Over 30 years’ worth of the Chicago Defender on microfilm has apparently been stolen from the library at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Earlier, the same reels—covering the years 1905–1939—disappeared from the University of Illinois/Chicago library.
Northwestern Head of Reference Betsy Baker told American Libraries that the loss was discovered last summer. Inquiries to learn whether the microfilm had surfaced elsewhere led to Northwestern’s discovery of the University of Illinois’ earlier loss. Northwestern plans to replace the 20 reels at a cost of approximately $16,000.
By World War I the Defender had become the nation’s most influential African-American weekly newspaper, with more than two-thirds of its readers living outside of Chicago. Baker stressed its importance as a tool for contemporary researchers: “It gave a voice to the black experience at a time when there really weren’t many national black voices.”
Posted October 30, 2000.