Chicago 1992 Committee records

  • Creator Names Chicago 1992 Committee.
  • Title Chicago 1992 Committee records [manuscript], 1976-1988.
  • Physical description
    • 13.25 linear ft. (30 boxes)
    • 20 sound recordings (1 box)
  • Access and usage restrictions For listening purposes, it is necessary to use a copy, not the original (and to have a listening copy made if one is not available).
  • Collection summary
    • Correspondence, minutes, grant applications, and reports generated by the Chicago 1992 Committee, a social activist organization formed in 1982 to monitor planning of a proposed 1992 Chicago World's Fair; plus large quantities of materials gathered by the committee, including agendas and handouts from meetings, copies of feasibility studies, intergovernmental agreements, affirmative action plans, and other reports produced by the Chicago World's Fair 1992 Authority; notes taken by committee members at various public meetings, including hearings of the Chicago City Council's Committee on Special Events; newsclippings and audio tapes of speeches and radio broadcasts; a copy of the Chicago 1992 Committee's pamphlet, "The Fall of the Fair: Communities Struggle for Fairness," by Robert McClory (1986); and research files compiled by the committee about the financing and community impact of recent world's fairs and the Los Angeles Olympics of 1984. Topics in the collection include alternative sites for the fair in Chicago and their projected impact on neighborhoods, parks and public facilities, traffic and housing patterns; sources of funding and increasing the tax burden on Chicago; and community input during the planning process.
    • Includes materials by the committee's executive director Frances Knibb, mayors Jane Byrne and Harold Washington, alderman Bernard Stone, other city and state politicians and officials, Lewis Kreinberg of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, Chris Burgess of the 18th Street Development Corporation, and other community leaders.
    • Also present are strategic plans in the late 1980s by members of the still extant but inactive committee to oppose the renewal of Commonwealth Edison's monopoly on electrical service in Chicago.
  • Acquisition information Gift of Ms. Frankie Knibb (1992.0342).
  • Biographical or Historical Note From 1984 onward, the Committee opposed the fair and criticized its organizers for not adequately addressing community concerns regarding funding, environmental and zoning disruptions, and affirmative action. Planning for the fair was ended in 1985.
  • Finding Aids Note Descriptive inventory available online.
  • Location of Other Archival Materials Note Related materials at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include Chicago 1992 Committee photographs (1992.0342), as well as publications of that organization, cataloged separately. Many other materials about planning for the fair are at the Research Center, including the records of the Illinois government agency planning the fair: the Chicago World's Fair--1992 Authority records.
  • Names
    • Chicago 1992 Committee Archives.
    • Burgess, C. (Christopher)
    • Byrne, Jane, 1933-2014-
    • Knibb, Frances.
    • Kreinberg, Lew, 1936-
    • McClory, Robert, 1932- Fall of the fair.
    • Stone, Bernard L., b. 1927.
    • Washington, Harold, 1922-1987.
    • Chicago (Ill.). City Council. Committee on Special Events.
    • Chicago World's Fair--1992 Authority.
    • Commonwealth Edison Company.
    • World's Fair (1992 : Chicago, Ill.)
    • Burgess, C. (Christopher)
    • Byrne, Jane, 1933-2014-
    • Knibb, Frances.
    • Kreinberg, Lew, 1936-
    • McClory, Robert, 1932- Fall of the fair.
    • Stone, Bernard L., b. 1927.
    • Washington, Harold, 1922-1987.
    • Chicago (Ill.). City Council. Committee on Special Events.
    • Chicago World's Fair--1992 Authority
    • World's Fair (1992 : Chicago, Ill.)
  • Subjects
    • City planning Illinois Chicago 20th century.
    • Community leadership Illinois Chicago 20th century.
    • Electric utilities Illinois Chicago 20th century.
    • Exhibitions Illinois Chicago 20th century.
    • Fairs Illinois Chicago 20th century.
  • Geographic coverage
    • Chicago (Ill.) Politics and government 20th century.
    • Illinois Politics and government 20th century.
    • Near South Side (Chicago, Ill.)
  • Genre
    • Audiocassettes. aat
    • Correspondence. aat
    • Minutes. aat
    • Reports. aat
    • Speeches. aat
  • Geographic name United States Illinois Cook County Chicago.
  • Finding aid URL Finding aid available online http://chsmedia.org/media/fa/fa/M-C/Chicago92-inv.htm