I git an unusual request from my grandmother this morning; ever since I found her Canadian orphanage records, she thinks I’m some kind of research genius. But so far I’m stumped. Well, not really, but I’m lazy and wondering if someone has an idea to speed up a small project.
My grandmother’s half-niece (I guess that’s the relationship, anyway; it’s kind of a long story) is dying. She was a concert pianist for many years, and apparently when she was 5 years old (about 70 years ago) she played a concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. My grandmother wants me to dig up any newspaper articles/reviews of that concert. I have her name, but I don’t know even the exact year when the concert was, and my grandmother is notorious for telling only part of the story unless you interrogate her (to give you an idea, my father didn’t even know she was raised in an orphanage until he was 40-ish).
Plus the Chicago papers were different then. I think the name of the Tribune has stayed the same, but the Sun-Times was created out of a merger of the Sun and the Times IIRC. Given that my available time for digging around musty archives during business hours is rather limited (I already tried the Trib and Sun-Times Web archives, but of course they don’t go back that far), where could I find even an index for starters? Any other tips appreciated.
The best way to do this is to call the libraries of both Chicago newspapers (formerly called morgues). The Sun-Times library probably has the archives of both papers it was formed from.
The other suggestion I can make is to call the symphony to see if they’re willing to research their past programs for her performance. Most symphonies don’t perform that often, so if you have an approximate time period to narrow it down, they should be helpful. If nothing else, they should be able to give you a date.
Failing that, the downtown branch of the Chicago Public Library has indices and most likely microfilm of all Chicago papers from that date. Plan a weekend day to go downtown.
It’s my understanding that the Chicago Historical Society has the best public access to the Tribune archives. They’re less than perfectly complete that far back, though.
(I’ve got a case at the moment with issues related to the history of a particular stretch of the Chicago river, and the researcher I’m working with has had the best luck there.)
I did some research in Chicago a couple of years back, at both the Public Library and the Historical Society. You can certainly find copies of all the papers (on microfilm) going back that far, but i was told by the people at the Public Library that the Tribune does not have any long-term index that allows easy searching of its old copies. This is in contrast to a paper like the New York Times, which has huge bound indexes, as well as a comprehensive online search index (if you have a proper subscription to the service).
You know, it is possible that something this unusual might even have made the New York papers, if only as a filler or back page piece. I have (through my university) access to the New York Times archive and index online, and if you want to email me the name and any other details that you have, i’d be happy to do a search for you. It’s a long shot, but it might work.
Anyway, if you’re interested, my email is in my profile.
Another suggestion would be to get in contact with the Symphony Orchestra itself. They might have a historian or archivist, or at least they may have copies of their old programs going back decades. You might find some assistance in that quarter.
Some public libraries may have access to the Lexis-Nexis ™ online newspaper database. It only goes back to the late '70’s (in the case of the New York Times and other major papers) or the late '80’s (for most papers in the US), but it’s a great database and very easy to learn to use. I’m not at the office, so I don’t know how far back the records of the Chicago papers go back.
Even if this happened 70 years ago, as you say, many newspapers carry a “100, 50, 25 Years Ago” section, and the concert may have appeared in that section.
So, we’re talking about newspapers from the early 1940’s.
I have online access to a few databases that I can search. Covers 35 or so newspapers from that time period. No Chicago. Chicago newspapers are currently being digitized and MAY become available this summer. But they said that LAST summer. I have hope.
may e-mail later with my relative’s name to those of you who have offered to run searches. I’m not sure about posting her name here, among other reasons because my grandmother’s sister is sensitive about me doing family research at all (another long sotry…are you sensing a trend?)
Actually, we’re talking about the mid-30s, **samclem, ** at least if my arithmetic is correct; she’s about 75 now, so she would have been 5 years old in 1934. And it’s possible it may hvae been printed in an Iowa paper; I believe back then the family was living in Cedar Rapids.
If you would like, I too can help you look. I’m heading to the library either Monday or Tuesday to do some microfilm newspaper research. If you send me the relevant info, I would be more than happy to look through the Chicago papers we have in our collection.
I think you can get me through the email on the board. If not, you can send it to me at my hotmail account - under the same name as my handle.