Northwestern University

Collections at Northwestern University focus on the Chicago region primarily from the late 19th century through present day. 

The Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections houses materials that relate to feminism and women’s health (Aleta Styers Papers on the National Organization for Women, Chicago Commission on Women’s Affairs, Jenny Knauss, Clergy Consultation Service), as well as theatre (Viola Spolin, Chicago Theatres Collection), crime (Leopold & Loeb), politics (1968 Democratic National Convention Collection, Charles Gates Dawes, Century of Progress Collection), and the publishing and bookselling trade (Cuneo Press, Hamill & Barker, Inc.). The Northwestern University Archives holds records relevant to Northwestern University, but also to the greater Chicago area. Noteworthy among these are the records of the Citizens’ Police Committee, the Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory, the Northwestern University Settlement Association, as well as records and papers of faculty in all departments of the university. Also found within the Northwestern University Archives are the papers of Foster G. McGaw and related records of the American Hospital Supply Corporation, diaries and scrapbooks relating to student life, and various materials pertaining to Northwestern University’s involvement in national and world events. Other notable collections document the prominence of Northwestern alumni and faculty in local politics and government as well as in the performing arts, journalism, science, medicine, and engineering, and business.