by highlighting Wong Kim Ark and his role in establishing jus soli, the right of any child born on US soil to automatic citizenship, and protecting the 14th Amendment rights of Chinese Americans under the Citizenship Clause during the late 19th century.

Wong Kim Ark was born in San Francisco to Chinese immigrants in 1873. In 1894, he traveled to China for a visit. When Wong returned to the United States in 1895, he was denied entry at San Francisco customs patrol on the grounds that he was not a citizen. Wong appealed for judicial review of his decision by executive branch immigration officials.

The case progressed from the US District Court in San Francisco to the US Supreme Court, which held that American-born descendants of immigrants cannot be denied citizenship, regardless of their ethnicity or of the nationality of their ancestors.

Learn more in this Pieces of History blog post: https://ow.ly/AN4B50RUisH: Identification photograph of Wong Kim Ark, Chinese Exclusion Act Case File, May 1904.
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/296479

Summer is near, time to hit the lake.

This photo, from 1890, was taken in Manistee National Forest, or in nearby Newaygo, Michigan. This series consists of photographs taken under the supervision of the Eastern Region of the Forest Service and the individual national forests in the region by contract photographers and staff to document activities with the region and individual forests.

From Record Group 95 - Records of the Forest Service
Historic Photographs, ca. 1880–ca. 1970 NAID 2129326

100 years ago, on May 21, 1924, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, highly educated University of Chicago law students, kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks, the son of a Chicago millionaire, and attempted to make it appear to be a kidnapping for ransom. They assumed that they could, based on their supposed vast intellect, get away with murder. Leopold and Loeb quickly botched their plan by dropping horn-rimmed glasses at the scene of the crime, and made other glaring mistakes. They soon confessed to the crime.
With Clarence Darrow defending them, Leopold and Loeb escaped capital punishment, but were each sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Franks and an additional 99 years for the kidnapping charge. Loeb was later murdered in prison, but Leopold was released on parole in 1958.
In 1956, Simon & Schuster published a novel, Compulsion, by Meyer Levin, which was influenced by the murder of Bobby Franks and the subsequent trial of Leopold and Loeb. Twentieth-Century Fox then distributed a film adaptation in 1959, produced by Richard D. Zanuck and starring Orson Welles (as Darrow) and Dean Stockwell.
Two civil cases were brought by Leopold in the United States District Court Chicago against Twentieth Century-Fox and Meyer Levin. Leopold disputed aspects of his depiction, such as trying to run down a drunk on the highway, but did not dispute murdering a child. The case was remanded to the Circuit Court of Cook County, and later decided against Leopold in the Illinois Supreme Court in 1970. He died in Puerto Rico in 1971.

From Cases 59C1587 and 59C1896 - NAID’s 7267653 and 7267656

The brood has awakened here in Chicago at the archives!

Watch your step if you're coming to visit soon.

Veterans, did you know that the National Archives can provide you with a copy of your DD-214? Our online eVetRecs system lets you request your, or your relative's, military personnel records.
https://vetrecs.archives.gov/VeteranRequest/home.html

📸: National Personnel Records Center--St. Louis, August 7, 2012. NAID: 184341469

Congratulations Faith! Faith was one of our interns a few years ago.

For more information on the intern program, check out this link - https://www.archives.gov/careers/internship-opportunities

🏆The Detroit District recognizes archivist Faith Gorrell as Innovator of the Month for her development of an easy to reference database for historical records, drawings and photographs.
Faith has supported numerous ongoing projects providing relevant records to inform planning, coordination, design, engineering, maintenance, operations and construction. She also regularly assists the New Lock at the Soo project with record submittals and management.
Faith has been instrumental in integrating history into various visual exhibits. She led a soundboard project, strategically choosing historical photos that provide a peek into the past that serve as a regular talking point for visitors.
Congratulations Faith! 🎊

Before Argonne National Laboratory opened in Lemont, Illinois, much of the land was devoted to farmland.

This image shows one of the farms.

From “Photographs Relating to Scientific Work, Professional Meetings, Publicity, and Other Activities, 1942–1972”
Atomic Energy Commission. Argonne National Laboratory. Office of Public Affairs. RG326 NAID 594769

On May 4th, 1970, the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of unarmed student protesters. The students were protesting the ongoing Vietnam war, though many were there just to observe the stand off. Some were just headed to class. Four were killed, and nine were injured. One of the parents of the students that died, Allison Krause, brought a civil suit against the governor and leaders of the Ohio National Guard. The case lasted for years, and was finally settled for $675,000.

Arthur Krause, Administrator of the Estate of Allison Krause, deceased, vs. Governor James Rhodes, Governor of the State of Ohio; Sylvester del Corso, Adjutant General of the Ohio National Guard; Robert Banterbury, Brigadier General and Assistant General of the Ohio National Guard
Civil Case 70C544 from the U.S. District Court for the Western (Toledo) Division of the Northern District of Ohio. NAID 615853