The Carl Sandburg Collection

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Save America’s Treasures sites.

A selection of items from the Carl Sandburg Collection.
Photo courtesy of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The Carl Sandburg Collection

Rare Book and Manuscript Library

University Library

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

1408 West Gregory Drive

Urbana, IL

Website:  University Library: Rare Book and Manuscript Library

The Treasure:   The country’s most comprehensive collection of Sandburg materials, the Carl Sandburg Collection includes literary manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, audiovisual materials, and thousands of books.

Accessibility:  Researchers must register with the library before they may gain access to requested material. The Rare Book and Manuscript Library is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 to 5. There’s usually a changing exhibit highlighting material from the library’s special collections.

Background:  The honors poured in near the end of Carl Sandburg’s long life (1878-1967). On February 12, 1959, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, Sandburg addressed a special joint session of Congress on the legacy of the president whom he had celebrated in the acclaimed biography Lincoln: The Prairie Years (two volumes) and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lincoln: The War Years (four more volumes). In a rare honor for a private citizen, Sandburg spoke before both houses of Congress, offering a dignified and eloquent tribute to Lincoln. Here’s a brief snippet of Sandburg speaking that day:

But that probably wasn’t Sandburg’s favorite honor. By many accounts, he was particularly proud of the Silver Plaque Award that he received from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1965. This award recognized the importance of his years of work as an investigative reporter covering race relations in Chicago. During the extremely difficult times of the 1919 Chicago race riots, Sandburg drew upon his connections within the black community to honestly describe the root causes of frustration and anger. As with all the causes that he championed, Sandburg always stood on the side of working men, women, and children, with singular empathy for the country’s most vulnerable citizens.

Sandburg received a Grammy Award, too.  In 1959, he won a Grammy for “Best Performance – Documentary or Spoken Word” for his collaboration with the New York Philharmonic on Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait. This honor tied in nicely with his other longstanding musical achievement—he was one of the first people to attempt to document and compile American folk songs. His 1927 publication The American Songbag has been hailed by legendary folk singer Pete Seeger as a “landmark” work in the field.

But, above all, Sandburg was a poet. In his poetry, he pulled together all these threads—his love of history, his profound feelings for social justice, and his delight in the common vernacular and the music of the people—to express a singularly American vision.

THEY WILL SAY

     OF my city the worst that men will ever say is this:
You took little children away from the sun and the dew,
And the glimmers that played in the grass under the great sky,
And the reckless rain; you put them between walls
To work, broken and smothered, for bread and wages,
To eat dust in their throats and die empty-hearted
For a little handful of pay on a few Saturday nights.

Carl Sandburg

from Chicago Poems (1916)

At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University Library’s preservation program led the large-scale project to ensure long-term preservation of the Carl Sandburg Collection. The work included mass deacidification, item-level deacidification, preservation photocopying, encapsulation, and conservation treatments. Audiovisual materials were reformatted digitally and in analog form.

A view of three of the many iterations of Sandburg's poem, The People, Yes.
Photo courtesy of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Other Recommended Sites:  There are two other major Sandburg historic sites to visit. The Carl Sandburg Birthplace and Visitor Center in Galesburg, Illinois preserves the historic house and provides plenty of background information at a neighboring museum and theater. In Connemara, North Carolina, the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site showcases the 264-acre farm where Sandburg settled down for the final 22 years of his life.

Carl Sandburg.
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Tour America's History Itinerary

Thursday’s destination:  Riverside Water Tower

© 2012 Lee Price

Glessner House Museum

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Exterior of the Glessner House Museum.
Photo courtesy of the Glessner House Museum.

Glessner House Museum

1800 South Prairie Avenue

Chicago, IL

Website:  Glessner House Museum

The Treasure:   Both an architectural masterpiece and an important Arts and Crafts destination, Glessner House offers a fascinating glimpse into upper-class life in Chicago during America’s Gilded Age.

Accessibility:  The Glessner House Museum is open year-round, with tours offered Wednesday through Saturday at 1 and 3 p.m.

Background:  Built in the mid-1880s on Chicago’s very fashionable Prairie Avenue, Glessner House was initially viewed askance by its more traditional neighbors. While John J. Glessner (1843-1936) was well respected as an up-and-coming member of Chicago society, his house was… different. It reflected the new English fashion for medievalism. And it even asserted the Glessners’ privacy by offering few exterior windows for the neighbors to observe them through. One of these neighbors was George Pullman, the industrialist behind the Pullman sleeping car. Apparently, Pullman never adjusted to the sight of the Glessner House, once saying, “I do not know what I have ever done to have that thing staring me in the face every time I go out of my door.”

