Museum Blog

Missing college football’s annual fall kickoff? We’ve huddled up some images from the first half of the twentieth century. Peter T. Alter, CHM chief historian and director of the Studs Terkel Center for Oral History, provides insights on a time when Chicago-area teams and coaches dominated the collegiate gridiron.  A football game between the University More

To mark what would have been the 108th birthday of Studs Terkel, Peter T. Alter, CHM chief historian and director of the Studs Terkel Center for Oral History, reflects on the memorable moments he shared with Studs at the Museum and Studs’s enduring cultural influence.  When I started working at the Chicago History Museum in More

The 2019 National Football League season marks the centennial for both the league and a few original teams, including our very own Chicago Bears. To commemorate the occasion, assistant curator Julius L. Jones compiled some highlights from the Bears’ first century using artifacts and images in the Chicago History Museum’s collection.   The Chicago Bears More

In this photo essay, take a look back at the events surrounding the infamous 1919 Black Sox scandal. The text is adapted from “Black Sox” by Robert I. Goler, which appeared in Chicago History, fall/winter 1988–89. One hundred years ago, the Chicago White Sox lost the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. The infamous More

To commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the 1959 Pan American Games in Chicago, CHM editor Heidi Samuelson compiled some highlights from the Museum’s collection. Sixty years ago, the third Pan American Games were held in Chicago from August 27 to September 7. This was the first time they were held both in the United States More