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The Mission of the Hyde Park Historical Society (HPHS) is to

  • Record Hyde Park’s History

  • Preserve selected artifacts and documents of that history for exhibition and research

  • Promote public interest in Hyde Park and preservation of its history

  • Educate and involve individuals and groups in an appreciation and understanding of Hyde Park’s Heritage.

  • In support of this mission, the society hosts programs and exhibits, maintains an archive, publishes a newsletter and a bulletin, and maintains a web site. The society is active in local preservation efforts, in conducting oral history interviews, and supports city-wide history initiatives. The society provides responses to written, emailed, and phoned inquiries on topics related to Hyde Park and provides referrals in response to other inquiries.

  • The HPHS includes the township of Hyde Park. The Hyde Park Township borders are 39th Street on the North, State Street on the West, Lake Michigan & the Indiana State Line on the East, and 138th Street & the Calumet River on the South.

Land Acknowledgment

The Hyde Park Historical Society acknowledges that we are on the traditional territory of the Council of Three Fires. Many other Indigenous nations have made use of the lands and waterways of Chicago, including the Hoocąk (Winnebago/ Ho’Chunk), Jiwere (Otoe), Nutachi (Missouria), Baxoje (Iowas), Kiash Matchitiwuk (Menominee), Meshkwahk ha (Meskwaki), As k waki (Sauk), Myaamiaki (Miami), Waayaahtanwaki (Wea), Peeyankihšiaki (Piankashaw), Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo), and Inoka (IlliniConfederacy). Members of over 157 American Indian nations call Chicago home in the present-day.

As a local historical association, we appreciate the role of the local in the global and the global in the local. We recognize the history of local Indigenous nations as well as the global struggle for Indigenous rights. We respect their ties to the lands and waterways since time immemorial. We are responsible for honoring our treaties in the present day, in part through historical preservation and stewardship that includes and amplifies Indigenous persons and perspectives.