“2018 Chicago Museum Week” by S.M. O’Connor

2018 Chicago Museum Week will be here soon and it will be an excellent time to visit nine of the city’s cultural and scientific treasure-houses, as well as the Shedd Aquarium and Lincoln Park Zoo. Illinois residents will enjoy discounts of up to 25% off general admission, special exhibits, and giveaways. “Chicago Museum Week” is a “Week” in name only as it will last nine days, from Thursday, January 18, 2018 to Friday, January 26, 2018. The twelve participating institutions, in the order in which they were founded, are the Chicago History Museum, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum (the museum of the Chicago Academy of Sciences), the Lincoln Park Zoo, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Field Museum of Natural History, the John G. Shedd Aquarium, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Adler Planetarium, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the DuSable Museum of African American History, the National Museum of Mexican Art, The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture. They are organizing 2018 Chicago Museum Week through an umbrella organization: the Museums in the Park. The first Chicago Museum Week was October 1-7, 2015. The idea originated in a meeting of the group’s marketing and communications committee, as a member of that committee, David Deyhle, the Chicago History Museum’s Vice President of External Relations, related to the Chicago Tribune’s Steve Johnson.[1]

Figure 1 Credit: Photo courtesy of the Chicago History Museum Caption: The Chicago History Museum is located in one of several cultural institutions clustered in Lincoln Park in the neighborhood of Lincoln Park on the North Side of Chicago. The address is 1601 North Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois 60614.

The Chicago History Museum is located in Lincoln Park at the intersection of Clark Street and North Avenue. The Chicago Historical Society (C.H.S.), founded in 1856, is the city’s oldest non-religious cultural organization. [In 2006, the C.H.S. changed the name of its facility to the Chicago History Museum.] The C.H.S. was founded on Thursday, April 24, 1856 by a group of twelve men at the instigation of Reverend William Barry, Junior, a retired Unitarian preacher at the law offices of Scammon & McCagg in the Marine Building at the intersection of Lake and LaSalle Streets. The eleven other men were law partners Jonathan Young Scammon (1812-1890) and Ezra B. McCagg and brothers Mahlon D. Ogden and (Chicago’s former first mayor) William B. Ogden (1805-1877).[2] [Note that McCagg was a brother-in-law of the Ogden’s brothers because in 1854 he had married their widowed sister, Caroline Ogden Jones.] The first, second, and third buildings intended to permanently house the Chicago Historical Society were all built on the same site at the northwest corner of Dearborn Avenue and Ontario Street.[3] The first building was destroyed, along with the collections of books, archival materials, and artifacts it contained, in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.[4] Scammon provided rooms for the C.H.S. in the Scammon Building he erected on Michigan Avenue after the Great Fire, but it, too, was destroyed, with several other buildings, in a second fire on July 14, 1874.[5] Marshall Field I’s business partner in Field, Leiter & Company, which evolved into Marshall Field & Company, Levi Zeigler Leiter, helped fund the erection of the second C.H.S. building in 1874.[6] It was demolished in 1892 to make way for the third C.H.S. building.[7] This was a Wisconsin rock-faced red granite-clad Richardsonian Romanesque-style building. [8] The fireproof building, designed by prominent local architect Henry Ives Cobb (1859-1931), was dedicated on December 15, 1896.[9] In 1923, the C.H.S. gained possession of a collection of artifacts too large to be held within Cobb’s building.[10] In, 1931, Trustee Joy Morton (1855-1934), the founder of Morton Salt and The Morton Arboretum, donated $35,000 to construct a fourth C.H.S. building. [11] In 1931, the C.H.S. vacated Cobb’s building to move into a fourth purpose-built structure at Clark Street and North Avenue.[12] [The words “Chicago Historical Society” remained inscribed in stone over the third C.H.S. building’s main entrance through a number of changes of ownership and usage.] The fourth Chicago Historical Society building (now the Chicago History Museum) that opened in Lincoln Park in 1932 was designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White. It is a neoclassical structure in the Georgian style (like the White House) in the southwest corner of Lincoln Park. The limestone addition that opened in 1972 was designed by Alfred Shaw & Associates, and the addition that opened in 1988, including a red brick structure above ground, and subterranean storage space and galleries were designed by Holabird & Root.

