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<\/a><\/p>\n“Ever the human documents.” \u00a0In the realm of historical time, place mattered, consequences were real, and life’s milestones from birth to death meaningful. \u00a0The passage of human time is relentless, irreversible, and finite, everywhere for everyone. In \u201chuman documents\u201d the unique past is valued, and resemblance to more recent historical trends raised to awareness.<\/p>\n
Understanding an historical event in this project is realized by experiencing aspects of the lives of those\u00a0 struggling to find meaning in a place.\u00a0They often had to challenge generations of tradition and customary belief including habits of provincial prejudice.\u00a0The powers of established orthodoxies within national, religious, ethnic, race and gender identities were prevalent, often overpowering. Tensions between change and convention are an enduring feature of the story.<\/p>\n
The historian\u2019s universe neither privileges subjective fictions of myth and imaginative story telling nor objective sciences of measurement and numbers. No single piece or genre of documentation is definitive, or credible at mere face value.<\/p>\n
In the “human documentary” active people in the period acted out many lives on a variety of platforms.\u00a0 They voiced temporal concerns and often pursued conflicting interests. “Ah, well, I am a great and sublime fool,” a perverse Mark Twain said of his participation in the “damned human race.”\u00a0 “But then I am God’s fool, and all His work must be contemplated with respect.”<\/p>\n
In the Vicinity of Maxwell and Halsted Streets, Chicago 1890-1930\u00a0<\/em> constructs\u00a0an intimate fresh urban perspective on years labeled a Progressive liberal era in U.S. history. As ever in the “human documentary,\u201d the historical devil embedded in the riches of archival sources dwells in the local detail.<\/p>\nIf you have questions regarding the content on this website please contact me at bjb@uic.edu.<\/p>\n
Burton J. Bledstein (hereinafter, “bjb”)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
IN THE VICINITY OF MAXWELL AND HALSTED STREETS: CHICAGO 1890-1930 A Human Documentary BURTON J. BLEDSTEIN, PROJECT DIRECTOR A primary objective of this investigation is to tell the story of the compelling role Chicago\u2019s West Side played in the making of modern America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, an era publicized to<\/p>\n
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