Page 3 – Chicago History Museum

PRIMARY SOURCE TYPE: 2D OBJECTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, DOCUMENTS

Chicago Artists in the 1960s and ’70s used design to create powerful slogans, symbols, and imagery to amplify their visions for social change. This learning guide encourages deeper exploration into the exhibition themes of racism, war, gender inequality, and LGBTQIA+ discrimination and encourages students to use their own art and ideas to uphold the city’s rich legacy of protest art to fight for social change.

The learning guide contains field trip supports, student articles related to the main section of the exhibition, and art making activities. The image packet is available as a separate download. To make printing easier, options to download specific student handouts are available below. All student handouts are in English and Spanish.

Download the full Learning Guide (PDF). This PDF includes all teacher information and instructions and all student readings and activities.

Field Trip

If you are able to visit the Chicago History Museum on a field trip, incorporate one of the following activities to help your students engage with the exhibition. All activities are in both English and Spanish.

3-1-2 Graphic Organizer. Encourage your students to explore the entire exhibition, and respond to the artworks, topics, and artists along the way with this graphic organizer. Download 3-1-2 Graphic Organizer (PDF)

Historical Head. Consider the thoughts, motivations, and goals of the organizations and people in the Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of the 1960s-70s exhibition by filling a head with their ideas! Back in the classroom use the completed heads to have a classroom discussion. Download Historical Head (PDF)

Gallery Explorer. The Designing for Change and Facing Freedom exhibitions both examine social justice issues in the United States. Use this graphic organizer to help students explore both spaces and consider the how people advocate for themselves and others. Download Gallery Explorer (PDF)

Student Articles

Based on the exhibition, labels and catalog, these five articles provide context and introduce the movements, ideas, and artists featured in the exhibition. Articles are available in both English and Spanish. If you are unable to visit the exhibition in person, these articles can serve as the entry point to the content and to the arts making activities featured in the Learning Guide.

The Chicago Freedom Movement and Art for Fair Housing: English (PDF) / Spanish (PDF)
Say it Loud: Black Art for Black Power: English (PDF) / Spanish (PDF)
Stop the War: Chicagoans Protests the Vietnam War with Art: English (PDF) / Spanish (PDF)
Women Organize for Change: English (PDF) / Spanish (PDF)
Creating a Community: Chicago’s LGBTQIA+ Rights Organizations: English (PDF) / Spanish (PDF)

Image Packet

“Education is a Right by William Estrada

Explore some of the photographs and images featured in the student articles and exhibition and use them to further develop and support your classroom instruction. Download Image Packet (PDF)

Art Making

Students can be artivists too! Engage your students in making buttons, zines, or prints to express their ideas for social change. Kick off their art making with this student planner, in both English and Spanish. Download Art Making planner (PDF)

CHICAGO (October 31, 2024) – On August 28, 1955, Emmett Till was kidnapped, tortured, killed and dumped in the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi. He was 14 years old. Just a few weeks later, his murderers, Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam, were put on trial. When it was time to deliver the verdict, an all-white male jury deliberated for just 67 minutes before acquitting Bryant and Milam. Injustice: The Trial for the Murder of Emmett Till, opening at the Chicago History Museum on November 23, will share Emmett’s story and legacy through photographs of the joyful life he led in Chicago, the gut-wrenching images from his funeral and the original courtroom sketches of the trial.

Fondly referred to as “Bobo” or “Bo” by family and friends, Emmett Till was born in Argo (now Summit), Ill., on July 25, 1941. While spending the summer with family in Mississippi, he was attacked and killed after being accused of offending a white woman. Three days after his abduction, his body was recovered. He was brought back to Chicago where more than 100,000 people filed past the glass-topped casket at Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ.

“People had to face my son and realize just how twisted, how distorted, how terrifying race hatred could be. They would have to see their own responsibility in pushing for an end to this evil,” said Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley.

Less than three weeks after Emmett’s body was found, the trial began. By that time, thousands of Americans had seen the gut-wrenching photographs of his body in Jet magazine. Journalists from around the country traveled to Mississippi to cover the trial. During the trial, Chicago-based artist-reporter Franklin McMahon documented the proceedings, creating sketches that would appear in an issue of Life magazine. In 2004, the Museum acquired these drawings, which will be on display in “Injustice.”

“These drawings give a visual account of a trial that amplified the inequities Black Americans face within the U.S. court system, including a lack of equal protection under the law,” says exhibition curator Charles E. Bethea, the Andrew W. Mellon Director of Curatorial Affairs & Collections. “With more than forty works ranging from simple pencil sketches to intricate drawings with added ink wash, McMahon’s documentation is an invaluable record of what became one of the seminal moments of the modern Civil Rights Movement.”

The exhibition will highlight not only Emmett Till’s life and the trial following his murder but also the impact of his story. Connections to modern instances of racial discrimination and imagery depicting the fight against racial injustice including the Chicago March of Justice for George Floyd in June 2020 will be part of the exhibition.

“What happened to Emmett is a difficult part of U.S. history, and Injustice demonstrates the impacts that systemic racism, inequality and anti-Blackness can have on Black lives,” says Bethea. “Through this exhibition, we hope visitors will consider how Emmett Till’s legacy continues in those seeking justice for Black lives today.”

The Chicago History Museum invites the public to join them in learning from and reflecting on Emmett Till’s life through this look at his murder trial and the ripple effects of his story.

For more information, please visit the Chicago History Museum’s website or contact the Museum’s press office.

