This Presidents’ Day, get more civically engaged through family-friendly activities! Write a letter to the new President of the United States to tell them what matters to you. Participate in arts-based activities and create a piece that reflects your social and political interests!

Included with general admission, which is FREE for IL residents on this day.

Schedule

10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.

Letters to the President

Write a letter to President Donald J. Trump to let him know how you think he’s doing as president and what you would like to see him do in the future. If there are actions he’s taking that you support, let him know that! If there are things in which you’d like to see him take a different approach, this is a great way to have your voice heard, too. All letters can either be taken home or left with CHM staff to be mailed out together to the White House. Appropriate for all ages, especially 13+

Make-and-Take Campaign Signs and Buttons

Art is a great way to strengthen one’s campaign efforts. Come make your own campaign signs and buttons as if you were running for the Office of the President of the United States of America! Design them in ways that reflect your values, aesthetics, and major topics of interest. Take them home as a souvenir or maybe even start your own future political campaign! Appropriate for all ages preschool and up.

Community Response Activity – “If I Were President . . .”

Leave a public message to other visitors about what sorts of issues you would focus on if you were president. What do you think is important to address as a nation today? How would you go about supporting our local, national, and international communities through presidential action? Appropriate for all ages, especially 13+

We’ll also have special gallery tours of our exhibitions throughout the day and IDEA stations to engage Chicago’s history in hands-on, interactive ways!

Abraham Lincoln Portrait of Abraham Lincoln in Washington D.C., April 10, 1865. Chicago History Museum, ICHi-027340; Alexander Gardner, photographer.
Portrait of Ulysses S. Grant on a campaign banner. Portrait of Ulysses S. Grant on a campaign banner, 1868. Chicago History Museum, ICHi-067126.
President Theodore Roosevelt, left, and William Rainey Harper, president of the University of Chicago, right, Chicago, Illinois, April 2, 1903. President Roosevelt was at the University of Chicago to receive an honorary degree. President Theodore Roosevelt, left, and William Rainey Harper, president of the University of Chicago, right, Chicago, Illinois, April 2, 1903. President Roosevelt was at the University of Chicago to receive an honorary degree. DN-0000387, Chicago Daily News collection, Chicago History Museum.
Franklin D. Roosevelt speaking at the Democratic National Convention, Eleanor Roosevelt on the platform, Chicago, Illinois, July 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt speaking at the Democratic National Convention, Eleanor Roosevelt on the platform, Chicago, Illinois, July 1932. DN-0104650, Chicago Sun-Times/Chicago Daily News collection, CHM.
President Ronald Reagan speaks to students at Gordon Technical High School President Ronald Reagan speaks to students at Gordon Technical High School (DePaul College Prep), 3633 North California Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. ST-20001943-0033, Chicago Sun-Times collection, Chicago History Museum.
Martin Luther King Jr. meets with President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House, Washington, D. C., 1963. Martin Luther King Jr. meets with President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House, Washington, D. C., 1963. Chicago History Museum, ICHi-034763; Voichi R. Okamato, photographer.
Illinois State Senator Barack Obama at anti-war rally Illinois State Senator Barack Obama speaking at rally against a potential war with Iraq at Federal Plaza, around 200 S. Dearborn St., Chicago, October 2, 2002. CHM, ICHi-177287
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