Everything old is new again - with technology

CHICAGO - An important database with information about the historic Pullman community on Chicago's south side will be expanded as the result of a $50,250 Fiscal Year 2009 grant awarded to the Pullman State Historic Site by the Office of Secretary of State Jesse White.

The Pullman House History Project will benefit from the Library Services and Technology Act grant from the Illinois State Library, a division of the Secretary of State's Office. The funds will be used to hire a commercial vendor to enter handwritten census data from 1900 through 1930 into the database. Staff can then match names and addresses to existing images of historic streetscapes and houses already in the project's database, linking these photographs to the actual people who lived in the Pullman community. Most importantly, a vital demographic tool will be expanded, allowing scholars and genealogists to research trends in migration, employment, ethnicity, and other factors in this historically important area.

"The Pullman House History Project is already a marvelous historical research tool," said coordinator Linda Bullen. "This grant will make it even more valuable for genealogists and historians by better identifying people and places in our historical image collection."

The Pullman House History Project has more than 7,000 records consisting of data from 19th and 20th century city directories; the 1916 phone book, the first to list Pullman telephone numbers; and census information. It may be accessed at www.pullman-museum.org.

The Pullman Company was a major employer of newly arrived immigrants throughout the latter half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. In addition, Pullman's belief in the superiority of African American service training led the company to become a major employer of African Americans, some of them freed slaves or the children of freed slaves, and caused Chicago to become a major destination during the Great Migration in the early 20th century. Because 98 percent of the homes from the original Pullman community remain, charting who lived in what house becomes an invaluable insight into everyday industrial society.

The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency administers the Pullman State Historic Site at 111th and Forrestville Avenue, including the original factory building and the Hotel Florence. The site is open by appointment only.