Media kit available here: https://chicagohistory.box.com/s/jbr52mrgtlp98v042zdy8bp5rv0wo9jk

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ABOUT THE CHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM
The Chicago History Museum is situated on ancestral homelands of the Potawatomi people, who cared for the land until forced out by non-Native settlers. Established in 1856, the Museum is located at 1601 N. Clark Street in Lincoln Park, its third location. A major museum and research center for Chicago and U.S. history, the Chicago History Museum strives to be a destination for learning, inspiration, and civic engagement. Through dynamic exhibitions, tours, publications, special events and programming, the Museum connects people to Chicago’s history and to each other. The Museum collects and preserves millions of artifacts, documents, and images to assist in sharing Chicago stories. The Museum gratefully acknowledges the support of the Chicago Park District on behalf of the people of Chicago.

To learn more or request an interview with a spokesperson, please contact the Museum’s Public Communications Manager.

In July 2024, an historic letter, penned by famed Potawatomi leader Simon Pokagon in 1898, was donated to the Chicago History Museum by trustee John Low. Low is an author, historian, and professor at The Ohio State University, and a member of the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi. He has written extensive articles and books on Potawatomi history and has worked to preserve ancient Indian effigy mound burial areas in Ohio and the Midwest.

Low purchased the letter from an online auction after being alerted by his friend and fellow tribe member Mike Winchester.

“It is not often that you find an historic source-document like this come for sale,” Low notes. “This letter was hand-written by Simon Pokagon and helps shed light on his authorship of a book by Pokagon printed shortly after his death.”

Portrait of Simon Pokagon, The City Beyond the White City: Simon Pokagon and The Red Man’s Rebuke/the Red Man’s Greeting. Public domain.

Simon Pokagon (1830–99) was a lifelong advocate for repatriation of traditional Indian lands, even meeting with President Abraham Lincoln to plead the Potawatomi’s case. Simon’s father, Chief Leopold Pokagon (1775–1841), attended the 1833 Treaty of Chicago and negotiated favorable concessions for his people that ultimately saved them from being evicted from their southwest Michigan lands. In 1838, the federal government removed 850 Potawatomi members from their northern Indiana homes in what became known as the Potawatomi Trail of Death—a forced march from Indiana to Kansas that resulted in the deaths of 40 people on the 660-mile, two-month journey. Due to Leopold’s astute negotiations, the Pokagon Potawatomi group was spared from the march and allowed to remain in Michigan. Leopold then successfully petitioned the Michigan Supreme Court to allow his people to stay on land that he had purchased.

In 1893, Simon Pokagon published The Red Man’s Rebuke, a pamphlet in protest of the World’s Columbian Exposition. In it, he pointed out the violent and unjust treatment of Native Americans and declared that American Indians could not celebrate the world’s fair anniversary of Christopher Columbus, whose arrival destroyed their way of life. Printed on birch bark pages and tied together into a book, The Red Man’s Rebuke was a bold statement that challenged US colonialism.

Cover of The Red Man’s Rebuke by Chief Simon Pokagon, printed on birch bark sheet. Published by C.H. Engle, Hartford, Michigan, 1893. CHM, ICHi-065246

In it, Pokagon writes:

In behalf of my people, the American Indians, I hereby declare to you, the pale-faced race that has usurped our lands and homes, that we have no spirit to celebrate with you the Great Columbian Fair now being held in this Chicago city, the wonder of the world. No; sooner would we hold high joy-day over the graves of our departed fathers, than to celebrate our own funeral, the discovery of America. And while you who are strangers, and you who live here, bring the offerings of the handiwork of your own lands, and your hearts in admiration rejoice over the beauty and grandeur of this young republic, and you say, “Behold the wonders wrought by our children in this foreign land,” do not forget that this success has been at the sacrifice of our homes and a once happy race.

Pokagon went on to speak at the World’s Columbian Exposition on “Chicago Day” to an audience of 75,000 people. His speech was more conciliatory than The Red Man’s Rebuke—calling for all races to assimilate and work together toward common aims. In an act of goodwill, he presented a ceremonial “Deed to Chicago” at the fair. His approach, however, was criticized by some Potawatomi tribal members and others who questioned his authority to do so.

Simon Pokagon died in 1899, and his final book, O-gi-waw-kwe Mit-i-gwa-ki (Queen of the Woods), was published months after his death. The romantic novel tells the story of Pokagon’s wife, Lodinaw, and earned Pokagon the title the “Red Man’s Longfellow” by literary fans. However, many critics, including some in his own tribe, questioned whether the book was ghostwritten by Sarah Engle, the wife of Pokagon’s publisher/attorney.

Low believes the Simon Pokagon letter, written in 1898, provides clues to the true authorship of the book. In it, Pokagon writes about completing Queen of the Woods, proof that he was writing the book one year before its publication. In addition, he uses Potawatomi and Ojibwe/Odawa words in his letter, much like the writing style in his known books and publications.

In an article penned for the Historical Society of Michigan, Low suggests the letter confirms Pokagon’s writing abilities that make him the likely true author of Queen of the Woods. “The substantial length of the letter,” Low notes, “shows the writer to be very literate and capable of the writings ascribed to him.”

CHM trustee John Low presents the Simon Pokagon letter to Julie Wroblewski, former CHM director of collections. Photograph by Eric Miller, July 19, 2024.

Julie Wroblewski, former Chicago History Museum director of collections, agrees with Low’s theory. “Although this letter was written in 1898, it’s as if Chief Pokagon is speaking to us today,” Wroblewski adds. “It’s a simple letter to Pokagon’s friend that also shows the work of an accomplished writer.”

