Find resources for further research about Maxwell Street Market and neighborhood below, including the categories of pictorial histories, interviews, ethnic groups, philosophical, crime, Chicago Blues, and novels.
While wide in breadth, this list is not exhaustive. As there are numerous additional resources, this list is a starting place curated for your reference. If you have a suggestion for an addition to this page, please contact MSF here.
Pictorial Histories
For additional online archives, see the Photographs section.
Chicago’s Maxwell Street, Images of America series
by Lori Grove and Laura Kamedulski
Arcadia Publishing, 2002
Jewish Chicago: A Pictorial History, Images of America series
by Irving Cutler
Arcadia Publishing, 2000
Jewish Maxwell Street Stories, Voices of America series
by Schuli Eschel and Roger Schatz
Arcadia Publishing, 2004
Chicago’s Forgotten Synagogues, Images of America: Illinois
by Robert A. Packer
Arcadia Publishing, 2007
Chicago Blues: Images of America
by Wilbert Jones
Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, SC, 2014
At Maxwell Street: Chicago’s Historic Marketplace Recalled in Words and Photographs
by Tom Palazzolo
Wicker Park Press: Chicago, 2008 (and DVD of film)
Chicago Jewish History
The Jews of Chicago: From Shtetl to Suburb
by Irving Cutler
University of Illinois Press, 1996
For the book Synagogues of Chicago, by Chicago Jewish Historical Society, Norman Schwartz, 1991: click here.
To search archives of the Chicago Jewish Historical Society’s Chicago Jewish History journal, click here.
African American History
Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration
by James R. Grossman
University of Chicago Press, 1989
For additional articles and resources from University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of History: click here.
For the Chicago Tribune article “Whiskey Point, Slag Valley, and Black Bottom, Chicago’s ‘layers upon layers’ of forgotten neighborhood names,” 2022: click here.
Latinx History
Brown in the Windy City: Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Postwar Chicago
by Lilia Fernández
University of Chicago Press, 2012
(Chapter 2 & Chapter 3)
Chicago Católico : Making Catholic Parishes Mexican
by Deborah E. Kanter
University of Illinois Press, 2020
Interviews
Maxwell Street: Survival in a Bazaar
by Ira Berkow
Doubleday, 1977
Near West Side Stories: Struggles for Community in Chicago’s Maxwell Street Neighborhood
by Carolyn Eastwood
Lake Claremont Press: Chicago, 2002
Philosophical
Maxwell Street: Writing and Thinking Place
by Tim Cresswell
University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 2019
Crime
The Kosher Capones: A History of Chicago’s Jewish Gangsters
by Joe Kraus
Northern Illinois University Press, an Imprint of Cornell University Press, Ithaca & London, 2019
For the article “Manny Abrahams Led Checkered Career as ‘Boss of the Ghetto'” by Joe Kraus, in Chicago Jewish History, volume XVl, no. 2 Spring, 1993: click here.
Chicago Blues
Chicago Blues: Portraits and Stories
by David Whiteis
University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago, 2006
(Chapters on Maxwell Street, Big Walter Horton, Little Scotty, and Lurie Bell)
Blues Legacy: Tradition and Innovation in Chicago
by David Whiteis, photographs by Peter M. Hurley
University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago and Springfield, 2019
(Buddy Guy, Taylor Family, Lurie Bell)
Chicago Blues: The City and the Music
by Mike Rowe
Da Capo Press, Member of Perseus Books Group, London, 1973
(Sweet Home Chicago chapter lists Ora-Nelle’s second and last recording as Johnny Young and Johnny Williams)
Down at Theresa’s – Chicago Blues: The Photographs of Marc PoKempner
Marc PoKempner
Prestel Pub, 1999
The History of the Blues: The Roots, The Music, The People
by Francis Davis
New York: Hyperion, 1995
Blues Legends
by Charles K. Cowdery, Photos by Raeburn Flerlage
Gibbs Smith, 1995
Down on the Corner: Adventures in Busking and Street Music
by Cary Baker
Jawbone Press, 2024
Novels
Fortnight on Maxwell Street
by David Kearns
Bay Tree Publishing, 2018
Knock on Any Door
by Willard Motley
Willard Motley, 1947; Northern Illinois University Press; DeKalb, Illinois, 1989
About: “Motley’s most popular novel, Knock on any Door, sold 47,000 copies in its first three weeks of release…The book was adapted into a 1949 film directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Humphrey Bogart.” – Dmitriy Samarov, Chicago Literary Hall of Fame
