Vintage Chicago Tribune: Our favorite stories pulled from the archives this year
It’s been an incredible year to look back, Chicago.
Senior visual editor Marianne Mather and I launched this newsletter — our dream project — in February.
Since then, we’ve brought you 52 editions — each focused on a new theme and featuring stories and photos from the Tribune’s archives, which are stocked with more than 175 years-worth of information.
Did you miss a week? Here’s a comprehensive list
Feb. 3: Our Top 4 most unexpected finds in the Chicago Tribune’s archives
Feb. 10: The Chicago Bears beat the New England Patriots 46-10 to win Super Bowl XX
Feb. 17: 4 Illinois athletes won won GOLD at the Winter Olympics
Feb. 24: 24 incredible Black Chicagoans
Feb. 24 (Special edition): Attack on Ukraine prompts memories of country’s independence push in 1991
March 3: Go CHICAGO, it’s your birthday!!! Go CHICAGO, it’s your birthday!!!
March 10: IRISH in Chicago
March 17: Jailbreak!!!
March 24: Your favorite groundbreaking Chicago women
March 26 (Special edition): The Oscars that were made in Chicago
March 31: April fools
April 7: Chicago Cubs, White Sox historic home openers
April 14: Boozy, crunchy and jiggly — three last-minute retro Easter recipes from our archives
April 21: Tornadoes!!!
April 28: Remembering Mike Royko — 25 years after his death
May 5: From 1800s to now, history of abortion access in Illinois
May 12: ‘Close encounters’ with UFOs in Illinois!!!!!
May 19: Remembering the 273 victims of American Airlines Flight 191
May 26: Revisiting the Hubbard Woods Elementary School shooting and Laurie Dann
June 2: What our critics wrote about the first ‘Top Gun,’ ‘Jurassic Park,’ ‘Toy Story’ movies
June 9: Six former columnists share their favorite columns for the paper’s 175th anniversary
June 16: The entire transcript of President Richard Nixon’s Watergate tapes
June 30: Retro Fourth of July recipes for cake, salads, Jell-O molds and more from our archives
July 7: Lost — a World War II plane, Cezanne’s paintings, Vivian Maier’s photos — and found
July 14: 5 things you might not know about Lake Michigan!!!!!
July 21: Move it, move it!!! Relocating houses, streets and even a submarine around the city.
July 28: The Bears of summer — revisiting memorable moments from past training camps
Aug. 4: Shopping malls!!!!! (In light of Randhurst’s 60th anniversary.)
Aug. 11: Bud Billiken Parade through the years
Aug. 16 (Special edition): ELVIS IS DEAD!!!!!
Aug. 17 (Special edition): Butter cows!!!!!
Aug. 18: The city’s aviation obsession as the Chicago Air and Water Show takes flight
Aug. 25: How Brookfield Zoo became home to Su-Lin, the first live panda imported from China
Aug. 31 (Special edition): Chicago reacts to Princess Diana’s death — 25 years ago today
Sept. 1: Princess Diana’s 1996 visit to Chicago
Sept. 8: July 6, 1959 — Queen Elizabeth II’s ‘unforgettable day’ in Chicago
Sept. 15: King Tut exhibit draws more than 1 million visitors to the Field Museum
Sept. 22: Chicago Marathon — highs and lows from the race’s 45-year history
Sept. 29: The Tylenol murders — 40 years later
Oct. 6: Celebrate spooky season — with a cemetery walk before Halloween
Oct. 13: Will ‘Halloween’ ever really end? How the Tribune reviewed each horror flick in the series.
Oct. 20: Retro recipes for Halloween from Mary Meade’s archives
Oct. 27: Disasters!!!!! Crashes, fires, riots and more from Illinois history.
Nov. 3: Revisiting Election Day in the city — including ‘Dewey Defeats Truman’
Nov. 10: Illinois governors — mostly the corrupt ones
Nov. 17: Sacked grocery and convenience stores we wish we were visiting this holiday season
Nov. 24: Remembering Mayor Harold Washington, 35 years after his death
Dec. 1: Chicago’s longest-serving alderman — Edward Burke — bows out
Dec. 8: Your favorite classic, local movie houses — including Pickwick Theatre
Dec. 15: The Atomic Age is born at the University of Chicago’s football stadium
Dec. 22: Holiday traditions — Rudolph, Suzy Snowflake, ‘This Christmas’ and more
More than 7,000 of you receive this newsletter each week and we’re still growing. Please tell your family and friends about us — here’s where they can sign up to subscribe, too.
Below you’ll find 10 Vintage Chicago Tribune stories and newsletters that were favorites for Marianne and me in 2022.
Stick with us — 2023 will be another exciting year to dig into the Tribune’s archives.
