archiving images and ephemera from two-year documentation of five chicago depression-era theaters finally gets underway

i’m finally consolidating images and ephemera gathered after devoting nearly two years documenting extant chicago depression-era theaters. the discovery of material left behind by the tradesmen who built the theaters, along with piles of “trash” found within the auditorium plenum chambers, was by far the most rewarding experience and, in many ways, interested me more than photographing the interior and exterior architecture.

after looking over the images of what i found in the attics, crawlspaces and plenums of five theaters, i can't help but wonder what i would find in other period theaters around chicago. for a time, i made every effort to access others, but that ship has since sailed – ending instead with the “lost and found” book i published on what was discovered in the congress theater. perhaps someone else can pick up where i left off, if opportunities present themselves. in the meantime, i plan to continue working on what i did find and/or document and create a complete and fully accessible archive that i will donate to interested parties.

the following images are from an evolving catalog of forgotten movie house fragments collected from five theaters over the course of two years. i hope to have the ephemera and image archive completed by the end of 2020. everything will be carefully labeled (e.g., descriptions, dates, etc.) including several images taken of the fragments found in situ.  

all images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive.

further reading:

LIMITED-EDITION SOFTBOUND "LOST AND FOUND" BOOK CHRONICLING DISCOVERY OF CONGRESS THEATER'S HIDDEN OBJECTS IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE