Tucked away in the northwest corner of the Main Library’s third floor are treasures you might not expect to find in a public library.
For example, there’s a childhood essay that Ernest Hemingway wrote on lined paper, titled “A Trip to Field Museum.” A baby book that documents the first 18 months of Ernest’s older sister, Marcelline, who was born in Oak Park in 1898. There’s even an artist’s paint palette used by the siblings’ mother, Grace Hall Hemingway, who instilled a love for the arts in her children.
“This archives is a hidden gem here in the library,” says Linda Montalbano, Archivist in Special Collections.
Curating & preserving Oak Park’s historical treasures
The library’s Special Collections curates, houses, and preserves Oak Park’s historical treasures, and makes them publicly available both in person and digitally.
In three climate-controlled rooms, the archives contains letters, photographs, rare first-edition books, architectural renderings, Civil War records, a 1996 oral history project, and even baseball ticket stubs and baby shoes from the families and associates of Oak Park’s historical movers and shakers, including the Hemingway family and architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
These items are “the intellectual and cultural traces of those who have gone before us,” Montalbano says.
And they remain relevant today, serving as primary sources in books, feature films, and documentaries. For example, Hemingway, the 2021 documentary by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, drew on our archives to show images of a young Ernest growing up in Oak Park.
“While most public libraries have materials that are locally unique and special to them and their community, we are pleased to make accessible to the community museum-quality materials related to internationally known individuals who were residents of Oak Park,” says Kathleen Spale, Manager and Curator of Special Collections.
Beyond Hemingway & Wright
In addition to collections the library owns, Special Collections also provides space and access for community partners, including The Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park Archives.
But the library’s archives goes beyond Hemingway and Frank Lloyd Wright—these two famous figures who may come to mind first when thinking about Oak Park’s history.
Other notable figures represented in Special Collections include chemist Percy Julian, author Carol Shields, children’s book author and civil rights activist (and former microbiologist) Harriette Gillem Robinet, and local historian and photographer Philander Barclay, who documented the early days of Oak Park.
The archives also contains print and audiovisual records related to Open Housing in Oak Park, dating back to 1971. This was the movement for racially integrated housing that made Oak Park a national leader in being a free, open, and inclusive community.
“One of our goals is to fill the gaps so that the contributions of historically marginalized people are elevated, since they often can be forgotten or overlooked otherwise,” Spale says.
Open hours Wednesdays & Thursdays
“I get excited every time we have a new request, or appointment, or visitor,” says Special Collections Librarian Carrie Vacon. “I enjoy getting to see what people are interested in, and we get to learn from the people who visit us just as they learn from seeing the materials. It’s amazing to make connections both locally and all over the world.”
The team regularly welcomes tour groups, both local and national, and holds weekly open hours every Wednesday and Thursday, 1-4 pm.
Archival research and reference services are also available by appointment and email.
“One goal of public libraries is to provide access to information, and having a Special Collections in a public library gives more people the ability to interact with primary sources to gain information,” Vacon says.
“But you don’t need to be a researcher or a scholar, and you don’t even need to have a library card to visit and see these materials. History is important, and we can all learn from it, or even just enjoy it.”