There’s a green filing cabinet chock-full of rarely or never before seen photo negatives that’s just waiting for us to explore ...
How you can support this newsletter
Become a Tribune subscriber — it’s just $12 for a 1 year digital subscription.
Follow us on Instagram — @vintagetribune.
And, catch me Monday mornings on WLS-AM’s “The Steve Cochran Show” for a look at “This week in Chicago history.”
Thanks for reading! Happy New Year!
— Kori Rumore, visual reporter
Chicago history | More newsletters | Puzzles & Games | Today’s eNewspaper edition
Marianne’s picks
Lives of two University of Chicago professors provide insights into early 20th century LGBTQ history
Marianne: “As a person who loves to dive down the rabbit hole that is Chicago history, I find I like the off-beat, previously unknown-to-me stories the best. This year I learned about Professor Sophonisba Breckinridge as a pioneering woman in education, but also as a pioneer LGBTQ woman.” Read more.
After race riots of 1919, a special report outlined many problems Chicago still faces today
Marianne: “And of course, I appreciate stories that feel relevant. The kind of stories that help me understand the world today by showing the complex history of our past. Like the 100 year anniversary of the The 1922 commission on race relations. I learned how the race riots of 1919, and the following 1922 report, helped shape our segregated city — physically and emotionally, even 100 years later.” Read more.
‘Ready to explode’: How a black teen’s drifting raft triggered a deadly week of riots more than 100 years ago in Chicago
Chicago’s place at the forefront of labor history
Marianne: “Another timely, relevant story was Ron Grossman’s story on Labor organizing in Chicago. With all the labor stories from the past year, including Amazon, Starbucks and more, it was informative to look back on Chicago’s place in the start of the labor movement.” Read more.
In 1922, 400,000 railroad workers walked off the job
The culture war between small shops and department stores
A century ago, Chicago was transfixed by a murder case involving a cheating husband and a concocted story about a ‘ragged stranger’
Marianne: “I also love a good crime yarn. This story about how Chicago was transfixed by a murder case involving a cheating husband and a concocted story about a ‘ragged stranger,’ really grabbed my attention: The Ragged Stranger.” Read more.
Slim Brundage’s College of Complexes was a place for people with ‘little dreams’
Marianne: “I wouldn’t be a photo editor if I didn’t choose the story about Slim Brundage and the College of complexes he started in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood. The Tribune’s Andrew Pavlin took the most beautiful, documentary photos, showing us a glimpse inside 1950s Chicago that is rarely seen this raw and unposed.” Read more.
Kori’s picks
‘Close encounters’ with UFOs in Illinois!!!!!
Kori: “Did you know a local astronomer is credited with creating the term ‘close encounters of the third kind?’ I sure didn’t!” Read more.
How Brookfield Zoo became home to Su-Lin, the first live panda imported from China
Kori: “Even while traveling I learn new tidbits about our city, Chicago. Earlier this year my son and I visited the Smithsonian National Zoo’s giant panda habitat — which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. While there I discovered the Brookfield Zoo was the very first American zoo to care for the very first live panda brought here from China — and the story is really incredible.” Read more.
Remembering the 273 victims of American Airlines Flight 191
Kori: “Have you ever been surprised to learn that something terrifying and heartbreaking once happened in your own hometown? In 2019, I was shocked to read about the May 25, 1979, crash of American Airlines Flight 191 just after takeoff from O’Hare International Airport. How did I not know about this disaster — or its victims? A kind, helpful resource since then has been Kim Borchers Jockl. Bill and Corrinne Borchers, parents to Kim and her siblings, Melody and Jim, died aboard Flight 191. Through the decades, they have worked to connect friends and family members of Flight 191 victims.” Read more.
From 1800s to now, the history of abortion access in Illinois
Kori: “Abortion laws have been on the books in Illinois since Abraham Lincoln was a teenager. But, how did we get from a statute outlawing the sale of abortion-inducing drugs in 1827 to establishing reproductive freedoms within our state law that survive the the overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court? I asked an expert for her perspective.” Read more.
Retro recipes for Halloween from Mary Meade’s archives
Kori: “Halloween is my favorite of all the holidays. I love the decorations, the spooky movies, the candy my kiddo brings home after trick-or-treating and the opportunity to dress up and pretend to be something I’m not. For our Halloween recipe photo session, award-winning Tribune photographer E. Jason Wambsgans looked to the ground for inspiration.
‘We’re gonna need a bucket of dirt,’ he told me.” Read more.
Join our Chicagoland history Facebook group for more from Chicago’s past.
Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Ron Grossman and Marianne Mather at rgrossman@chicagotribune.com and mmather@chicagotribune.com.
