Working as a substitute teacher and photographer in the 1970s, Susan Fell-Lazar brought her camera to work, capturing many students in classrooms and playing with friends.
But Fell-Lazar never released those photos — until now.
Fell-Lazar — a substitute teacher for Chicago Public Schools on the North, Northwest and West sides between 1970-1978 — used her Leica camera as a “creative solution” to get through challenging situations in the classroom, resulting in over 100 black-and-white candid prints on 35-millimeter film.
The Highland Park-based former teacher and documentary photographer, who closed her darkroom 20 years ago and has been digitizing her photography collection, has always been curious about the kids she captured. Now that over 50 years have passed since her classroom photos were taken, she’s hoping to identify some of the students, reconnect with them and give them prints of their younger selves if they wish, she said.
“Today, they would be adults … with kids of their own. … I have always wondered what became of them,” Fell-Lazar said.
Fell-Lazar worked in about 40 elementary schools on the Northwest Side, including Chopin; Yates; Lafayette, now Chicago High School for the Arts; and the closed Von Humboldt, which is being turned into teacher apartments. She often brought her camera with her and photographed kids being silly, serious and everything in between, she said.
Photos also include students from Chase Elementary School in Logan Square, 2021 N. Point St., dressing up in celebration of the Puerto Rican parade in June 1973. Fell-Lazar got permission to document the students at the request of her cousin, a Chase teacher who wanted her to take photos as the kids were preparing to attend the parade, she said.
Looking back on the photos now, Fell-Lazar noticed more details about those memories and time in the classrooms, some of which she didn’t realize she captured 50 years ago.
“I saw the subtle things going on between kids that I didn’t notice before, clothes they were wearing, and how in most ways, kids are similar developmentally, but also how different they were,” she said. “I’d go through stuff and I’d see things that were just period items, like a big poster in a classroom of immigrants with ‘Charlie’s Angels’ on it, things like that.”
Fell-Lazar isn’t ready to donate the photos or show them all in a public gallery — she wants to see if they get any traction first — but is open to that possibility in the future.
In the ’90s, Fell-Lazar worked on a series photographing Latin-American immigrants settling in suburban Highland Park and taking summer school classes to aid in their literacy. A few months ago, she attended an event with one of the children featured in the series, who is now an adult with his own children.
“I brought the photograph of him at age 10 or 11, and that was a really super positive thing,” she said. “He was clutching it the whole time and showed his family. His kids were excited to see it, and it brought up memories.”
Fell-Lazar hopes families still on the Northwest Side have a similar experience to that moment when seeing these photos, getting a chance to relive the past.
