Newberry Library

The Newberry Library will expand its digital resources for teachers, students, and parents, enhancing remote learning opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The library will support staff in its Digital Initiatives and Services department as they digitize and make freely available modern manuscripts from the Newberry's collection related to Chicago's history of social activism and protest. It will also use these manuscripts to complement existing digital resources that are frequently used in both K-12 and undergraduate classrooms nationwide. Staff identified papers of 13 individuals as priorities for digitization. All offer rare insight into a variety of social movements in the first half of the 20th century from the personal perspectives of their leading figures. Each brings to life the struggles for racial equity, union rights, and women's suffrage, highlighting Chicagoans' contributions to progressivism while revealing how artists and writers participated in and contributed to social reform.