In 2005, Gary T. Johnson, Esquire, became President of the C.H.S. He is also President of the Museums in the Park. Over a decade ago, while Johnson was President of the Chicago Historical Society and Jean (Wright) Haider (1941-2017) was President of The Guild of the Chicago Historical Society (2006-2008), the C.H.S. closed for nine months, during which time exhibits underwent renovations and the Chicago Historical Society changed the name of its facility to the Chicago History Museum. Two years ago, the U.S. Institute for Museum and Library Services named the Chicago History Museum one of the winners of the 2016 National Medal for Museum and Library Services. Recent renovations were designed by the architectural firm Hammond Beeby Rupert Ainge (HBRA). President Johnson stated that the new space suit the Georgian architecture and have eight windows that look on Uihlen Plaza, Lincoln Park, and the Gold Coast.[13]

During 2018 Museum Week, the Chicago History Museum is offering 25% off admission on Monday, Wednesday, Thursdays, and Fridays and 10% off on Saturday, January 20, 2018 and Sunday, January 21, 2018. Admission will be free on Tuesday, January 23, 2018. Further, the Chicago History Museum will offer 20% off memberships, provided they be purchased on site or over the phone. Adult group tours of the facility will cost $12 per person with a minimum group size of ten people. The address is 1601 North Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois 60614.

Figure 2 Credit: Photo courtesy of the Chicago History Museum Caption: The Chicago History Museum’s exhibit Chicago: Crossroads of Culture includes, amongst many other things, an 1848 steam locomotive and the first L (elevated train) car.

Last year, the Chicago Academy of Sciences celebrated its 160^th anniversary. Founded in 1857, the Chicago Academy of Sciences (C.A.S.) is the second-oldest non-religious cultural institution after the Chicago Historical Society (C.H.S.). It would be inaccurate to say its museums is older than the Chicago Historical Society’s Chicago History Museum, because The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum only opened in 1999, but the C.A.S. has operated a series of museums for longer than the C.H.S. The founders were a group of scientists, physicians, and businessmen. They gathered in the Saloon Building on January 13, 1857 to establish The Chicago Academy of Natural Sciences. It incorporated two years later as The Chicago Academy of Sciences.

The Chicago Academy of Sciences had been the fourth-largest repository of scientific specimen collections in the U.S.A. before the Great Chicago Fire. The staff had moved all the artifacts into a fire-proof vault, confident it would save the precious materials, but the fire was so intense it caused a limestone roof cornice to fall through the roof of the vault. This breach allowed the fire inside the fire-proof vault, where it consumed everything. By the end of the 19^th Century, the C.A.S. moved into a new home in Lincoln Park largely paid for by Matthew Laflin (1803-1897). In 1892, Laflin, a gunpowder magnate, hotelier, watch manufacturer, and C.A.S. trustee, provided $75,000 for the construction a new museum building erected at 2001 North Clark Street in Lincoln Park, west of the Lincoln Park Zoo, in 1893 with the provision that the C.A.S. raise an equivalent sum from other sources.[14] The Lincoln Park Commission (which later merged with twenty-one other park districts to form the Chicago Park District) contributed $25,000.[15] Patton and Fisher designed the Matthew Laflin Memorial building (1893).[16] It opened to the public on October 31, 1894. This natural history museum’s relationship with the Lincoln Park District (and later the Chicago Park District) would establish the template for the Chicago Park District’s Museums in the Park.

