Chicago Collections Consortium is a membership organization of more than 60 libraries, museums, historical societies, and other cultural heritage organizations collaborating to preserve and promote the history of the Chicago region.
History Launched in 2015 after several years of planning among its charter members, Chicago Collections now sponsors a wide range of educational, community engagement, and professional development programs, including exhibitions and public lectures. Chicago Collections also provides information services such as its Cooperative Reference Network, as well as instructional materials available on member web sites. Chicago Collections has established partnerships with other non-profit organizations in the City of Chicago, including National Public Radio, Chicago Metro History Education Center, and the Library of Congress's Teaching with Primary Sources program, to answer questions about Chicago history from researchers and the general public, and to promote use of member collections and services by teachers and students of all ages.
With funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Chicago Collections has developed EXPLORE Chicago Collections (ECC), a digital portal providing access to more than 117,000 images and 6,800 archival collections from member institutions (as of September 2019). The Center for Research Libraries awarded its 2016 Primary Source Award for Access to Tracy J. Seneca (University of Illinois at Chicago), for her role in leading the development of the ECC portal. In celebration of its 10 year anniversary in 2022, CCC, in partnership with The Poetry Foundation and the Chicago Public Library Harold Washington Library Center, launched the annual poetry competition Making History Come Alive Through Words. Aimed at Chicago area high school students, the competition gets students to browse the EXPLORE portal in order to inspire them to write poetry and interact with history.
Governing Members
Art Institute of Chicago Center for Research Libraries Chicago History Museum Chicago Public Library DePaul University Illinois Institute of Technology Loyola University Chicago Newberry Library Northwestern University Roosevelt University University of Chicago University of Illinois Chicago
Participating Members
Chicago State University Dominican University Evanston History Center North Central College North Park University Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Associate Members
Adler Planetarium Alliance Francaise Chicago Botanic Garden Chicago Film Archives Chicago Transit Authority Chicago Women's History Center Chinese American Museum of Chicago Office of the City Clerk, City of Chicago Columbia College Chicago Daughters of the American Revolution Chicago Chapter Elmhurst University Filipino American Historical Society of Chicago Museum Friends of Pullman National Historical Park Gerber/Hart Library and Archives The Grove Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center Japanese American Service Committee Lake Forest College Leather Archives & Museum Lincoln Park Zoo Media Burn Independent Video Archive National Cambodian Heritage Museum and Killing Fields Memorial National Hellenic Museum North Central College Northeastern Illinois University Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum Oak Park Public Library Poetry Foundation Polish Museum of America Pritzker Military Museum & Library Puerto Rican Arts Alliance Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science Rush University Medical Center Shorefront Legacy Center Ukrainian National Museum, Chicago Wilmette Historical Museum
Partner Program Chicago Cubs Henry Crown and Company Ozinga Union League Club of Chicago
References
External links Chicago Collections Consortium
Further reading Case, Mary M. and David Spadafora (March 18, 2022) "A Decade of Collaborating, Preserving, and Sharing: The Chicago Collections Consortium," portal: Libraries and the Academy 21 (4). Accessed March 18, 2026 Long, Elisabeth (October 22, 2015). “A Single Portal to Chicago’s History,” The University of Chicago News. Accessed September 17, 2016. Strandmark, Matthew (September 11, 2017). "EXPLORE Chicago Collections," The American Archivist Reviews Portal. Accessed March 19, 2017. Walter, Scott (February 2016). “It Takes a City: Chicago Collections Brings Collaboration to the Next Level,” ILA Reporter 34 (1). Accessed September 21, 2016