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Lyn Millner. The Allure of Immortality: An American Cult, a Florida Swamp, and a Renegade Prophet. Gainesville, University of Florida Press (2015). How many visitors to today’s Fort Myers Beach, Florida, have any idea that this was the site of one of the most peculiar of America’s religious utopias? Cyrus Teed, who saw himself as a More
CHM director of Research and Access Ellen Keith recounts the milestones and achievements of Explore Chicago Collections in its first year. She recently spoke about it at the Bucknell University Digital Scholarship Conference. Did you know that the Chicago History Museum is one of the founding members of the Chicago Collections Consortium? This organization of More
It is a well-known fact that the Chicago Cubs last won a World Series title in 1908. The 1908 Chicago Cubs team at West Side Grounds after winning the World Series. Photograph by the Chicago Daily News, SDN-006934A In the 108 years since, a lot has happened. Here are a few highlights: William Howard More
As a preview to the opening of Making Mainbocher: The First American Couturier, volunteer Kristin Bernstein explains the process behind building props and determining accessories for the mannequins featured in the exhibition. In Making Mainbocher, mannequins are dressed from head to toe and no detail is lost. A gifted sketch artist who defined luxury in More
This group of four lessons examines key subjects and events in Lincoln’s lifetime: slavery; his election in 1860; the Emancipation Proclamation and black soldiers in the Union army; and his assassination. Each lesson includes high-quality reproductions of images and documents from the Museum’s collection as well as background information, analysis questions, instructional strategies, and extension More
Timothy Stewart-Winter. Queer Clout: Chicago and the Rise of Gay Politics. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press (2016). “The path of gays and lesbians to political power led through city hall and developed primarily in response to the constant threat of arrest under which they lived.” With this thesis, Timothy Stewart-Winter offers a carefully-researched and richly-textured More
Senior collection manager Britta Keller Arendt explains how the collections staff keeps track of our artifacts. One question that Museum staff are frequently asked is “How many artifacts do you have in there?”, which is quickly followed by “How do you keep track of them all?” Senior collection manager Britta Keller Arendt and collections technician More
Ulrike Groos and Sven Beckstette. I Got Rhythm: Art and Jazz since 1920 / Kunst und Jazz Seit 1920. Stuttgart, Prestel (2015). Ulrike Groos is the director of the Kunstmuseum in Stuttgart, Germany, and this is the catalogue from the museum’s exhibition “that exemplifies the close connection between jazz and the fine arts.” The timing More
Laurie Calkhoven. Women Who Changed the World: 50 Amazing Americans. New York: Scholastic (2015). This is a book for children that, not surprisingly these days, includes an edition on Kindle. Among the fifty women is Chicago’s Jane Addams. In his Author! Author! blog series, Museum president Gary T. Johnson highlights works that draw on our More
DePaul University interns Catrien Egbert and Yasmin Mitchel are working on the Museum’s latest oral history initiative, Forty Blocks: The East Garfield Park Oral History Project. Through DePaul’s public history program, they were students of Peter T. Alter, the Museum’s director of the Studs Terkel Center for Oral History. Catrien and Yasmin are working with Peter now More