| Notes: | The collection is open for research. Series V, Audio-Visual, does not include an access copy for the audiotape reel. Researchers will need to consult with staff before requesting this item. Series VI contains restricted financial material and is closed until 2042.
The Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference was formed in 1949 to stem growing physical decay of neighborhoods and to promote better race relations in the community. Following World War II, the South-Side Chicago neighborhood was one of many communities affected by the nation's housing shortage. The housing problem was aggravated by illegal conversions of single-family residences into smaller units, and by a general decline in the maintenance of properties. The rapid immigration of African Americans from the south to Chicago complicated matters, fueling tensions between neighbors and precipitating "panic pedaling" and "white flight" in previously white, middle-class neighborhoods. On November 8, 1949 concerned white and African-American citizens met at the First Unitarian Church of Chicago to discuss these pressing issues. Confident that white and African-American people could live peacefully together, and convinced that urban decay was a mutual problem, attendees called for a new community organization whose goal was "to build and maintain a stable interracial community of high standards." A steering committee was formed and on December 12, 1949, 300 citizens from fifty community organizations assembled to adopt a statement of policy for the fledgling organization. The name Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference was officially adopted on January 18, 1950. The early structure of the Conference included a 36 member Board of Directors. The Board set policies and hired the Executive Director, who in turn hired and supervised staff. The Executive Committee, made up of the officers of the Conference, handled administrative decisions. Program committees and goals have changed throughout the HPKCC's history as the Conference worked to meet the changing needs of the community. The Conference's first efforts concentrated on stabilizing, conserving, and renewing Hyde Park and Kenwood in the face of deteriorating neighborhoods and social unrest. The HPKCC focused on arresting rampant building and zoning violations, improving housing conditions through rehabilitation and tenant unions, and actively engaging with city-wide urban renewal planning through its Planning Committee. Through the formation of Block Groups, the Conference provided the means for neighbors to interact, discuss common interests and concerns, and cooperatively solve problems at a grass roots level. Over the years, HPKCC programs grew to encompass other issues, including parks and recreation, youth and schools, safety, transportation, and environmental concerns such as air pollution. Membership in the Conference reached its peak in 1956 with approximately 4000 members and over sixty affiliated Block Groups. The HPKCC included many notable members of the Hyde Park community, including Laura Fermi, author, co-founder of the HPKCC Clean Air Committee, and wife of Nobel Prize recipient Enrico Fermi; Muriel Beadle, chair of the Committee for a Cleaner Community and wife of University of Chicago President, G. W. Beadle; and Jean Alinsky, wife of community organizer, Saul Alinsky. Today, the HPKCC works for "an attractive, secure, diverse, and caring community," and promotes "participation of residents, businesses, institutions, and organizations in programs and activities that advance the interests and concerns of the community."
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| Summary: | Consists of correspondence, memoranda, meeting agendas and minutes, budgets and fundraising material, by-laws, directories, reports; press releases, surveys, newsletters, brochures, clippings, photographs, an audio reel, maps, posters, flyers, pamphlets, booklets, and other documents representing the activities of the Conference. The records primarily document the administrative functions of the Conference and its program activities related to urban renewal.
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