Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
Illinois State Archives director David Joens, right, and archival conservator Alex Dixon handle early Chicago city documents that survived the Great Chicago Fire, kept in a special vault at the Illinois State Archives in Springfield, Aug. 17, 2021.
Illinois State Archives director David Joens, right, and archival conservator Alex Dixon handle early Chicago city documents that survived the Great Chicago Fire, kept in a special vault at the Illinois State Archives in Springfield, Aug. 17, 2021.
A box of early Chicago sidewalk ordinance documents from 1868 and 1869 that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, kept in a special vault at the Illinois State Archives in Springfield, Aug. 17, 2021.
A box of early Chicago sidewalk ordinance documents from 1868 and 1869 that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, kept in a special vault at the Illinois State Archives in Springfield, Aug. 17, 2021.
Early Chicago city documents, stored in wood boxes, survived the Great Chicago Fire and are now kept in a special vault at the Illinois State Archives in Springfield, Aug. 17, 2021.
Early Chicago city documents, stored in wood boxes, survived the Great Chicago Fire and are now kept in a special vault at the Illinois State Archives in Springfield, Aug. 17, 2021.
A box of early Chicago ordinance documents dated from January 1869 to October 1871 that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
A box of early Chicago ordinance documents dated from January 1869 to October 1871 that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
Stored in a wood box are the “baked” Chicago sidewalk ordinance documents from 1868 and 1869 that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
A box of early Chicago sidewalk ordinance documents from 1868 and 1869 that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The pages are crisp, and some are shattered into pieces.
A box of early Chicago sidewalk ordinance documents from 1868 and 1869 that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The pages are crisp, and some are shattered into pieces.