Studs Terkel's multifaceted life has produced an equally rich and varied legacy of research materials. After graduating from University of Chicago's Law School in 1934, Terkel pursued acting and appeared on stage, in radio, and in the movies. He has been a playwright, a radio news commentator, a sportscaster, and a film narrator, and has worked as a jazz columnist, a disc jockey, and a music festival host. He even served briefly as a civil service employee but is best known as a radio network personality and as a Pulitzer Prize-winning author of books. His award winning books are based on his extensive conversations with Americans from all walks of life that chronicle the profound and often tumultuous changes in our nation during the twentieth century. On "The Studs Terkel Program", which was heard on Chicago's fine arts radio station WFMT from 1952 to 1997, Terkel interviewed Chicagoans and national and international figures who helped shape the past century. The program included guests who were politicians, writers, activists, labor organizers, performing artists, and architects among others. Terkel is remarkable in the depth of his personal knowledge of the diverse subjects explored on his program and his ability to get others to talk about themselves and what they do best. Many of the interviews he conducted for his books and for his radio program are featured here.

Studs Terkel’s work has been highly praised and recognized in the world of arts and letters. He is the recipient of numerous book awards including the Pulitzer Prize for The Good War (1985), the Irita Van Doren Book Award, and two National Book Award nominations. Terkel received the Presidential National Humanities Medal (1999), the National Medal of Humanities (1997), the Illinois Governor’s Award for the Arts, the Clarence Darrow Commemorative Award, and he has been cited by the Friends of Literature for his "unique contributions to the cultural life of Chicago." His radio programs have been honored with the Prix Italia, three Ohio State Awards, three Major Armstrong Awards, and the George Foster Peabody Award for The Studs Terkel Program (1980). He is currently Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Chicago Historical Society.

The following is a list of radio programs featuring Studs Terkel and books he authored.

Radio Programs

• "Studs Terkel Almanac," 1952-1953, WFMT, Chicago (IL)
• "Sounds of the City," 1954-1958, WLS, Chicago (IL)
• "The Studs Terkel Program,"1952-1997, Chicago (IL)
• "A Prairie Home Companion," featured guest, 1985-, (Chicago (IL)

Books

• Giants of Jazz, Crowell, 1957
• Division Street: America, Pantheon, 1967
• Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression, Pantheon, 1970
• Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do, Pantheon, 1974
• Talking to Myself: A Memoir of My Times, Pantheon, 1980
• American Dreams: Lost and Found, Pantheon, 1980
• The Good War: An Oral History of World War II, Pantheon, 1984 Chicago, Pantheon, 1988
• The Great Divide, Pantheon, 1988
• Race: How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel About the American Obsession, The New Press, 1992
• Coming of Age: The Story of Our Century by Those Who’ve Lived It, The New Press, 1995
• The Spectator, The New Press, 1999
• Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Reflections on Death, Rebirth and Hunger for a Faith, The New Press, 2001

The Chicago Historical Society is grateful to the following funders whose support makes accessible and preserves the Studs Terkel Collection: the Chicago Community Trust, the National Science Foundation (National Gallery of the Spoken Word project), and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Chicago Historical Society gratefully acknowledges the Chicago Park District's generous support of all the Historical Society's activities.

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