• IdentificationMSHill66
  • Title
    • Arthur Hillman papers MSHill66
    • Hillman, Arthur papers
  • PublisherSpecial Collections
  • LanguageEnglish
  • RepositorySpecial Collections
  • Physical Description7.0 Linear feet
  • Date1930-1965
  • AbstractPart of the Jane Addams Memorial Collection. Arthur Hillman (1910-1985) was a board member and director of the Chicago training office of the National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers as well as a professor of urban sociology at Roosevelt University. Associated with Roosevelt University since its founding in 1945, Hillman served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and chairman of the Sociology Department. In his work with the National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Houses, Hillman made a survey of neighborhood and settlement houses in the country, visiting twenty-five cities, and published his findings. The collection contains reports, clippings, correspondence, minutes, pamphlets, articles, speeches, and published material. The materials pertain to urban planning and urban renewal, Chicago neighborhoods, Saul Alinsky, the National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers, and housing. Finding aid available.
  • OriginationHillman, Arthur, 1909-1985

Old Resource ID was AHillman

Professor Arthur Hillman spent his career studying and developing the fields of urban planning, urban renewal, social work, and urban sociology. In 1960 he was selected to direct the National Federation of Settlements' Training Center at Hull-House in Chicago.

Arthur Hillman was born on June 26, 1909, in Nevada City, California. In 1931 he graduated, cum laude, from the University of Washington, Seattle, where he was a member of Phi Betta Kappa. He earned his Master's Degree in Sociology and Education in 1934, also from the University of Washington, Seattle. In 1940 Dr. Hillman earned his Ph.D. in Sociology and Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago.

Professor Hillman held several teaching positions throughout the 1930s and 1940s. He spent the 1936-1937 academic year as an instructor at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Hillman taught at the Central YMCA College in Chicago from 1938 until he joined the faculty at the newly established Roosevelt College in Chicago.

Hillman spent most of the remainder of his academic career with Roosevelt University, where he served in various capacities. He was an associate professor of Sociology and part-time chairman of the Sociology department from September, 1945 until February, 1946, when he took over the position full-time. Between 1955 and 1960 Professor Hillman served at the College of Arts and Sciences at Roosevelt University. From 1961-1964 he reoccupied his previous position as Chairman of the Sociology Department. Between 1969 and his retirement in 1974, he served as chairman of the Urban Studies graduate interdepartmental program at Roosevelt University's undergraduate Social Work program.

Hillman's career was not limited to his work at Roosevelt University. In 1936 he participated in the "Urbanism Study" conducted by the National Resources Committee at The University of Chicago. In 1942, Hillman served as the Executive Secretary of Community Council of the Stockyards District in Chicago. From 1943-1945, during World War II, he worked as the Assistant Regional Director for the Office of Community War Service, part of the Federal Security Agency. Hillman also was the first director of the Social Work Labor Project, sponsored by the Council of Social agencies in 1945.

As a Fulbright Scholar in 1950, Hillman resided in Olso, Norway where he studied community and national planning and family life. While in Europe he was appointed to the Committee on Teaching and Training of the International Sociological Association. In 1950, Hillman's book Community Organization and Planning was published.

In 1947 Hillman requested a reduced teaching load at Roosevelt University in order to pursue his desire to, according to his letter to the Dean of Arts and Sciences, "learn by doing" and fulfill his "sense of community responsibility." From 1947-1950 Hillman served as president of the Cooperative Federation of the Chicago Area, steering committee member for the Chicago Council Against Racial and Religious Discrimination, Chairman of the Evaluation Committee of Community Organization Project for the Chicago Urban League, and member of the Board of Directors at the Benton House Neighborhood Center in Bridgeport.

In 1958-1959, Hillman directed the "Neighborhood Goal Project" research survey for the National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers. Supported by the Fels Foundation of Philadelphia, this project aimed to help neighborhood people manage community affairs, bridge cultural and racial differences between neighborhoods, and reach out to problem youth.

The "Neighborhood Goal Project" resulted in the founding of the National Federation of Settlements Training Center in Chicago in 1960. Hillman resigned as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Roosevelt University to accept the position. The Training Center opened at Hull-House in October 1960. Social workers were sent to the Training Center from Neighborhood Centers nationwide to receive instruction in juvenile delinquency, assisting mobile population groups, and urban renewal and planning research.

Professor Hillman taught at Roosevelt University until 1974. He was honored for his work in 1961 when he was elected Fellow of the International Institute of Arts and Letters. Hillman spent his retirement in California and Chicago. He died on 10 April 1985.

The Arthur Hillman Papers document Hillman's involvement with the National Federation of Settlements as member and director of the Federation's Training Center. Other topics documented in the collection include the redevelopment of the Hyde Park Kenwood and Woodlawn neighborhoods, the philosophy and work of organizer Saul Alinsky, juvenile delinquency, and urban housing patterns.

The collection consists of annual reports, maps, publications, pamphlets, correspondence, and newspaper clippings, training manuals, reports, and speeches.

This collection is divided into five series:

Series 1: The National Federation of Settlements - primarily documents the founding and operation of the National Federation of Settlements Training Center at Hull-House. The series consists of reports, training manuals, publications, maps, speeches, and newsletters.

Series 2: Chicago Urban Planning and Urban Renewal - contains information pertaining to Chicago organizations concerned with Urban planning and renewal, including: The Commission on Human Relations, The Department of City Planning, the Welfare Council of Metropolitan Chicago, and the Chicago Housing Authority. This collection includes annual reports, speeches, publications, maps, notes, and newsletters.

Series 3: Other Urban Planning and Urban Renewal - documents urban housing programs elsewhere in the United States. This series consists of published works.

Series 4: Saul Alinsky - documents the philosophies of Saul Alinsky and his involvement with the Back of the Yards Council. Alinsky organized the Back of the Yards Council in the 1930s. This series includes publications, newsletters, notes, and clippings.

Series 5: Personal Papers - contains Arthur Hillman's personal papers including his research files. This series includes notes, newspaper clippings, reports, and pamphlets.

The Arthur Hillman papers were donated by Arthur Hillman to the University of Illinois at Chicago, Main Library, Special Collections, in eight accessions between 1966-1985. In 2003, the accessions were combined and the collection was arranged into series by the cataloger.

Arthur Hillman papers, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Illinois at Chicago

  • Names
    • Alinsky, Saul David, 1909-1972
    • Hillman, Arthur, 1909-1985 -- Archives
    • Hull-House (Chicago, Ill.).
    • National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers.
  • Subject
    • City planning.
    • Housing.
    • Neighborhoods.
    • Urban renewal.
  • Geographic CoverageIllinois--Chicago.