Having made his fortune in the farm implement trade (managing one of the five companies that would eventually form International Harvester), Glessner commissioned one of the country’s most famous architects, Henry Hobson (H.H.) Richardson (1838-1886), who had nationally established himself with the monumental design of Boston’s Trinity Church in 1872. With buildings like Trinity Church, Richardson’s style was so distinctive that it became known by his name: “Richardsonian Romanesque.” He built libraries, railroad stations, public buildings, commercial buildings, college halls, and family homes in this new style. The Richardsonian Romanesque style freely adapted medieval inspirations, mainly derived from 11th and 12th century France, using modern engineering and American materials.

The Main Hall at the Glessner House Museum.
Photo courtesy of the Glessner House Museum.

Glessner House is widely acknowledged to be Richardson’s masterpiece of urban residential design. It truly did look different from the other staid townhouses of Prairie Avenue. The house’s exterior was built of imposing Braggville pink granite, creating a medieval fortress-like effect. The exterior ornamentation was kept to a stark minimum. But in its interior, Glessner House offered a cozy domestic feeling appropriate for raising a family. The casual mix of small and larger rooms often featured welcoming fireplaces and colorful Arts and Crafts Movement details.

The Library at the Glessner House Museum.
Photo courtesy of the Glessner House Museum.

Along with their chosen architect, Glessner and his wife Frances shared a love of the flourishing English Arts and Crafts Movement. The Glessners and Richardson appreciated the works of John Ruskin, an influential English writer who called for a societal revival of the artistry and craftsmanship of medieval times. In decorating the house, the Glessners looked to William Morris and other Arts and Crafts practitioners — all of whom were also inspired by Ruskin’s ideas. In the decades that followed the building of Glessner House, the Arts and Crafts movement would explode in the United States with Chicago serving as a major hub for the new breed of craftsmen, artists, and architects. Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Prairie Style was profoundly influenced by these new ideas, both in architecture and design.

There is much to interpret today at Glessner House. People come to see its formidable architecture and its beautiful Arts and Crafts collections (with notable works by William Morris, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Isaac Scott, Emile Gallé, and Francis Bacon). However, they probably mostly come to enjoy a tantalizing glimpse of life in the Gilded Age. The Glessners combined wealth with intelligence and taste, creating an enclosed world on Prairie Street that reveals the uniquely 19th century aspirations of the Gilded Age.

The Dining Room at Glessner House Museum.
Photo courtesy of Glessner House Museum.

The Parlor at Glessner House Museum.
Photo courtesy of Glessner House Museum.

The Save America's Treasures project at Glessner House Museum involved
the restoration/renovation of the original coach house, which originally
contained the carriage house and stable.
Photo courtesy of the Glessner House Museum.

Other Recommended Sites:  The Glessner House Museum also offers tours of Clarke House Museum (1827 S. Indiana Avenue), just around the corner from Glessner House. Completed in 1836, the Clarke House Museum is Chicago’s oldest surviving building. Seasonal neighborhood tours take visitors past other notable Prairie Avenue locations, including the Second Presbyterian Church. Located at 1936 S. Michigan Avenue, Second Presbyterian Church contains one of the largest and most intact Arts and Crafts interiors in the country including nine Tiffany windows and two others that were designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones for Morris & Co., the influential English business established by William Morris. The Second Presbyterian Church offers interior guided tours, as well as a self-guided tour brochure.

A spacious private courtyard at Glessner House provided natural light
for the main rooms of the house, while retaining the family's privacy.
Photo courtesy of the Glessner House Museum

Tour America's History Itinerary

Friday’s destination:  The Carl Sandburg Collection

© 2012 Lee Price

Carlson Cottage at Lincoln Park Zoo

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Carlson Cottage at Lincoln Park Zoo.
Photo courtesy of Lincoln Park Zoo.

Carlson Cottage

Lincoln Park Zoo

2001 North Clark Street

Chicago, IL

Website:  Lincoln Park Zoo

The Treasure:  One of the oldest buildings in Lincoln Park, Carlson Cottage is a picturesque survivor of Victorian-era Chicago.

Accessibility:  The exterior of Carlson Cottage can be viewed every day at Lincoln Park Zoo, where it can be found near the historic Café Brauer.

Background:  With its charming architecture, its prime location in Lincoln Park, and even a tantalizing whiff of violence to flavor its past, Carlson Cottage is a small yet potent reminder of Chicago’s colorful past and undeniable ambition. This is a city where even the public restrooms can be architectural gems, resonating with stories!

Today, Carlson Cottage is a part of Chicago’s famous Lincoln Park Zoo. The zoo came first, starting small with the 1868 donation of a pair of swans from New York City’s Central Park. Two decades later, the zoo’s first director, Cyrus DeVry, was hired. And in that same year (1888), Carlson Cottage was built.

