NANCY HAYS: A RETROSPECTIVE
October 27, 2019-December 31, 2019
Exhibition opening: October 27, 2019, 2-4pm
Open to the public:
Sunday, November 10, 2-4pm
Sunday, November 24, 2-4pm
Sunday, December 8, 2-4pm
Saturday, December 21, 2-4pm
Hyde Park Historical Society
5529 S Lake Park Ave
Chicago, IL 60637
An activist and preservationist, Nancy Hays’ photography embodies the ethos of Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. In 1958 at the age of 35, Hays arrived in Chicago from New York City where she had studied photography and established herself professionally. She settled in Hyde Park and worked as a photographer for the Hyde Park Herald, crafted innovative advertising campaigns for the Hyde Park Cooperative Society (one of the oldest and largest of the nation’s consumer cooperatives), and loved to wander the local streets and lakefront capturing the authentic spirit of Hyde Park. Her photography made her a Hyde Park legend.
In 2007, at her passing, Nancy left her entire collection of photographs and negatives, almost 200 boxes of materials, to the Hyde Park Historical Society. The collection is now housed at the University of Chicago’s Regenstein Library, Special Collections Research Center as part of the Society’s overall Archives. This exhibit is the first look at Hays' photographic legacy since her death.
The exhibit is sponsored by the Hyde Park Historical Society. It is curated by local photographers Becca and Mik Major who were inspired to uncover her art and her intimate record of Hyde Park when they serendipitously moved into the condo once occupied by the photography legend.
The exhibition opening will be Sunday, October 27, 2019 from 2-4pm. Guest of honor at the Opening is the niece of Nancy Hays, Francy Hays, a resident of Silver Spring, Maryland who has assisted the Society with the exhibit.
Sponsors