“This letter adds significant depth and context to the Simon Pokagon material at the Museum, including an original copy of Red Man’s Rebuke,” Wroblewski points out. “We are honored to add this important document to our collection to ensure it will be preserved and available for public access to future scholars and researchers.”

The letter is a response to a request for a subscription to a forthcoming magazine called The Coming Age. Pokagon wishes his friend good luck with the new venture, noting that he “can not at present subscribe” and that he is working on writing his book, Queen of the Woods. He then goes on to recommend three friends who could be contacted to ask for a subscription.

The Coming Age: A Magazine of Constructive Thought, vol. 1, no 1. January 1899. Image courtesy of Eric Miller, 2024.

The first issue of The Coming Age: A Magazine of Constructive Thought was printed in January 1899, less than two months after Pokagon’s letter. The magazine’s founder and editor, author B. O. (Benjamin Orange) Flower, is likely the recipient of Pokagon’s letter. Pokagon closes his letter with a blessing to his friend written in both English and Potawatomi and Ojibwe/Odawa. The vivid writing style is similar in style to the text in his many books and publications.

The text of the letter reads:

Hartford Mich Oct 26 1898

Editor of Coming (sic) age My Dear Friend and Brother

Your circular at hand. Am indeed glad to know you have started out on a different venture, but still are the secure trail-founding away for better days, at the door of tyrannical customs, fashions & all that holds the deserving in bonds of poverty & his grace – I regret I can not at the present subscribe for the “Coming age” – But the fact is ‒ over

I am striving every move to publish “Queen of the Woods” a book that I long have been desirous to have published

I send you herewith the following names

Mrs Marsella Goodspeed

Mrs Lydia Young

H.M. Alney all of Hartford Mich

I feel like taking you by the hand my dear Brother & say God bless your noble soul. May “Waw-Kwe’ (Heaven) bless “The Coming Age” most abundantly, & hasten the time when when all classes & races shall acknowledge each other as brothers and that Kiji’ man-l-to o-os-si’-maw kaw-ke’-naw (is God the father of all) Sincerely, yours Chief Simon Pokagon

The front and back of the letter written by Simon Pokagon, 1898. Photograph by Eric Miller, 2024.

Read the full press release of Low’s generous donation.

Palmer House Brownies (Original)

Brownie Ingredients:

1 lb. (1 cup) butter
18 oz. (3 cups) semisweet chocolate
1 Tbsp baking powder
8 oz. (2 cups) cake flour
24 oz. (3 3/8 cups) granulated sugar
4 whole eggs
1 lb. walnuts, crushed

Glaze Ingredients:

1 cup water
1 cup apricot preserves
1 tsp. unflavored gelatin

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
Melt the chocolate with the butter in a double boiler.
Mix the dry ingredients (except for walnuts) in a mixing bowl.
Mix the chocolate with the dry ingredients (4–5 minutes).
Add the eggs.
Pour the mixture into 9” x 12” baking pan and sprinkle walnuts on top.
Press the walnuts down slightly into the mixture with your hands.
Back for 30–40 minutes. It should test “gooey” with a toothpick in middle. Allow to cool for 30 minutes before glazing with a pastry brush.
For the glaze, mix together the gelatin, preserves, and water in a saucepan. Bring to boil for 2 minutes, then spread while hot.

Note: The brownies are easier to cut if you place the entire pan in the freezer for 3 to 4 hours after glazing, then remove and cut into squares with a serrated knife. In fact, freezing them after glazing is highly recommended for the recipe to work properly.

Makes 24 chocolatey treasures.

Download the Recipe Card

Palmer House Brownies (Today)

Brownie Ingredients:

5.25 oz. (7/8 cup) 60% dark couverture chocolate
9.75 oz. (1 cup + 3 ½ Tbsp) butter
12.75 oz. (1 3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp) granulated sugar
5 eggs
3.5 oz. (3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp) (heaping) all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp baking powder
8 oz. (1 cup) chopped walnuts

Glaze Ingredients:

1 cup water
1 cup apricot preserves
1 tsp. unflavored gelatin

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Mix the baking powder, sugar, and flour together in a bowl. Combine chocolate and flour mixtures. Stir for 4 to 5 minutes. Add eggs and continue mixing.
3. Pour the mixture into a 9×12 baking sheet. Sprinkle walnuts on top, pressing down slightly into the mixture with your hand. Bake for approximately 35 minutes.
4. Brownies are done when the edges begin to crisp and has risen about 1/4 of an inch.
5. To make the glaze: Mix together water, apricot preserves, and unflavored gelatin in saucepan. Mix thoroughly and bring to a boil for two minutes. Brush hot glaze on brownies while still warm.

Note: When the brownie is properly baked, it will remain “gooey” with a toothpick in the middle due to the richness of the mixture.

Recipe courtesy of the Palmer House Hilton.

Download the Recipe Card

Each fall, people in Latine communities around the world remember their deceased loved ones during Día de los Muertos. In this blog post, CHM curator of religion and community history Rebekah Coffman writes about how contemporary Day of the Dead celebrations mirror the hybridization and mingling of Indigenous and Catholic roots through Spanish colonization of Latin America.

Ofrenda installation at NMMA by Alejandro García Nelo, “54,950 heartbeats: A tribute to the victims of the earthquakes in Turkiye, Syria and Morocco,” 2023. Photograph by Rebekah Coffman

Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is strongly associated with Mexican communities but today is celebrated throughout Latin America and globally by the Latine diaspora.

Illustrations depicting Mictēcacihuātl from Exhibition catalogue for NMMA’s (then the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum) Día de los Muertos exhibition, p. 9, CHM Collection, GT4995 A4D52 1991

It is a holiday rooted in Indigenous tradition that has evolved through the centuries. The Aztec Empire celebrated the Lady of the Dead or Queen of the Underworld, Mictēcacihuātl, as an Indigenous spiritual tradition. Mictēcacihuātl is said to protect bones of the dead so they may be returned and used in the land of the living. Spanish conquistadores observed this tradition and fused Aztec traditions with the Catholic holidays of All Saints Day and All Souls Day as a tool for colonialism and forced conversions. In Spain, Catholic celebrations of All Saints Days and All Souls Days were celebrated by decorating family graves and sharing food graveside as way of remembering and communing with deceased loved ones. Contemporary Day of the Dead celebrations mirror the hybridization and mingling of these Indigenous and Catholic roots through Spanish colonization of Latin America.

(L) Calavera de la Catrina, from the portfolio of 36 Grabados: José Guadalupe Posada, published by Arsacio Vanegas, Mexico City, c. 1910. Public Domain. (R) José Guadalupe Posada print by artist Carlos A. Cortéz Koyokuikatl, showing Posada’s La Catrina, 1981. CHM, Broadsides collection.

In the visual language of today, Mictēcacihuātl typically takes the form of La Catrina, a skeletal female figure wearing a European-style woman’s hat. This is credited to the influence of Chicago activist-artist Carlos Cortéz Koyokuikatl’s reuse of a popular image created by Mexican engraver and printmaker José Guadalupe Posada.

View of the Celebrando Comunidad mural by Liz Reyes in Little Village at 26th Street and Lawndale Avenue, October 18, 2019. CHM, STM-087170528, James Foster/Chicago Sun-Times

(L) NMMA installation: Familia Jiménez, Leo Parga, Araceli Muñoz, Mireya Bautista and Héctor Martínez, Öfrenda for Guadalupe Jiménez (1957–2022), 2023. Photograph by Rebekah Coffman. (R) Ofrenda in Dunkin Donuts in Pilsen, 2023. Photograph by Rebekah Coffman

Another of the most recognizable elements of Día de los Muertos is the ofrenda, or altar. Seen in homes, along streets, on sidewalks, in stores, and in cemeteries, ofrendas are literal offerings to the spirits of deceased loved ones. They often feature photographs as well as favorite items of those who have passed on, including foods like pan de muerto, water or other drinks, and favorite toys or activities. Ofrendas are also usually decorated with cempaxochitl/cempasúchil, or marigolds, which symbolize life’s fragility. Their bright orange color and distinct smell act as guides for bringing spirits back for the time of celebration.

(L) Person holding a sign that reads “Chicano Power,” July 19, 1971. CHM, ST-60004929-0031, Chicago Sun-Times collection. (R) Mural, July 19, 1971. CHM, ST-60004929-0145, Chicago Sun-Times collection

While Día de los Muertos had been celebrated in Mexico for centuries, its arrival to the United States coincided with Mexican immigration during the second half of the 19th century. For decades, the tradition was kept by families through religious masses and visits to family graves, but gatherings remained small and more private. This began changing through the 1960s and 1970s with the rise of the Xicano/Chicano movement. El Movimiento pushed against structural racism through centering bold expressions of Mexican and Latino identity in the public sphere. Activist efforts included political actions, student walk outs, and protests but also included arts such as visual and poster art, literature, music, and murals. Chicano activists began marking Día de los Muertos boldly in community, using it as a way to educate the broader public about Mexicanidad and carefully distinguishing it from Halloween.

Exhibition catalogue for NMMA’s (then the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum) Día de los Muertos exhibition, Cover and frontispiece, CHM Collection, GT4995 A4D52 1991

As this exhibition catalogue demonstrates, the National Museum of Mexican Art (NMMA) has played a key role in amplifying Day of the Dead in Chicago. Since 1987, they have held an annual display of commissioned ofrendas, each year shifting focus on a different theme, but all centered in preserving this ancient tradition while bringing new relevance. Additionally, their Día de los Muertos Xicágo gathering features dozens of ofrendas made by community members as well as art activations and live music.

(L) Carlos Totolero and Helen Valdez, two of the cofounders of the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum (now NMMA), February 13, 1992. ST-19040944-0004, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM. (R) Students visiting the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum (now NMMA), February 13, 1992. ST-19040944-0006, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM.

NMMA was founded in 1982 by a group of six educators. Originally called the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, they wanted to create an organization that centered Chicago’s Mexican community through accessible, social-justice oriented educational and cultural programming. They first opened to the public in 1987 in Chicago’s West Side Pilsen neighborhood, repurposing the Harrison Park boat house. In 2001, they expanded into a 48,000 square foot facility and officially changed their name in 2006 to NMMA to better reflect their expanded mission. Recognizing Mexican identity is sin fronteras, or without borders, the NMMA continues today, welcoming over 150,000 guests annually.

Additional Resources

Read an interview with Carlos Tortolero in Chicago History magazine, Spring 2020
NMMA Google Arts & Culture digital exhibition on Día de los Muertos
José Gaudalupe Posada Aguilar: commemorating the 75th anniversary of his death
Encyclopedia of Chicago article on Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum
Encyclopedia of Chicago article on Pilsen
Encyclopedia of Chicago article on Mexicans

Ghost Trackers Newsletter cover, vol. 10, no. 1, February 1991

Very few Chicago History Museum (CHM) staff members haven’t encountered a variation of the question, “Is the Museum haunted?” While we can’t confirm or deny any allegations, we can instead focus on the importance of folklore in CHM’s mission.

