Buy Chicago Sun-Times photos through the Chicago History Museum

Get your own piece of Chicago history — past or present — with images from the Sun-Times photography archive. You also can search for historic articles using the instructions below.

The view from under the L tracks, looking south from State and Lake streets on Nov. 4, 1947, photo by Chicago Sun-Times photojournalist Bill Sturm. — A view from under Chicago’s L tracks, looking south from State and Lake streets, on Nov. 4, 1947. | Bill Sturm/Sun-Times

Explore decades of Chicago news, photos and articles from the Sun-Times archives!

After the Chicago History Museum discovered millions of Sun-Times photo negatives in a storage locker in 2017, historians and archivists began organizing and digitizing the iconic images. Thanks to their diligent efforts, more than 100 of these photos are on display for free at the Chicago History Museum — and tens of thousands of images are now available for purchase.

Capturing everything from Elvis’ performance at the Chicago Stadium in 1972 to the opening of the Southwest Expressway (now the Stevenson) to the Bears’ 1985 championship season, these images tell the story of our city and region.

Explore the collection, order your favorite images and bring a piece of Chicago history home.

Shop the photography archive

Get a piece of Chicago history with an image from the Sun-Times photography archives maintained by the Chicago History Museum.

Order Now

You also can search for stories through the Sun-Times Media newspaper archive, which contains articles from the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Daily News, Chicago Evening Journal, and Chicago Record. Searching is free and unlimited, with a small fee for complete articles retrieved from the archive. You may purchase individual articles or select a package for multiple articles.

Search the newspaper archive

Get a piece of Chicago history with articles from the Sun-Times newspaper archive.

Search the Archive

Among the tens of thousands images available for purchase from the Chicago History Museum:

Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton during the championship 1985 season. To purchase a copy of this photo, click here. | John H. White/Sun-Times

Elvis Presley performs at Chicago Stadium on June 16, 1972. To purchase a copy of this photo, click here. | Jack Lenahan/Sun-Times

Screen_Shot_2020_07_21_at_4.55.20_PM.png — Michael Jordan shoots a jump shot in Game 1 of the 1993 NBA Finals against the Phoenix Suns. To purchase a copy of this photo, click here.

The opening of the Southwest Expressway (now the Stevenson Expressway) in 1964. To purchase a copy of this photo, click here.

The 1970 Bud Billiken Day Parade travels down Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. To purchase a copy of this photo, click here.

Here’s a closer look at the Chicago History Museum’s efforts to restore the Sun-Times photo archive: