The Bertha Ludlam Reading Room
Mission Statement

Bertha Ludlam Research & Archival Collections

The Pullman State Historic Site is pleased to open its new Reading Room to researchers,
students, and others interested in learning about the History of Pullman.

Organized under the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, the Pullman State Historic Site is comprised of George M. Pullman's Palace Car factory site and the Hotel Florence where Pullman's clients, friends and guests were entertained and conducted business from 1881 to 1896. The Bertha Ludlam Reading Room and Archival Collection is housed at the Hotel Florence.

It is the mission of the Pullman State Historic Site to provide a first class public research facility for the study of the overlapping stories that make up the history of Pullman. Our site is dedicated to collecting, housing, researching, and exhibiting objects and materials, using traditional methods and modern technologies, that bring to life the stories of the people of Pullman. In the Bertha Ludlam Reading Room and Archival Collections the general public will be able to explore the stories and artifacts that explain how architecture, labor history, landscape design, urban planning, and transportation history came together to showcase the 19th and 20th century industrial society that made up the Town of Pullman.