As an international city, Chicago residents bring with them their beliefs and superstitions. Similarly, their memories sometimes become a part of the city’s cultural fabric through stories that serve as cautionary tales, urban legends, and timeless ghost stories. For some, the question of what lies beyond the mortal plane transcends sheer curiosity, becoming a lifelong interest involving experimental research, debate, and community. Institutions like CHM sometimes collect the records produced by these efforts because they provide unique historical perspectives on memory, belief systems, and local traditions.

In 1982, Chicago-area author and paranormal researcher Dale Kaczmarek began publishing the Ghost Trackers Newsletter (GTN) as the official publication of the Ghost Research Society (GRS), an organization interested in investigating all aspects of the supernatural. The newsletter was available to members of the GRS and the general public for a nominal fee, and it came with membership perks like invitations to events and a network of other individuals with shared interests.

GTN, Volume 4, No. 4, October 1985. This newsletter issue told the famous story of the supposed hauntings at Hull-House, the settlement home operated by Jane Addams on Chicago’s West Side. Today, after waves of urban renewal, Hull-House is now a museum operated by the University of Illinois Chicago.

The Ghost Trackers Newsletter had a homemade feel akin to a modern-day zine, where readers could expect consistent offerings. Most issues open with an editor’s page and an update on GRS activities. The lengthiest piece of writing in the publication was usually an article devoted to an individual location or haunting. While in its early days, the publication focused primarily on Chicago-area hauntings, as its audience grew, it wasn’t uncommon to find features devoted to paranormal hauntings and investigations in other Midwestern states like Michigan and distant locations like Southern California. Other publication offerings included opinion polls (letters to the editor), book reviews (and, in later issues, movie critiques) on materials covering the paranormal, and classified ads. Readers could find advertisements promoting lectures of interest to those in the field, invitations to local gatherings and conventions, and pitches for unique products and publications catering to those with otherworldly interests.

Ghost Trackers Newsletter, Volume 8, No. 3, October 1989. This advertisement is representative of what could be found in GTN issues. The Book of Azrael: An Intimate Encounter with the Angel of Death is one of several publications by author Leilah Wendell documenting supposed communications with an otherworldly entity with intimate knowledge of the afterlife. Due to its subject matter and limited printing, copies of this book have become increasingly desirable among collectors and researchers.

While the subject matter covered by the newsletter appears questionable to skeptics when analyzed through a historical lens, GTN provides a unique look into local and far-reaching stories. For example, a 1983 issue of the newsletter took up Chicagoland’s most famous ghost, Resurrection Mary, at length, recounting supposed sightings and other events related to the story. As those familiar with the story know, one of the most enduring parts of the legend is the supposed metal bars of the cemetery gate where Mary’s ghost left her ghostly handprints, warping the structure in the process. The 1983 article in the newsletter, simply titled “Resurrection Mary,” goes into extensive detail about this story, providing specific dates, names, and even an image, all of which can serve as potential leads for those interested in exploring the legend further.

Pages from Ghost Trackers Newsletter, vol. 2, no. 4, October 1983

Similarly, many of the adverts peppered throughout the newsletter give historians a concise record of when and where gatherings took place, thereby allowing us to map the trajectory of specific organizations, movements, and individuals that may otherwise have left scarce records. While seemingly trivial, these records can be of value to a diverse group of researchers interested in tracking a story.

Ghost Trackers Newsletter, vol. 2, no. 8, June 1989

All said and done, Ghost Trackers Newsletter had an impressive run. Its final issue was published in October 2001, meaning it was around for roughly two decades, and as is made apparent by several of its issues, it had an international readership. One of its most significant accomplishments was how seriously it took its work, time and time again, featuring pieces focused on the importance of research and objectivity as anchors for those with this area of interest.

Ghost Trackers Newsletter, Volume 5, No. 8, October 1986. This half-page list written by GTN editor Dan Kaczmarek is one of the many regularly published pieces dedicated to the craft of paranormal research. Other pieces were more substantial and covered topics as diverse as the difference between a spirit and a ghost and advice on taking experimental spirit photographs using emerging technologies.

It also provides extensive records on how the growing access to technology revolutionized the ways communities with niche interests communicated and developed. What initially began as a largely handmade publication eventually transitioned into a publication that served as a revenue stream for this organization, a mission further achieved by the newsletter’s adoption of word processing software in the late 1980s, which facilitated the editorial process, made for a more uniform newsletter, and enabled the more regular inclusion of images and written content from guest authors beyond the Chicago metro. As Ghost Trackers Newsletter makes clear, the digital revolution at the end of the 20th century brought new tools to old haunts.

The Museum’s copies of Ghost Trackers Newsletter are available for interested researchers at the Abakanowicz Research Center, which is free to visit.

For Photographer Appreciation Month, CHM Abakanowicz Research Center associate Annika Kohrt writes about our holdings on George R. Lawrence, a Chicago inventor and photographer with larger than life ambitions and a portfolio to match.

I love the story of a tinkerer. George R. Lawrence (1868–1938) was a relatively fearless Chicago inventor who made several innovations in the field of photography. When I say “relatively fearless,” I mean he was creating small explosions to light his photographs and flying hot air balloons to get aerial photographs in the time before airplanes. He eventually had enough life-threatening experiences in the balloons that he switched to designing unmanned kites, understandably.

Undated portrait of George R. Lawrence. CHM, ICHi-011070

Like Daniel Burnham’s famous statement, “Make no little plans,” Lawrence was dreaming big—literally. He advertised “The Hitherto Impossible in Photography is Our Specialty,” and the first impossible feat in photography he took on was artificial lighting. Before flash bulbs and flood lights existed, photographers used magnesium chloride to generate a quick burst of light to get nighttime shots. Fire officials banned the use of this flash powder at large gatherings because of the danger of explosions, but Lawrence tinkered away at a magnesium formula until it “generated more light and less smoke.”

He then developed a system of portable towers connected by electrical circuits to make simultaneous sparks that ignited the powder in multiple places in a room and a canvas bag that dropped over the light to collect the smoke immediately after the picture. For this he earned the title “Flashlight Lawrence” among his friends, and he made good business photographing large indoor banquets and assemblies across the country. Lawrence also designed and developed his own panoramic banquet camera to capture a proportional image of each individual in a group picture.

Committee on the Plan of Chicago in Daniel Burnham’s office, Chicago, c. 1908. Seated on the right side of the table: Edward B. Butler, Daniel H. Burnham, Charles D. Norton, Clyde M. Carr, Edward F. Carry, Edward H. Bennett, John DeLaMater, Charles G. Dawes. Seated on the left: John G. Shedd, Charles H. Thorne, Theodore W. Robinson, Emerson B. Tuttle, John W. Scott, John V. Farwell, Charles H. Wacker. CHM, ICHi-003560; George R. Lawrence Company, photographer

Undated photograph of banquet group at the Auditorium Theatre, Chicago. CHM, ICHi-000566; George R. Lawrence, photographer

Lawrence’s single-plate banquet panoramas caught the eye of personnel from the Chicago & Alton Railroad (this story has something for the train lovers out there too!), which in 1899 had just built the most symmetrical train in the world: with uniform windows, trucks, and cars. Commissioned to create a faultless single photograph of the beautiful train, Lawrence and J. A. Anderson built a giant camera that weighed 1,400 pounds and required 15 operators: the largest camera in the world for the “handsomest train in the world.”

Men adjusting the bellows on George Lawrence’s Big Camera, 1911. CHM, ICHi-022529

Then, determined to outdo himself, Lawrence started making balloons to create urban panoramas from great heights. To great fanfare, he went up to capture the Armour Packing Plants, but he didn’t come down the way that he planned. The balloon broke from its ropes, and Lawrence and his camera fell from 200 feet, but they were caught 50 feet above the ground by telephone and telegraph wires! He immediately bought another balloon and got the stockyards photographs, but after a second mishap in Minnesota, he started working with unmanned kites.

George R. Lawrence’s balloon at Armour & Company, June 21, 1901. CHM, ICHi-011036.

The incident captured in the Chicago Daily News, June 21, 1901.

Kites used to support George R. Lawrence camera equipment, c. 1905. CHM, ICHi-011047; George R. Lawrence, photographer

Lawrence was a daredevil with flair, matched with mechanical genius and artistic ambition. A large portion of his large photographs are in our collection, and you can view them for free at the Abakanowicz Research Center. And if you’re interested in bird’s-eye views of Chicago, we have plenty of resources beyond Lawrence’s photographs. Plan your visit today!

Additional Resources

View the finding aid for the George R. Lawrence Collection, 1900–1910
Peruse our online image portal CHM Images

In anticipation of our upcoming exhibition Dressed in History: A Costume Collection Retrospective, CHM costume collection manager Jessica Pushor shares about Sally Rand and a pair of her fans that will be on display.

Born Helen Gould Beck in Missouri, Sally Rand (1904–79) got her start as a chorus girl before working as an acrobat and traveling theater performer. Her career spanned more than forty years, appearing on stage, screen, and television.

Studio portrait of Sally Rand posing with her feather fans, San Francisco, c. 1933. CHM, ICHi-183610, Romaine Photography, photographer

Sally Rand arrived in Chicago in 1933 and began her infamous fan dance at the Streets of Paris Cafe de la Paix stage at the A Century of Progress International Exposition, accompanied by her backing orchestra, directed by Art Frasik. This dance was performed to Claude Debussy’s “Clair de Lune,” with a run time anywhere between five and eight minutes. Rand would play peek-a-boo with her body by manipulating her fans in front and behind her. In a Chicago Tribune article from July 25, 1933, she describes how she fools the audience: “After hours of practice before a mirror I learned how to manipulate the fans so that the spectators would think they were seeing something when they really were not. The routine was evolved after I was asked to dance as nearly nude as possible at one of Chicago’s better known clubs.”(1)

A crowd listens to a barker on a small stage in the Streets of Paris at the A Century of Progress International Exposition, Chicago, September 1934. CHM, ICHi-167341; O. L. Cook, photographer

Within two months of the world’s fair opening, the fan dance came under the scrutiny of local authorities and was soon characterized as lewd and lascivious. Rand was arrested four times in a single day—on August 4, 1933—after every performance of her fan dance at the Chicago Theatre on charges of putting on an indecent exhibition.(2) Rand made a concession after her arrests and coated herself with body paint, which satisfied the authorities and allowed her to continue performing the fan dance.(3)

Left: News coverage of Sally Rand the day before she was arrested four times in one day, Chicago Daily News, August 3, 1933, p. 31. Right: One way Rand appeased authorities was by wearing a dress, Chicago Daily News, August 7, 1933, p. 4.

On September 23, 1933, Sally Rand was convicted of willfully performing an obscene and indecent dance in a public place. She was sentenced to one year in county jail and fined $200. Even after the conviction, Rand was still allowed to perform, and it is estimated that at least 2 million people saw her dance at the world’s fair, making the Streets of Paris one of the most profitable concessions at the fair. The following year, in November 1934, her conviction was overturned.

