Jeffrey L. Wien Collection

Inclusive Dates
circa 1948 – 2012
Abstract
Materials documenting trains and streetcars in Chicago and the world, including films, miniDV tapes, and papers.
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Collection Items

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[1959 circa: CTA "L" and North Shore Line]
Film
[1959 circa: CTA "L" and North Shore Line]
circa 1959
To request more information about the items in this collection, please contact the archive at info@chicagofilmarchives.org.
Items with Viewable Media
Collection Identifier
C.2021-06
Extent of Collection
3 boxes of materials documenting images of street cars in Chicago, from the 1940s-1980s. 1 box of film, another of mini DV tapes, and one box of paper materials containing details pertaining to the collection itself.

37 reels of 8mm, 1 reel of Super-8, and 3 reels of 16mm film
136 Mini DV tapes
1 audio cassette tape
Language Of Materials
English
Subject
Railroad trains
Transportation
Local transit
Custodial History
The collection was in the possession of Jeffrey L. Wien until his passing in January, 2021. In keeping with his final wishes, ownership of the collection was transferred to CFA by his successor trustee.
Creators
Wien, Jeffrey L. (was source of)

Jeff Wien was born in Chicago on April 3, 1941, the son of Jerome Lester Wien and Helen Louise Kraus. He grew up on the south side of Chicago near 47th Street until 1950, when the family moved to Evanston. He was a graduate of Evanston Township High School (class of 1959) and Northwestern University (class of 1963). He served his country as a Lieutenant in Naval Intelligence from 1963 to 1967. By profession, he was an accountant, and worked for Blue Cross-Blue Shield and at Provident Hospital. He loved to travel and was an avid and accomplished photographer and filmmaker, whose work appeared in many publications. His interest in historic preservation, architecture, and nostalgia drew him to street railways, interurbans and railroads. He was a passenger on the last Chicago streetcar in 1958 and was one of the last living employees of the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee interurban. He was the author of Chicago Streetcar Memories, a DVD produced by Chicago Transport Memories LLC in 2009. Jeff was a co-author of the very comprehensive book Chicago Streetcar Pictorial: The PCC Car Era, 1936-1958, issued as Bulletin 146 of the Central Electric Railfans’ Association in 2015. Wien was a voting member of the Illinois Railway Museum and a generous contributor to its activities. He was also a director and officer of Central Electric Railfans’ Association for 37 years. CERA is a not-for-profit technical and educational association founded in 1938. Along with Bradley Criss, he established the Wien-Criss Archive, an important photographic collection and resource that will continue to aid historical research in the future. 

Wien died from a heart attack at Rush University Medical Center on January 6, 2021 at the age of 79.

 

Source: David Sadowski (2021)