Urge Hillary Clinton to Save Maxwell Street, An American Treasure
White House Millenium Council and the Save America's Treasures Program
What others have written to Mrs. Clinton
Hilary Clinton visited Chicago this past week to attend a women's conference and to tour historic areas. On Wednesday, October 27, 1999 she visited the old Chess Recording Studios on South Michigan Avenue. Here is what David Heinzmann wrote in the 10/28/99 Chicago Tribune article about her visit:
*****
At Chess, Mrs. Clinton called the blues the foundation of all American popular music.
"And in many ways, the story of Chicago blues is the story of the African-American experience," she said. "The blues found its beat with the polyrhythms of Africa; gained words and form and pain and emotion on the plantations of the South; traveled up the Mississippi; collaborated with white musicians and discovered electricity, volume and fame right here in the Windy City."
Preserving the Chess building is essential to preserving the whole legacy of Chicago blues, she said.
*****
We are very glad that Hilary Clinton has an appreciation for and understanding of the blues and that the Chess Studios have been saved and rehabbed. If preserving the Chess Studios is essential to the legacy of the Blues, certainly Maxwell Street must be preserved also. Blues is, at root, a folk idiom. Its creation comes from the folk at the grassroots street level. The music got recorded at Chess, VJ, and other labels but it got created on Maxwell Street.
There are 60 old buildings on about eight blocks, half with businesses still in them, selling polish sausages, zoot suits, derby hats, stratazookies, blues tapes. socks, perfume, t-shirts, and may other items. Street vendors there are still there carrying on a tradition over 150 years old.
We ask that you send an email or a letter to Hillary Clinton <first.lady@whitehouse.gov>
Postal address: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C 20500-0002
And send a copy to
AS AN EMAIL, YOU CAN ADDRESS IT LIKE THIS:
To: Hillary Clinton <first.lady@whitehouse.gov>
Cc: richard_moe@nthp.org, Ellen McCulloch-Lovell <millennium@whitehouse.gov>, Susan Eisenhower <info@saveamericastreasures.org>, Maxwell Street Coalition <mar@openair.org>
Subject: Help Save Maxwell St, An American Treasure
Dear First Lady Hillary Clinton:
We are glad that you enjoyed visiting the old Chess Studios and appreciate the importance of Blues preservation. It was on nearby Maxwell Street were this music was created on the street, in the alleys and empty lots, in rent parties, record stores, and in Churches.
Help save Maxwell Street. It is an American Blues Treasure and is at great risk of destruction by a public land grant university that receives federal funding.
Join our worldwide effort to save this Blues landmark neighborhood.
Please investigate this matter and call University of Illinois President James Stukel to tell him to stop the destruction of Maxwell Street.
YOUR NAME AND TITLE
White House Millenium Council and the Save America's Treasures Program
The First Lady and I created the White House Millennium Council to encourage the participation of every American in our nation's celebration and commemoration. The guiding theme of our national millennium program is "Honor the Past — Imagine the Future." Every community in this great land has a cherished part of its past worth preserving — historic sites and artifacts that serve as living reminders of the ideals and creativity that have shaped our experience. Every community has something to give to enhance the lives of future generations and to revitalize our democracy. And every American can share in the excitement of this once-in-a-thousand-years celebration.
- President William Jefferson Clinton <http://www.whitehouse.gov/Initiatives/Millennium/communities.html>
WHAT OTHERS HAVE WRITTEN TO MRS. CLINTON (a selection of three)
Dear First Lady Hillary Clinton,
I was pleased to hear that you visited Chess Studios and voiced your support for preserving it, and the music it represents. I hope you realize that Chess Records and Blues music more generally is impossible to imagine without the Maxwell Street neighborhood where it was all born. I know you are spearheading a White House efforts to protect America's historic places. Without exaggeration, there are few more important places to our national cultural heritage than the Maxwell Street neighborhood. And yet it is in the midst of being destroyed by the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Please join our worldwide effort tot save this Blues and ethnic history landmark neighborhood.
Sincerely,
Max Page
Prof. Max Page Department of History Yale University P.O. Box 208324 New Haven, CT 06520-8324 max.page@yale.edu***
Dear First Lady Hillary Clinton:
I really enjoyed reading about your enthusiastic suport of the historic importance of blues in the American experience. One of the most important places in blues history is in danger of being destroyed, Maxwell Street. I hope you can add your voice to those of us that recognize what an important treasure this site is, and should remain for future generations.
If your office could call University of Illinois President James Stukel to tell him to stop the destruction of Maxwell Street it would go a long way to preserving a crucial cultural monument.
Sincerely,
TM Scruggs Assistant Professor in Ethnomusicology, ex-Chicago resident and musician School of Music - VMB University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 52242 tm-scruggs@uiowa.edu***
Dears Mrs. Clinton,
In France, we have "some" magnifics monuments, because we protect our cultural heritage since many century, in USA you've a young history, you must protect your roots against the money power, with all pacifics weapons you got. You must think about your children, our children all over the word. We are not owners of the earth, but we are only temporary lodgers.
You are The First Lady of a great country, help save Maxwell Street. It is an American Blues Treasure in Chicago. It is at great risk of destruction.
I'm a french blues man, and I join the worldwide effort to save this Blues and ethnic history landmark neighborhood.
thanks for your precious helping,
In a friendly way,
Thierry Cosquer Quimper, FRANCE Thierry.Cosquer@matranortel.com***
Also visit the Maxwell St. Coalition website to see hundreds more messages from all over the world.
web page provided by OPENAIR-MARKET NET
return to Preserve Maxwell Street