In 1943, the Chicago History Museum, then the Chicago Historical Society (CHS), arranged for the donation of Rand’s feather fans, with a press release announcing the new acquisition. But before Rand’s scheduled appearance at CHS, there was an emergency Board of Trustees meeting, and CHS president Joseph M. Cudahy released this statement to the press: “The board feels that the fans used by Miss Sally Rand at a Century of Progress are not relative to the World’s Columbian Exposition material now on exhibition and does not believe they have sufficient historical interest to warrant their acceptance by the Museum.”(4)

In 1966, CHS contacted Sally Rand, who by then was the featured performer at Mangam’s Chateau, a hip restaurant and nightclub in Lyons, Illinois, that featured big names in comedy, singers, and other variety acts. CHS asked Rand if she would donate her feather fans, and she happily obliged. Then-CHS president Clement Silvestro said they were accepting the fans into the collection because “The fans made history, they represent a phase of American life.”(5)

Fans, c. 1966. Ostrich feathers, plastic, wood. Maybelle Shearer, Chicago. Gift of Miss Sally Rand. 1966.398a-b. CHM, ICHi-186021

The fans that Sally Rand donated to CHS in 1966 are not the original ones she used in 1933–34. They are very similar to those fans but were purchased by Rand in 1966 and were used during her appearance at the Mangam’s Chateau, where she performed the same fan dance that launched her to fame some 30 years prior.

Sally Rand stands atop the Great Chicago Fire relic at the Chicago Historical Society, August 30, 1966. ST-90004010-0033, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM

When Rand came to the Museum to donate the fans, she climbed atop the molten metal relic salvaged from the Great Chicago Fire (which to this day still sits outside the Museum) and swirled her feather fans around her, much to the delight of the newspaper reporters and photographers in attendance. When asked if she was actually nude behind those fans back in 1933, she replied, “The Rand is quicker than the eye.”

You can see Sally Rand’s fans on display in our exhibition Dressed in History: A Costume Collection Retrospective, open October 19, 2024, through July 27, 2025.

Additional Resources

Footnotes

“A FAN DANCER TELLS HOW SHE FOOLS THE BOYS: IT REQUIRES PRACTICE, SALLY SAYS.” Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963), Jul 25, 1933, 5. https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/fan-dancer-tells-how-she-fools-boys/docview/181449001/se-2
“Sally Dances in Loop; Arrest Her 4 Times.” Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963),  August 5, 1933. https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/sally-dances-loop-arrest-her-4-times/docview/181401483/se-2
Virginia Gardner, “Sally Listens to Judges, then Wraps Herself in Coat of Paint.” Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963), August 6, 1933, 3. https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/sally-listens-judges-then-wraps-herself-coat/docview/181440393/se-2
Daily Times, May 10, 1943, 73. NewsBank: Selected America’s Historical Newspapers , https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=EANX-NB&req_dat=0D99702A94485B8A&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Aimage%252Fv2%253A176820A8B9EC1C11%2540EANX-NB-
Sheila Wolfe. “Sally Rand’s Fans make it into Museum.” Chicago Tribune (1963-1996), August 31, 1966. https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/sally-rands-fans-make-into-museum/docview/179030860/se-2
Chicago Sun-Times, September 4, 1966, 27. NewsBank: Selected America’s Historical Newspapers. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=EANX-NB&docref=image/v2%3A1443FD2E0D78767F%40EANX-NB-170C06B6964EAFB1%402439373-1707542CD2EC2676%4026-1707542CD2EC2676%40

Making space for teens in museums can sometimes be met with apprehension. Is our program engaging enough? Will they be interested? Can we handle their potential criticisms? These are all honest questions that spring to the minds of even the savviest museum worker. Considering the Chicago History Museum’s mission, including teens became a priority.

To create our teen engagement framework, the education team turned to the experts—colleagues at teen-serving museums and teens themselves to explore best practices to prime our teen engagements for success. A set of criteria emerged:

Meet the teens where they are (culturally, emotionally, academically, and socially)
Recruit teens with similar interests (history, art, civic engagement, sports)
Provide a balance of content engagement (in our case history) and creative expression
Position teens as key contributors with decision making power
Make connections between exhibition content and the teens’ lived experiences
Allow teens to share in setting the norms for engagement and collaboration

There are also mutual benefits of teen engagement in museums. Through the programs at CHM, teens recognize the impact of history and their role in creating the future. While museums provide opportunities that help teens learn and grow, they have an opportunity to serve as entry points to arts and culture, sparking lifelong interest in museums. At CHM, teens’ inputs and feedback have helped shape subsequent teen opportunities. Past CHM teen projects have centered Chicago’s legacy of activism for universal suffrage, the power of community documentation, and identity-confirming fashion in the city.

The Artivism teens creating posters in an arts-making session during their summer 2024 experience. All photographs by CHM staff.

In the summer of 2024, a group of teens with interests in social justice and art participated in an intensive experience in support of CHM’s exhibition Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of the 1960s–70s. The exhibition historicizes Chicago’s legacy of activist art and the unique capacity of art to catalyze change. A cohort of six Chicago-area teens created vibrant messages for issues today using art techniques of the period.

The Chicago Artivism (art + activism) Teens project met multiple needs, including paid summer employment and access to arts education, as many public schools in our area have limited arts instruction. The importance of this opportunity to local teens was confirmed by grant funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. At CHM, we value teen expression and believe in the power of activist art to catalyze change. This project offered an impactful civic platform for the teens, providing a megaphone for issues they cared about.

