Library Notes

The Galter Library is now home to a new piece of university artwork. Earlier in the year, Alan Cubbage, Vice President for University Relations, inquired if the library had space to house a rather large poster. He thought it appropriate that the newly acquired work, showing an artist’s rendition of the proposed medical school building, should be displayed in a public space on the Chicago Campus. The poster’s size – nearly 8ft by 4 ft – precluded it from hanging in most office areas. Fortunately, the library had space in the Barnes Learning Resources Center (LRC) to hang the new artwork. The gallery owner who sold the poster to the university thought that there are only two known copies of this work. The poster’s description (beneath the image to the left) will be inscribed on a plaque and mounted next to the poster in the coming month. Click the image to see a larger view.

This poster is one of a celebrated series commissioned in the 1920s by the Chicago Elevated Railroad (a private company owned by utilities tycoon Samuel Insull) to encourage ridership by highlighting significant monuments and buildings in Chicago. Oscar Rabe Hanson (1900-26) was the most prolific designer of posters for the transit lines.

The poster of Northwestern's campus in Chicago was based on architects' drawings and was created before any of the buildings were constructed. As a result, the main building depicted in the poster resembles the Ward Building but differs from the actual building (constructed 1926) in key details.

Northwestern's Chicago campus originally was called the "McKinlock Campus" in honor of the son of Chicago businessman George McKinlock, who pledged funds for the construction of the new campus. When the Great Depression hit, however, the pledge could not be fulfilled. Northwestern agreed to not only cancel the amount still due but also arranged to return the amount he had already contributed. At the suggestion of McKinlock, the name of the campus was changed to simply "the Chicago Campus." However, a wrought-iron gate known as the McKinlock Gate, created by renown artist Samuel Yellin, still stands on the Chicago campus at the corner of Lake Shore Drive and Huron Street.

A newsletter for patrons of the Galter Health Sciences Library

Summer 2005 New Series #37

Galter Library Hosts New Art

James Shedlock, AMLS, AHIP, Director, j-shedlock@northwestern.edu

Summer 2005

New Series #37