The Maxwell Street Blues: A Paul Whelan Mystery
Michael Raleigh
St. Martins Press, 1994
Photographs
Indiana University:
Chicago History Museum:
- Photographs of Maxwell Street Market during its last season at original location [graphic] by Balkin, Steven. Publication Date 1994. Call Number 2002.0057 PSM
- Photographs of Maxwell Street [graphic] by LaMontaine, Monty, photographer. Publication Date 1930-1950. Call Number 1989.0304 PPL
- Nathan Lerner’s Maxwell Street by Lerner, Nathan, 1913-1997. Publication Date 1993. Call Number F548.67.M28 L37 1993
- Maxwell Street in Chicago (Ill.) [graphic] by Lerner, Nathan, 1913-1997, photographer. Publication Date 1936. Call Number 1992.0248 PSM
- Maxwell Street exhibition photographs [graphic] by Newberry, James, 1937-photographer. Publication Date 1966-1983. Call Number 1987.0206 PPL
- Sol Sackheim slides of Maxwell Street neighborhood [graphic] by Sackheim, Sol. Publication Date 1959. Call Number 2003.0021 PCLF
- Helen Osterman photographs of Maxwell Street [graphic] by Osterman, Helen Macie, photographer. Publication Date 1995. Call Number 2003.0259 PCLF
Websites and Online Resources
University of Illinois at Chicago’s Liberal Arts and Sciences Department of History’s IN THE VICINITY OF MAXWELL AND HALSTED STREETS: CHICAGO 1890-1930: A Human Documentary, BURTON J. BLEDSTEIN, PROJECT DIRECTOR
Economics & Entrepreneurs
Morales, Alfonso, “Making Money at the Market: the Social and Economic Logic of Informal Markets.” PhD dissertation, Northwestern University, 1993.
Morales, Alfonso, Steven Balkin, and Joseph Persky. “The Value of Benefits of a Public Street Market: The Case of Maxwell Street.” Economic Development Quarterly 9 (November 1995): 304-320. Learn more here.
Audio
Chicago History Museum: [Studs Terkel program]. [Interview with vendors on Maxwell Street] [sound recording] by Terkel, Studs, 1912-2008. Publication Date 1993, 8 1993. Call Number T4552 SRO
University of Illinois at Chicago, Special Collections: Ira Berkow’s audio-taped interviews and transcriptions for the Maxwell Street: Survival in a Bazaar book, Ira Berkow collection, ca. 1970.
Film/Video
- Chicago History Museum: Maxwell Street film footage [videorecording] by Balkin, Steven, Publication Date 1992-2000. Call Number 2005.0001.1 V
- University of Illinois at Chicago, Special Collections: The HistoryMakers video oral history with Blues Musician Piano C. Red. Red, Piano C., 1933-2013, interviewee.; Crowe, Larry F., interviewer.; Stearns, Scott, director of photography.; HistoryMakers (Video oral history collection), production company. 2016
- Chicago’s Maxwell Street June 1990 Save Our Place: Another timeless story by Howie Samuelson
- “Tom Palazollo’s Chicago, Volume 2.” Film by Tom Palazollo, 1987.
- “And This is Free.” Film by Michael Shea, Gordon Quinn and Howard Alk, 1963.
- “Maxwell Street: A Living Memory.” Film by Shuli Eshel and co-produced by Elliot Zashin, 2002.
- “Maxwell Street: Saving Chicago’s Heritage.” Produced by Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition, 1999.
- “Maxwell Street: A Historic District?” October 25, 1995.
- “Maxwell Street Mexican.” Produced by Gorilla Gourmet: David Hammond and Michael Gebert, 2003.
- “Maxwell Street Blues.” Film by Linda Williams and Paul Zaritsky, 1987.
- “Maxwell Street Market Colloquium.” (symposium at UIC) May 23, 1993.
- “Making Money at the Market: The social organization of street vending at Chicago’s Maxwell Street Market.” Produced by Alphonso Morales and Steven Balkin, c. 1994.
- Saturday Evening News: “Maxwell Street.” April 9, 1994.
- Chicago, Passport to the World, Ethnic Television, “Maxwell Street,” (taping date October 28, 1993, WCW-TV). John Calloway Show, WTTW, “Maxwell Street,” July 1993.
- “Halsted Street U.S.A.” Film by David Simpson, 1998.
- Commercial District Development Corporation Public Meeting: “Maxwell Street.” December 19, 1989 (4 hrs.) Chicago Tonite: “Maxwell Street.” B. Lavicka, N. Pollak, S. Delauney, B. Bledstein. September 9, 1999.
- “Living Memory” 2001 interviews on 20 VHS tapes and 20 DVM cassettes, by filmmaker Shuli Eshel
- Ranstrom, Phil. DVD. “Cheat You Fair: The Story of Maxwell Street.” Chicago: Maxwell Street Documentary, LLC, 2009.
- Instagram Video: “One becomes an entrepreneur and economic success by having a place to start filled with role models, mentors, and a supportive culture like at Maxwell Street.” This short interview with these two gentlemen merchants demonstrates this. Watch the video here.