See clothing worn by John Adams, George Washington, and the Lincolns through the lens of museum preservation and discover how staff care for collections both in storage and during exhibitions. Explore how you can incorporate objects, their stories, and the science of their care into your classroom instruction. Hear from Threads of a Nation curator Olivia Mahoney, make STEAM connections to museum work, and receive FREE classroom resources.

Free; RSVP required. Recommended for elementary through high school educators.

Meet the Curator

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Olivia Mahoney
Guest Curator

Olivia Mahoney formerly served as Senior Curator at the Chicago History Museum. She developed numerous exhibitions related to Chicago and US history, including Edward Worst: Craftsman and Educator (1985), A House Divided: America in the Age of Lincoln with Eric Foner (1990), Go West! Chicago and American Expansion (1995), Chicago: Crossroads of America (2006), Modern by Design: Chicago Streamlines America (2018), Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of the 1960s-70s (2024), and Threads of a Nation: Preserving Presidential Clothing (2026). Since 2019, Mahoney has been a freelance curator/researcher for the Griffin Museum of Science & Industry, the Obama Presidential Center, and the Chicago History Museum.

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