The historic restoration of Carlson Cottage was led by
preservation architect Paul Steinbrecher of
InterActive Design, Inc. in 2008.
Photo courtesy of Lincoln Park Zoo. 

The first public restroom facility in Lincoln Park, Carlson Cottage has a delightful Victorian design, courtesy of notable Chicago architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee. This was a relatively minor commission for Silsbee, an architect who often worked on much grander projects — such as the Lincoln Park Conservatory — and served as a mentor to up-and-coming architects Frank Lloyd Wright, George Maher, and George Elmslie. Known simply as a Comfort Station in its early years, Carlson Cottage was constructed of brick and stone and capped with an attractive cedar shingle roof.

The restroom function of Carlson Cottage was abandoned long ago. In 1995, Lincoln Park Zoo began using the building as a center for its volunteer gardening program. Coinciding with the Save America’s Treasures restoration in 2008, the volunteers planted new gardens around Carlson Cottage to reinforce an appropriate late 19th-century ambience.

As for the whiff of violence mentioned above, here’s all we know:  During the restoration, a rusty 19th century pistol was discovered in a plumbing vent pipe. That’s not much to go on, but it’s sufficient to summon up an image of the Chicago underworld, already a potent force in the 1880s, dominated by shady figures like John “Mushmouth” Johnson and Giovanni “Johnny” Torrio. Unfortunately, imagination must take over at this point. With only a single artifact to go by, it’s highly unlikely that the real story behind the abandoned gun will ever come to light.

Other Recommended Sites:  For another impressive building by the architect of Carlson Cottage, visit the nearby Lincoln Park Conservatory which Joseph Lyman Silsbee designed in collaboration with fellow Chicago architect Mifflin E. Bell.  A docent program jointly sponsored by the Chicago Park District and the Lincoln Park Conservancy offers  free tours of the historic building and its important horticultural collections on weekends.

An 1888 historic engraving of Carlson Cottage by architect George Maher
provided significant information regarding the original appearance of the building.
Photo courtesy of Lincoln Park Zoo.

Tour America's History Itinerary

Monday’s (11/26) destination:  Glessner House Museum

© 2012 Lee Price

Bishop Hill Steeple Building

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Visit our Tour Destination: Illinois page to see the entire tour of the state’s Save America’s Treasures sites.

The Steeple Building in winter 2011.
Photo courtesy of the Bishop Hill Heritage Association.

Bishop Hill Steeple Building

Bishop Hill Street and East Main Street

Bishop Hill, IL

Website:  Bishop Hill Heritage Association

The Treasure:  The Steeple Building is the most impressive of the town’s surviving structures that tell the story of the Bishop Hill Colony, a mid-19th century utopian community.

Accessibility:  Visit the archives and museum of the Bishop Hill Heritage Association within the Steeple Building.  Check their website for current hours.

The Bishop Hill Steeple Building reflected
in the Colony Store window.
Photo courtesy of the
Bishop Hill Heritage Association.

Background:  Faced with the vast and beautiful lands of the New World, visionary religious thinkers were inspired to find links between the Bible’s prophecies of a New Jerusalem and the American landscape. The Puritans were inspired by the promise of the New Jerusalem, some Quaker leaders spoke of the New Jerusalem, and visions of the New Jerusalem were a key part of the revelation of Joseph Smith in the founding documents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Born in Sweden in 1808, Eric Jansson was inspired by his own vision of a New Jerusalem waiting to be founded in the far-away land of the United States. While still a young man, he rebelled against the teachings of the Lutheran Church and called his followers to accompany him to found a new community in America’s Midwest. Approximately 1,200 of Jansson’s countrymen followed him on his trek half-way across the world. They sailed to New York then up the Hudson River, taking the Erie Canal to Buffalo and then across the Great Lakes to the western shore of Lake Michigan. Following a route recommended by a Swedish Methodist minister in New York, Jansson and his followers journeyed inland, staking their claim approximately 100 miles west of Chicago.

Life in the new Bishop Hill settlement was harsh during the first two years, with the settlers occupying 12 large dugouts where they lived in cramped, cold quarters. But the Janssonists—as they were called—persevered, dutifully accepting Jansson’s leadership and vision. Embracing hard work and a communitarian philosophy, they realized a fair degree of prosperity within five years. They built impressive dormitory living quarters, a church, a flour mill, two saw mills, a hotel, a colony store and post office, a school, and the Steeple Building (constructed in 1854).

The Bishop Hill Steeple Building, circa 1900.
Photo courtesy of the Bishop Hill Heritage Association.

But as with many radical 19th century experiments in utopian living, the Bishop Hill Colony fell as quickly as it rose. Eric Jansson was fatally shot by the disgruntled husband of one of his followers in May 1850. Power struggles ensued. For eleven years following Jansson’s murder, the Bishop Hill Colony struggled to remain true to the original calling to build the New Jerusalem in central Illinois—but without Jansson, it wasn’t possible. In 1861, the Bishop Hill Colony was formally dissolved and the communally-held land was evenly distributed among its members.

