Back from Chicago!

I just got back from Chicago yesterday.  I ended up going to the Museum of Lithuanian Culture, where they did not have any information on my topic, BUT they helped point me in the right direction.  I called a few libraries moments after leaving the museum, and I ended up getting in contact with a professor at Columbia College who specializes in the Chicago Stockyards.  I emailed him and he put me in contact with a Lithuanian professor at UIC who specializes in Lithuanians AND the Chicago Stockyards!!! How much luckier could I get?!?!  That was Friday.  Then on Saturday I went to downtown Chicago with my friend to the Chicago Public Library.  There I went straight to the archives and started looking for some primary sources.  They didn't have too many in the actual archives, but i was able to access the Historic Chicago Tribune there (I can't do it here for some stupid reason), and I found a good number of articles relating to Lithuanians and the meat packing industry.  So that was a plus.  I then went down a few floors to look for some books that I found on their online catalog.  I found those, but couldn't check them out because I don't have a Chicago Public Library card... :(  The next thing I'm going to do is try to get an inter-library loan for those books.  Hopefully I'll be able to do that.

Relatively successful weekend I think.  YES.

It's Been a While... (Pictures)

It's been a while since my last post seeing as I had a really busy week last week with my exams and what not.  But at this moment I'm doing my preliminary background research on my topic and will hopefully be posting some information on the blog later tonight.  But for right now, I'm just posting some pictures so that hopefully not only I will get a better idea of what my topic involves, but what everyone else will think.

This is a photo of the actual stockyards in Chicago.  It shows the magnitude of the meat packing industry in Chicago.

This photo shows an inspector going through the meat.

This photo shows men actually working and splitting the backbone.  

This photo shows an inspection area.

This painting shows the gruesome reality of working in the stockyards.

This photo shows men and women working together packing the different meats into sausages.

This photo shows Lithuanians in St. Michael's Parish.  This photo was taken sometime in the 1900s.  The sign translates to, "Our homeland has been destroyed, but we can still revive Lithuania.  Those who are alive, LET US HELP LITHUANIA!"

This sign is referring to when Russia invaded Lithuania from 1795 to 1918 and a community of Lithuanians got together and protested the fact that Russia took over Lithuania for no reason besides personal gain.

Lithuania gained its independence from Russia on February 16, 1918 when Lithuanian leaders signed the Act of Independence.