Deutsch Family Collection

Inclusive Dates
1923 – 1977
Abstract
The Deutsch Family Collection depicts three generations of a Chicago family. It contains one 35mm film depicting the 1923 wedding of Henrietta Glick and Melvin B. Deutsch, 8mm home movies shot by their son and his wife in the 1950s, and several reels of Super-8 protest footage shot by their granddaughter Lauren in the late 1970s.
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Collection Items

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1923 Wedding
Film
1923 Wedding
June 5 1923
Collection Identifier
C.2024-10
Extent of Collection
1 reel of 35mm film totaling approx. 200ft; 5 reels of Super-8 film totaling approx. 250ft; 13 reels of Regular 8mm totaling approx. 2300ft
Subject
Weddings
Demonstrations
Family recreation
Custodial History
Lauren Deutsch came into possession of the 35mm film in the 1990s; it had been passed down from her grandmother to her mother. The 8mm home movies were shot by Lauren's parents. Lauren shot the Super-8 reels herself. The films were donated to Chicago Film Archives in two batches in 2024.
Creators
Deutsch, Lauren (was created by)
Lauren Deutsch was born in Chicago in 1956. Raised on Chicago’s south side, she attended Columbia College in the mid '70s and served as Artistic Director of Photography for the City’s Artist in Residence program later that decade. In the early '80s, she joined the Board of Directors of the Jazz Institute of Chicago and served in that capacity for 14 years. She began her tenure as executive director of the Jazz Institute of Chicago in 1996, photographing the story of the Jazz Institute and its service to Chicago’s jazz community over two decades. After 22 years of organizing, curating, and presenting musicians performing in Chicago and internationally, she stepped down from her role as executive director in 2019 to focus more deeply on her own artistic endeavors.

Her work is included in dozens of publications, including The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music 1965-Now, the catalog for an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art celebrating the 50th anniversary of Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) that included ten of her photographs; and The City Was Yellow: Chicago Jazz and Improvised Music 1980 to 2010. Deutsch has had multiple exhibitions in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. In 2015 a retrospective Lauren Deutsch: A Musical Metamorphosis: Photographs from 1979-2015, was mounted at the University of Chicago’s Reva and David Logan Center. In 2023 she received the Lifetime Achievement in Photography Award from the Jazz Journalist Association.
Deutsch, Henrietta (Glick) (is participant)
Henrietta Glick was born in Chicago in 1903, the daughter of Russian (now Belarusian) immigrant Dora Siegel and Lithuanian immigrant Meyer Glick. She grew up on the Southside of Chicago, at 5954 S Ada St. She married Melvin B. Deutsch in 1923, and the couple went on to have one son, who they raised in South Shore. The family later lived at 1755 E 55th St. Henrietta passed away in Chicago in 1996.
Deutsch, Melvin B. (is participant)
Melvin B. Deutsch was born in Belarus in 1895, the son of Minnie and David Taitsch (the original Russian name) — both born in Russia (now Belarus). Mel, his father, mother, and youngest sister emigrated to Chicago in 1907, following other family members who had emigrated there earlier. Melvin married Henrietta Glick of Chicago in 1923, and the couple went on to have one son, who they raised in South Shore. Melvin was a dentist with offices at 25 E. Washington St. for 25 years. He passed away in 1962. At the time of his death, the couple lived at 1755 E 55th St.