Today serving as home to the museum and archive of the Bishop Hill Heritage Association, the Steeple Building recalls the optimism of settlers creating community even as they faced enormous challenges. Built of brick and stucco, the Steeple Building’s prominent feature is a handsome clock tower with four clock faces, each keeping time with only a single hand. Originally intended to serve as a hotel, the Steeple Building was instead used over the years as a dormitory living quarters, a school, an administration building, a bank, a telephone office, and an apartment building complex.

A plaque at the Pioneer Monument at Bishop Hill reads:  “Dedicated to the memory of the hardy pioneers who in order to secure religious liberty left Sweden their native land with all the endearments of home and kindred and found Bishop Hill Colony on the uninhabited prairies of Illinois.”

Restoration work underway at the Steeple Building in 2012.
Photo courtesy of the Bishop Hill Heritage Association.

Restoration work at the Steeple Building.
Photo courtesy of the Bishop Hill Heritage Association.

Restoration work underway at the Steeple Building.
Photo courtesy of the Bishop Hill Heritage Association.

Other Recommended Sites:  The Bishop Hill Heritage Association works with the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency to keep the historic structures of the Bishop Hill Colony accessible to the public. Check the website for information on tours of the Colony Church and Bjorklund Hotel. The Henry County Historical Museum can introduce the rest of the history of the area (it’s not all Janssonists!) and the Vasa National Archives has a special emphasis on the Swedish-American heritage that shaped the region. Information on local organizations, businesses, and upcoming events can be found at the Bishop Hill, Illinois website.

The distinctive clock tower on the Bishop Hill Steeple Building.
Photo courtesy of the Bishop Hill Heritage Association.

Tour America's History Itinerary

Friday’s destination:  Carlson Cottage

© 2012 Lee Price

Jens Jensen Park

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The council ring at Jens Jensen Park, designed by landscape architect
Jens Jensen.  Photo by Bob Laemle.

Jens Jensen Park

540 Roger Williams Avenue

Highland Park, IL

The Treasure:  The vision of influential landscape architect Jens Jensen is beautifully expressed by this very faithful restoration of a park he designed for his hometown.

Accessibility:  Relax in the park whenever you’re in the neighborhood!

Background:  “The art of landscaping is that of a fleeting thought that must be caught on the wing.”  Jens Jensen (1860-1951)

Jens Jensen was a Danish immigrant who worked himself up from a job as a street sweeper for the Chicago West Parks District to superintendent of the Chicago Parks Commission. Influenced both by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead (designer of New York City’s Central Park) and visionary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, Jensen brought many of the ideas of Wright’s Prairie Style to bear on his designs for parkland and estate grounds. He embraced the native plants and trees of the Midwest, creating parks in harmony with the original natural landscape of the area.

Jensen's plan for the park.

Built within a triangle formed by three roads, Jens Jensen Park accomplishes much within a fairly small area. Jensen loved meadows, so he planned for two adjacent meadow areas, each ringed by native trees. Naturally, the park contains one of his trademark features, a council ring. Inspired by his respect for Native American circles, Jensen envisioned his council rings as areas where neighbors could gather and exchange ideas, quietly appreciate nature, or even stage theatrical productions. In the center of the Jens Jensen Park council ring, he designed a circular lily pond centered on a handsome rough-hewn granite boulder.

Landscape architecture is notoriously short-lived. Many of Jensen’s parks are no longer recognizably his work. Thanks to the 2005-2007 restoration led by landscape architects Nick and Amy Patera of Teska Associates, you can still experience the authentic vision of Jens Jensen in Highland Park.

Before:  The council ring at Jens Jensen Park before the restoration.

After:  The council ring at Jens Jensen Park after the restoration.
Photo by Bob Laemle.

New benches in the restored Jens Jensen Park.
Photo by Bob Laemle.

Other Recommended Sites:  Jensen’s home and studio are located just a few blocks away at 950 Dean Avenue. Although they are not open to the public, you can pass by to pay homage to his work and influence. In addition to being the home of Jens Jensen for many years, Highland Park is also notable for houses designed by some of Chicago’s greatest architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright, John S. Van Bergen, Howard Van Doren Shaw, and David Adler. Architectural Resources in Highland Park, Illinois is a detailed PDF document that provides a thorough background on the varied, and often masterful, architecture of Highland Park.

A new sign for the restored Jens Jensen Park in Highland Park.
Photo by Bob Laemle.

Tour America's History Itinerary

Monday’s destination:  Bishop Hill Steeple Building

© 2012 Lee Price