Faculty at Cook County Normal School, ca. 1870s - CARLI Digital Collections Featured Image

This photo dated from the 1870s captures the faculty of the Cook County Normal School, which evolved to become what is now Chicago State University. The Chicago Normal School was founded in 1867 and did not find its first permanent home until around 1870, so these instructors must be among the founding faculty of the fledgling institution.

The six women and two men are posed around a table at the back of a classroom—a table that is already scarred from use and missing a drawer. There is a wonderful cabinet of curiosities in the background, containing what appear to be stuffed birds and rocks. I also find myself puzzling over the strange charts illustrated with trees pinned above the dusty chalkboard.

I love to imagine this image captures an early faculty meeting. One instructor still holds her pen, poised over a sheet of paper. I pretend she is taking the minutes, while some of the others still clutch their copies of the agenda. The instructors appear alternately dour, amused, curious and bored. Some things never change.

Written by Alice Creason, Systems/Digital Collections Librarian at Lewis University

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