The selection processes helped us identify teens we felt had a willingness to learn, would bring a collaborative spirit and unique perspectives, and who represented metro Chicago’s demographics. This resulted in a group of six artivists, ready to learn and create with one another and with project staff.

A working session with the Artivism teens in their studio space at the Museum.

The program design included eleven working sessions and a final twelfth day dedicated to a showcase of teens’ art. Initial days included orientation and community building activities that cemented cohort dynamics. Teens connected with Museum education and curatorial staff in the Designing for Change exhibition with learning activities such as:

Discussions on visual thinking strategy
Mini exhibition tours
Creative writing responses
Oral history practice interviews
Hands-on object analyses
Short talks
Peer-to-peer teaching

Afternoon artmaking was facilitated by Jomo Cheatham, a local, longtime, youth-focused teaching artist. Under his tutelage the teens worked as individuals, as pairs, and as a whole group in a variety of mediums present in the exhibition, including line drawing, painting, silk screening and block printing.

Examples of wheatpasting from the teens’ session, including prints from Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative.

Assisting our teaching artist was a near peer mentor, Audrey O’Hearn, a summer education intern who came to us through Studio Institute. She worked alongside the teens on their projects most afternoons and led one special session on the history and practice wheatpasting in protest art. This session combined the Chicago Artivism teens and Aquí en Chicago teen interns to create activist art jointly. She also collaborated with the teens to design an invitation to the showcase.

The teens tour the Designing for Change exhibition with lead exhibition preparator Ethan Gasbarro during a Career Walk and Talk session.

Teens were also introduced to a variety of museum work through a Career Walk and Talk, meeting employees who specialize in visitor services, curation, exhibition production, graphic design, security, and conservation at CHM. Reflecting on their experience during their project evaluation, one teen wrote, “. . . I was already interested in working in museums, but this gave me more knowledge on the many ways that can be done, including creative ways I had not considered.”

A display of protest posters in the Artivism teens’ showcase.

The internship culminated in a showcase of the teens’ work, which included protest signs, zines, block prints, protest banners, silk screened t-shirts and tote bags, all featuring causes and issues the teens were passionate about. A highlight was five large mural panels, one dedicated to each of the main sections of the Designing for Change exhibition. These murals reflected the teens’ understanding of the social movements and artistic expression of the 1960s and ’70s, while the other pieces connected that history and inspiration to contemporary life.

Chicago Artivism teens mural display in CHM’s Chicago: Crossroads of America exhibition.

On their evaluation one teen noted, “I am most proud of the murals we made. Since we made them during the last weeks of the internship, they represent all that we learned about the different movements. Also, my art and painting skills significantly improved, and some of my best work was on the murals. Lastly, I love that we all collaborated on the murals, so they represent our art as a collective.”

Teens wrote labels for the showcase including biographies and artist statements. They also collaborated on a manifesto describing their collective practice and intentions for their art.

The collection of protest signs and banners on display outside of the Designing for Change exhibition.

The culmination of the internship coincided with the 2024 Democratic National Convention. Currently, their murals and a selection of their protest signs and banners are on display in the Museum for visitors to enjoy and learn from. Their work is displayed alongside the Designing for Change exhibition, providing youth perspective on art, history, and contemporary societal concerns. As the teens wrote in their manifesto: “To us, artivism is collective advocacy and activism through artistic expression. We will . . . Inspire others through art that sparks emotion, initiating conversation.”

Working with young people is inspiring and invigorating for CHM staff members. Their honest response to the exhibition, their belief in art as a form of civic action, and their interest in museums brought fresh perspectives and new engagement to CHM. We hope you will visit to see their powerful art. Stay tuned for our next teen opportunity!

See past teen projects at CHM

CHICAGO (October 1, 2024) – The Chicago History Museum is proud to announce it is the recipient of the National Park Service’s (NPS) Save America’s Treasures grant. The funds of $454,607 will be used for the conservation treatment of nine costumes in the Museum’s collection, including garments worn by three presidents—George Washington, John Adams and Abraham Lincoln—as well as Mary Todd Lincoln. The project will be matched with $482,170 in nonfederal share.

“We are honored to be recipients of this grant, which will allow us to further conserve numerous historic garments in the Museum’s extensive costume collection,” said Chicago History Museum President Donald Lassere. “It is through our collections, including the costume collection, we are able to share Chicago stories from diverse perspectives and we are grateful to the National Park Service for this gift.”

With more than 50,000 costumes and textiles dating from the eighteenth century to the present, the Museum’s world-renowned Costume and Textiles Collection is noted for both its size and the quality of its holdings. Costume materials include work by distinguished designers such as Charles James, Paul Poiret, House of Worth, Chanel, House of Dior, Versace and Yves Saint Laurent. The collection also includes clothing worn by former presidents and first ladies, sports stars, celebrities and other luminaries, as well as by everyday Chicagoans. Together, these materials reflect the history of Chicago as an evolving urban center and document fashion history through the lens of Chicago and its people.

Administered by NPS in partnership with the Institute of Museums and Library Services, National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities, the Save America’s Treasures grants this year will fund 59 projects that will preserve nationally significant sites and historic collections in 26 states and the District of Columbia. Since 1999, the Save America’s Treasures program has provided over $405 million from the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) to more than 1,400 projects to provide preservation and conservation work on nationally significant collections, artifacts, structures and sites.

For more information on the Museum’s Costume and Textiles Collection, please visit: https://www.chicagohistory.org/collection/costumes-and-textiles/

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See past teen projects at CHM