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john vinci slides of chicago's past: the first of several posts covering the digitizing of his extensive archive

chicago stock exchange trading room blueprint, 1977.

i've spent the last several months digitizing hundreds of kodachrome slides taken by john vinci beginning in the late 1950's and ending in 1990's when he retired his hasselblad 500c camera (kodachrome film was discontinued in 2002). together with richard nickel - and later on his own after nickel lost his life saving ornament from the chicago stock exchange in 1972 - vinci has been a steadfast force in the documentation of both the eradication and rebuilding of chicago's restless cityscape.

the extensive collection of color slides within vinci's photographic archive can be dissected into two main categories, with the first devoted to the restoration process of iconic chicago buildings - both interior and exterior - that he orchestrated as architect. the second is equally as systematic,  where he relentlessly documented buildings around chicago - old and new - for his lectures at the illinois institute of technology, where he taught courses on the history of architecture for nearly 30 years.

nearly all of his images were made into slides for use with his hasselblad projector that he lugged with him everyday to class. many students, now established in their own careers, vividly recall vinci's course - and the slides he used to guide them through photo-oriented lectures on chicago's architecture and the architectural firms that rebuilt the city after the great chicago fire of 1871.

the following collection of images represent a snippet of his photographic work as both restoration architect as well as teacher. since the digitization of the archive remains active to this day, there will be subsequent blog posts devoted to additional slides that may one day culminate in the form of a book, entitled "slides." this idea arose after i rediscovered a walker evans book with the singular book title "polaroids."  the simple and unpretentious layout of the evans book really spoke to me, where emphasis is placed solely on the images assigned their own page, devoid of captions or any other information that could distract the mind's eye. in some ways, vinci's "slides" greatly assist in picking up where richard nickel left off, documenting chicago's architecture - both creation and destruction - during the ensuing decades when demolition of historic chicago buildings was still happening at a frequency on par with urban renewal or "slum clearance" during nickel's time. 

adler & sullivan's selz residence, 1966.

babson house, 1959.

babson house, 1-28-1959.

watchtower, union stock yards. 1966.

base of union stockyards standpipe tower, 1966.

garrick theater salvage, 1960.

garrick theater demolition, 1960. note the fully exposed trusses located directly above the theater's proscenium.

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