By Jonathan W. Jordan

As you walk through the double glass doors into the bright entry room of Chicago’s award-winning Pritzker Military Library, you know you are in a place where service and sacrifice are honored.

Along the library’s walls are the many faces of valor—vintage posters of heroes and war slogans, photographs of Spanish-American War volunteers, watercolor prints of Buffalo Soldiers, Doughboys, airmen, and sailors.

These faces remind visitors of the unique story that has become the Pritzker’s mission to tell.

In the lecture hall and oral history room, guests can hear riveting tales of Medal of Honor recipients. In glass cases rest medals, flags, personal effects, and artifacts of wars past and present—silent reminders of the men and women who used those tools in the defense of their country. Rows of shelves house 38,000 volumes of military lore. And passing over the library’s two main floors visitors will often find the staff speaking respectfully with a white-haired officer or a tattooed soldier, listening to him tell his story as they help place that story in the larger context of our wars in Europe, the Pacific, Korea, Vietnam, and beyond.

It is unlike any other library you’ll ever see.

But beyond the collections of rare books, beyond the art galleries and the 20,000 historical artifacts, lies the Pritzker’s “other library,” one available to those living a world away from the bustle of downtown Chicago’s Michigan Avenue. It is a world accessible with a click of a mouse.

A Library Without Walls

At pritzkermilitarylibrary.org visitors can watch archived video podcasts of soldiers, Marines, pilots, and sailors telling their stories, or world-class historians like Rick Atkinson or James D. Hornfischer relate tales from the Pacific War and the Italian theater. They can also browse online collections, which provide a wealth of information about the library’s books, photographs, videotapes, podcasts, and other holdings.

To someone interested in American warfare, the Pritzker’s online library catalog is a real gem. Intuitive and word searchable, its website puts the reader in touch with real stories of veterans, as well as many of the written accounts stored in the library’s ever-growing book collection. It also links to five databases containing full-text versions of thousands of periodicals, pamphlets, and similar works, as well as abstracts and indices of many others.

The podcasts are an interactive feature the Pritzker Library helped pioneer in the military history field. Viewers can watch lectures on a variety of subjects in real time, and email questions to the lecture hall to be relayed to the speaker. Armed with a computer and email account, the viewer in Houston, Los Angeles, or Tokyo can chat with a war veteran or noted historian—just like a patron sitting in the Pritzker’s cushioned chairs.

The Pritzker has hosted nine discussions, interviews, and presentations by distinguished historians since it moved into its 40,000 square foot home in February 2011. They include Britain’s Lieutenant General Jonathon Riley author of Decisive Battles: From Yorktown to Operation Desert Storm, Medal of Honor recipient, retired Marine Major General James E. Livingston, who authored Noble Warrior: The Life and Times of Maj. Gen. James E. Livingston, USMC, and former Assistant Secretary of Defense Bing West, who wrote The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan.

They add their voices to the 300-plus who have presented stories to the Pritzker’s audiences since 2003. Many of these lectures can be downloaded by the library’s “virtual audience” for later review. More than 200 have been broadcast on WYCC-TV Channel 20, a Chicago PBS affiliate.

Telling the Tale

The Pritzker Military Library is the brainchild of James N. Pritzker, a philanthropist and retired colonel with the Illinois National Guard. The library’s mission is to foster and publicize research on the history of conflict, with a special emphasis on the citizen soldier whom the United States has called upon so many times to defend its liberty. Led by President Ed Tracy, who has been with the library since its inception, the Pritzker has taken university and private library efforts to the next level by combining serious scholarly military research with multimedia formats, then bringing that potent information partnership to the internet’s vast audience.

The Pritzker took a great leap forward in February 2011, when it moved into its permanent home across the street from the famous Art Institute of Chicago. Completed at a cost of $12 million, the library’s state-of-the-art space merges traditional library functions with the educational, social, and web-based functions of a modern museum. Everything about the Pritzker’s new home, from the period Rookwood tiles in the entryway to its wrought iron elevator doors, prompts a feeling that the past and present are moving together.

Inside the main entryway, just past the welcome desk, stands the “Citizen Soldier” exhibit, showcasing artifacts donated by the men and women who served in uniform. Beyond that, past a collection of eye-catching prints by artist Jes Wilhelm Schlaijker, is the Medal of Honor Gallery, a tribute to the fallen and living recipients of America’s highest award for valor. Open to the public, large galleries on both floors hold the library’s traveling exhibits.

Finally, moving through a heavy wooden door to the side entrance, one steps onto the stage of an acoustically superb lecture hall where speakers present their stories to more than 100 audience members and a podcast audience estimated at 2,000 subscribers. Moderated by Tracy, speakers respond to questions from both audiences.

The topics Pritzker speakers have covered over the years are as diverse as the presenters themselves, but the theme—the deed of America’s defenders—remains true to the intent of its founder.

“We try to tell the story of American history through the eyes of the citizen soldier,” said Tracy. “It’s all about service, courage, and sacrifice.”

I had the pleasure of speaking at the Pritzker Military Library in April. During my time there, I was privileged to have an insider’s look at the library’s holdings, which include a rare 1773 account of Captain Cook’s expedition to the South Pacific, and a book from the 1600s entitled History of the Low Country Wars.

As my guide was pointing out the diverse collections housed at the library’s new building, I was struck by the sense of reverence every staff member holds for what our men and women in uniform have given to the republic for more than two centuries. Through books, images, and storytelling, the Pritzker Military Library relentlessly spreads the great story of sacrifice at home and abroad.

-Jonathan W. Jordan is the award-winning author of national bestseller Brothers Rivals Victors: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley and the Partnership That Drove the Allied Conquest in Europe, and Lone Star Navy. The Pritzker Military Library can be accessed from anywhere on the globe at www.pritzkermilitarylibrary.org.