South Side Community Art Center Archives
Finding Aid: South Side Community Art Center Archives
Repository:
The South Side Community Art Center
 | Golden Darby held the first meeting to organize a community art center
on Chicago's South Side on October 25, 1938. The center would not open
for another two years. Maker: Golden Darby Owner: Golden Darby Estate Note: Archives of the South Side Community Art Center |
 | First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt attended the Center's dedication on May
7, 1941. She is pictured here with Patrick Prescott, Daniel Caton Rich, and
Benjamin Johnson. Note: Archives of the South Side Community Art Center |
 | Professor, cultural historian, and New Negro editor Alain Locke can be
seen here standing behind Eleanor Roosevelt and Patrick Prescott at the SSCAC
dedication ceremony in May 1941. Note: Archives of the South Side Community Art Center |
 | Guests throng the main gallery of the SSCAC at its dedication in May
1941. Blues singer Bessie Smith stands in the foreground, fifth from
left. Note: Archives of the South Side Community Art Center |
 | In its early years, the SSCAC's revolving exhibitions featured art
supported by the Federal Art Project and state art projects, as in this
exhibition of art from the New Mexico Art Project. Maker: South Side Community Art Center Owner: public domain Note: Archives of the South Side Community Art Center |
 | One of the most successful efforts to raise the funds for founding the
SSCAC was the Artists and Models Ball held on October 23, 1939 at the Savoy
Ballroom, which raised enough money to purchase the center's home, a
brownstone on South Michigan Avenue. The ball became an annual event. Maker: South Side Community Art Center Owner: public domain Note: Archives of the South Side Community Art Center |
 | Golden Darby (third from left), who spearheaded the fundraising effort
to found the SSCAC, discusses a Federal Art Project painting by Charles Davis
with fellow SSCAC members, left to right: Julia Thacker, Carriebel C. Plumber,
Mary R. Morgan, Ann Jackson, Lira Harris. Note: Archives of the South Side Community Art Center |
 | Photographer Gordon Parks, whose documentary photographs of Chicago's
South Side won him a Rosenwald Fellowship and a job with the Farm Security
Administration in 1941, kept a darkroom in the basement of the South Side
Community Art Center throughout the 1940s. Parks would maintain a relationship
with the Center throughout his life. Note: Archives of the South Side Community Art Center |
 | Gordon Parks exhibited his work at the South Side Community Art Center
on multiple occasions. Note: Archives of the South Side Community Art Center |
 | Gordon Parks at a signing of his novel Shannon in 1982. Note: Archives of the South Side Community Art Center |
 | A dance rehearsal at the SSCAC in 1957. (Photo by Clifford J. Burress,
Winbush Associates) Maker: Clifford J. Burress, Winbush Associates Owner: Clifford J. Burress or estate Note: Archives of the South Side Community Art Center |