Taylor Street Archives is designed to preserve, for posterity, the legacy of those IMMIGRANTS, MIGRANTS and their offspring who had lived the experience of the Legendary Taylor Street…a time, a place and a people that were and will never be again.  That legacy of names and stories includes those who had emigrated from the shores of southern Italy, at the turn of the 20th century, and their offspring who were born and raised in Taylor Street’s Little Italy.   Our primary purpose is to record those memories that capture both the essence and spirit of growing up on Taylor Street, the near-west side immigrant community that Jane Addams had labeled, “The Hull House Neighborhood.”

The names and memories include those who had immigrated to near-west side community before and after the turn of the 20th century and the migrants from the southern part of the U.S. (Mexicans and African-Americans) that shared the neighborhood with the Italian Americans who remained as the only viable immigrant group through WWI, the Prohibition era, the Great Depression, WWII, and the demise of Hull House and the neighborhood by the UIC in 1963.

Membership application

We invite you to join the Taylor Street Archives Family Tree.  The application(s) can be found on the “MEMBERS” page.  You can be included in the Archives:
1) as a first generation Italian American with the other family members appropriately listed on your application, and/or
2) on a family tree that includes pictures and stories your family’s odyssey to America and Taylor Street, and/or
3) as a name on the rostrum of a club or organization (see GROUPS/CLUBS),which may also include a story of the club along with a group picture, and/or
4) as the name of a business (businesses that date back to the our immigrant history prior to WWII will have a special mention).

Stories

Stories are submitted by those whose roots reach back to the Taylor Street phenomonon.  Their memories are recorded as stories that began with the flow of immigrants from southern Europe at the turn of the twentieth century, the southern migrants that begin arriving almost a half-century later and taper with the destruction of Hull House and the neighborhood it served by the UIC.   All stories are edited for punctuation, etc.  The edited draft is returned for the writer’s approval of the revisions made.  The final draft of your story will then be posted for posterity…for future generations to come.

Be sure to click on the various links across the top to see the pages of the Archives. There you will find the stories, history, photo gallery, articles, etc. that define us.  Links to other important web sites are included for your convenience.

Scholarships

Any student with an interest in the history of the Jane Addams’ Hull House and/or the community it served can apply.  Visit the Scholarships Page for more details.

Support

Your contribution will help to ensure that the Taylor Street Archives website will exist for future generations to come.  In addition, your generosity will enable us to maintain and expand, not only the website, but our scholarship program as well.

Field Trips

If interested in a field trip opportunity that would  include the Hull House Museum and hi-lights of Taylor Street’s Little Italy, please contact us to personalize the itinerary for your group.  vromano@TaylorStreetArchives.com   Search “field trip” or “tours” for a detailed account of what we offer schools and groups.  To see a sample itinerary for your Field Trip, click on the flier below.