Women Building Chicago 1790-1990, A Biographical Dictionary
“The goal of Women Building Chicago was to write a more inclusive history of Chicago, emphasizing the contributions of its female citizens from all races, cultural, religious and ethnic groups.” Rima Schultz
Women Building Chicago 1790-1990: A Biographical Dictionary, edited by Rima Lunin Schultz and Adele Hast, published by Indiana University Press, 2001.
Women Building Chicago is the result of a 10 year research, writing, editing and publication project undertaken by CWHC (then Chicago Area Women’s History Conference) from 1990 - 2000. A pathbreaking, award-winning, reference work, this volume contains extensive biographical essays on 423 Chicago women from fields as diverse as labor organizing, social reform, education, science, law, medicine, politics, philanthropy, religion, literature, the arts and many other areas. Included is an extensive scholarly introduction written by Rima Schultz, a detailed index compiled by Adele Hast, numerous historical photographs and color reproductions of the work of Chicago women artists and craftswomen. More information about the contents of the book and the project that created it is below.
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Chicago women have been at the forefront of social reform, community and labor organizing, philanthropy, education, literature, the arts, the sciences, and institution building in many areas. Crusading journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett, social reformer Jane Addams, blues pianist Lovie Austin, arts promoter Bertha Palmer, geographer Zonia Baber, Latina organizer Maria Martinez, and union leader Elisabeth Christman are but a few of the more than 400 women whose inspiring lives are now documented in this extraordinarily comprehensive volume.
Women Building Chicago, 1790-1990 provides extensive individual biographies, ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 words. The majority of the biographies represent new research, with previously untapped sources, and are published for the first time in this work. They expand our understanding of the diverse ways in which women had a pivotal role in community life, the professions, and the arts from the earliest period of Chicago’s settlement. Taken as a whole, the biographical entries provide a unique history of the city. Delineating the long struggle for women’s rights in the Midwest, the entries reveal both women’s battle against sexism in many areas and document their participation in social policy decisions and political life long before passage of the suffrage amendment.
Although each entry is clearly written for a general audience, scholars will discover treasure troves here, as the biographies are based on new research into archives and repositories throughout the United States. Each biography is followed by a detailed source paragraph, with both unpublished materials and secondary works consulted by the writer, proving a guide to readers interested in further research.
The book is enhanced by 136 black-and-while historical photographs and a separate section containing color reproductions of the work of Chicago women artists and craftswomen. Schultz’ extensive scholarly introduction provides a detailed historical context for the biographies, while Hast’s exhaustive index facilitates easy access to details in the entries. The volume includes a classified list of entries by occupation and by birth date.
The idea for Women Building Chicago was initiated by the Chicago Women’s History Center (then the Chicago Area Women's History Conference) in the late 1980s. At the time CAWHC was looking forward to its 25th anniversary, and members of the organization felt strongly that a new book on Chicago women was critical to understanding the history of the city. The massive research, writing and editing project began as the Telling Women's Lives Project, with Schultz as director, and evolved into the Historical Encyclopedia of Chicago Women Project, with Hast as co-director, under the auspices of CAWHC.
Women Building Chicago 1790 - 1990, A Biographical Dictionary is unique because of its enormous scope and scholarly excellence. It is a major contribution to the fields of women’s history, Chicago history, social and immigration history, cultural, ethnic and racial history, urban studies and many other areas. As women’s history scholar Kitty Sklar said: “It is a book for the ages.”
The Editors
Throughout the 1990s, CAWHC nurtured the Telling Women’s Lives Project, later called the Historical Encyclopedia of Chicago Women Project, with Rima Lunin Schultz and Adele Hast as co-directors.
Editorial Board In 1990 an editorial board for the project was formed consisting of Schultz and Hast, plus Carolyn De Swarte Gifford, historian, Northwestern University; Babette F. Inglehart, literary historian, Chicago State University; Mary Ann Johnson, director, Jane Addams’ Hull-House Museum at UIC; Cheryl Johnson-Odim, historian, Loyola University Chicago; and Clarice Stetter, social activist. The editorial board was created to establish guidelines and perimeters for the project, conduct background research, select the women to be included, identify and train the more than 350 writers, and begin editing the entries. Members of the editorial board eventually became Associate Editors of the book Women Building Chicago. In 1996 the project affiliated with the University of Illinois at Chicago in order to obtain a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and UIC became a co-sponsor with Margaret Strobel joining the editorial board at that time.
Rima Lunin Schultz, co-editor, is an academic historian who has written articles and books on Jane Addams, Chicago women in Catholic and Protestant faith traditions and the culture of urban elites. She was past president of the Chicago Area Women’s History Council (now CWHC.) She has taught at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary and UIC and she serves on the advisory boards of the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum at UIC and the Jane Addams Papers Project. She is a co- author of Eleanor Smith’s Hull-House Songs: The Music of Protest and Hope in Jane Addams’ Chicago, along with Graham Cassano and Jessica Payette, published by Brill Publishers and Haymarket Books. She contributed chapters to Restored Jesuits, Women Religious, American Experience, 1814-2014: Crossings and Dwellings published by Brill in 2017. She has a B.A. from the State University of New York at Binghamton and a Masters and a Ph.D. in history from Boston University
Adele Hast, co-editor, (now deceased) was an academic historian, a research fellow at the Newberry Library, and an editor of numerous reference books and historical compendia. In addition to serving as a long-time board member of the CWHC, Adele was also was active in numerous cultural organizations in Chicago including serving as the president of the Chicago Jewish Historical Society and board member of the Caxton Club. Adele earned a B.A. from Brooklyn College and a Masters and PhD in history from the University of Iowa.
Rima Lunin Schultz
Adele Hast