Arts Professional Story: Bob Sloane

Harold Washington Library

While Chicago is home to many world-class museums and performing arts organizations, it is the role of libraries to collect and maintain our local arts history. Our various archives were established to provide a safe and permanent home for documents and recordings related to Chicago’s visual and performing artists and arts organizations. Our staff regularly conducts outreach and requests that individuals and organizations contribute to our archives.

What questions do people ask most frequently about the archives? What are the answers?

The most common statement we hear is that people are extremely appreciative that we have taken the time to preserve a part of Chicago’s history that would have otherwise been lost. We receive requests from people of all ages, both locally and from all over the world that are looking for information about a painting by a Chicago artist; or have heard a recording by a local blues musician; perhaps they saw a performance by a Chicago dance company and want to know more about it. Well, they visit our library and they can watch a video, read a review, examine the work of an artist, and learn about Chicago’s great contributions to our cultural heritage.

What is your perspective on the history of dance in Chicago and how do the archives at Harold Washington preserve that history?

Chicago has always provided a welcome home for dancers and choreographers. Many had their beginnings here; others came to the city and stayed. People like Adolph Bolm, Isadora Duncan, Anna Pavlova, Ruth Page, Sybil Shearer, Katherine Dunham, Doris Humphrey, Bob Fosse, Gus Giordano, and more have made significant contributions to Chicago dance. The Library’s collections and their supporting archives gather and preserve these contributions from the great and the small, so that students and scholars can study our history of dance.

How can artists get involved?

Leslie Patterson is the contact person for the Chicago Artists’ Archive (312-474-4820 or art@chipublib.org). Artists or galleries can contact her directly if they have materials they would like to submit to the archive. Items such as resumes, press clippings, letters, gallery notices, artist statements, videos/DVD’s, CD’s/Slides, photographs. The criteria for inclusion is broad and includes any artist that was born or lived in Chicago or has had a significant presence here; working in any medium.

Bob Sloane is the contact person for the Ann Barzel Dance Film Archive and the Chicago Dance Files and Video Collections (312-747-4846 or bsloane@chipublib.org). Performers or dance companies can contact him directly to submit materials to the archive, which includes video/DVD’s, photographs, reviews, articles, programs, flyers, press releases, etc. The criteria for inclusion are broad and include any individual or dance company who has lived or performed in Chicago.

Christopher Popa is the contact person for the Chicago Blues Archive (312-474-4835 or cpopa@chipublib.org) Materials included in the archive are audio recordings, video/DVD’s, photographs, letters, memorabilia, newspaper clippings and more on notable blues artists, as well as local musicians deserving greater recognition.

Bob Sloane is currently the Head of the Art Information Center at the Harold Washington Library Center. For the past 18 years he has been in charge of the dance collections and has programmed more than 350 live dance performances in the Harold Washington Library Auditorium attended by more than 54,000 people. He has served on the Ruth Page Awards Committee, grants panels for the Community Arts Assistance Program and served on the review panel for the Newberry Library’s Dance Studies Fellowships.

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The Visual and Performing Arts Department of the Harold Washington Library includes these valuable archives and other featured collections:

The Ann Barzel Dance Film Archive
The Ann Barzel Dance Film Archive consists of more than 50 hours of film documenting mid-twentieth century dance in Chicago from 1936 to 1980 by Chicago dance critic Ann Barzel. This archive contains unique footage of all forms of dance from ballet to vaudeville to modern.

The Chicago Dance Files and Video Collections
This collection was created more than 40 years ago to document the contributions and history of Chicago dancers and performances. Included in the collections are videos, press releases, reviews, newspaper articles, posters, flyers and more. Students and scholars of dance constantly use this growing collection.

The Chicago Artists’ Archives
Since the 1940s, the Library has been keeping records of visual artists who have lived or worked in the Chicago area. Archives have been established to maintain records in the form of biographical information, artists' applications, statements, reproductions of artwork, exhibition catalogs, gallery announcements, reviews and articles, etc.

The Chicago Blues Archives
Begun in 1981 with a generous gift from Chicago radio station WXRT, the Archives collect audio and visual recordings, promotional materials, artifacts, and other available blues related material. The Archives now depend on musicians, collectors, businesses, and fans to add to its collections. The Chicago Public Library offers a safe, permanent home for posterity, scholarship, and enjoyment. The Archives greatly appreciates the many generous contributions of its supporters and welcomes donations.