As the 20^th Century came to a close, the C.A.S. wanted to expand the Laflin Memorial Building to accommodate more exhibit space, more collections storage space, and more office space. The Chicago Park District offered the C.A.S. the Chicago Park District’s North Shops Maintenance Facilities in Lincoln Park in exchange for the transfer of the Laflin Memorial Building to the Lincoln Park Zoo. The C.A.S. accepted this offered and built The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum on this site. In 1995, the C.A.S. vacated the Laflin Memorial building and transferred ownership of the Atwood Celestial Sphere to the Adler Planetarium. The old neo-classical structure became the Lincoln Park Zoo’s Laflin Administration Building. In 1997, the C.A.S. broke ground for the new facility. To reflect a substantial gift from Richard C. and Peggy Notebaert, the C.A.S. named the new museum in her honor.[17] [The name is pronounced “note-a-bärt.”] The C.A.S. opened the $31,250,000 Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum on Saturday, October 23, 1999.[18] Ralph Johnson, Global Design Director of Perkins + Will, designed it. The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum is located in Lincoln Park, north of Fullerton Avenue, between the North Pond to the west and Diversey Harbor to the east, at the northwest corner of Fullerton Avenue and Cannon Drive. The C.A.S. has a collection of over 390,000 artifacts and specimens.

During Chicago Museum Week, Illinois residents will receive a 20% discount on adult admission. The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum is a Blue Star Museum. Consequently, active-duty uniformed services members and their families enjoy free admission. Under the Museums for All program, a visitor with a LINK (RBT) Card can purchase $1 tickets for up to six people.[19] For Illinois residents, Thursdays are always suggested donation days. Babies and toddlers three and under are free year-round. Normally, admission tickets for the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum are $9 for adults, $7 for students and senior citizens, and $6 for children (ages three-to-twelve). The exhibit Birds of Paradise will open on Thursday, January 18, 2018. The address is 2430 North Cannon Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60614.

Figure 3 Credit: Photo courtesy of the Lincoln Park Zoo Caption: Images of swans at the Lincoln Park Zoo are particularly appropriate this year because the zoo began 150 years ago with a pair of swans from Central Park.

The Lincoln Park Zoo is located in Lincoln Park, south of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Fullerton Avenue, and the Lincoln Park Conservatory. It is west of the South Lagoon. The genesis of the Lincoln Park Zoo (L.P.Z.) lies with the donation of two swans from the menagerie in Central Park in New York City in 1868. Thus, this year is the 150^th anniversary of its foundation. By the end of the 19^th Century, the zoo included polar bears, leopards, a Bengal tiger, lions, a camel, an elephant, and sea lions. The zoo’s first animal house, built in 1870, was later reconditioned as a bathing pavilion and moved to a point on the beach north of Diversey Boulevard.[20] Lincoln Park Zoo had a small herd of bison by 1873, and the first calf was born into that herd in 1884. In 1896, the L.P.Z. sold a bull and six cows from the bison herd for $2,000 to E.C. Waters on behalf of the Federal Government for Yellowstone Park. Two California sea lions arrived from San Francisco in 1879. Ten years later, the L.P.Z. acquired nineteen sea lions from C. A. Eastman, and were added to a pool that had a seal and a pelican.[21] The Lion House opened in 1912. Architect Edwin W. Clark designed Aquarium and Fish Hatchery (1922) and later would design the Primate House (1927).

The Lincoln Park Zoo is free 365 days a year anyway, but during 2018 Chicago Museum Week, the L.P.Z. is offering 10% off on food and beverages and 10% off at the gift shop. The address is 2400 North Cannon Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60614.

Figure 4 Credit: Photo courtesy of the Lincoln Park Zoo Caption: This is the East Gate of Lincoln Park Zoo.

The The Art Institute of Chicago combines under one roof an art museum and a school of art. This December, The Art Institute will celebrate the 125^th anniversary of its move into the building in Grant Park that had held the World’s Congress Auxiliary during the World’s Columbian Exposition (1893). A number of prominent businessmen founded the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts in 1879: William B. Doggett, Marshall Field I’s mentor Potter Palmer, Franklin McVeigh, Nathanial K. Fairbank, Marshall Field I’s business partner Levi Z. Leiter, First National Bank President Samuel M. Nickerson, Blue Island Land & Building Company Treasurer George C. Walker, clothier Henry W. King, lawyer Mark Skinner, and contractor William B. Howard.[22] Banker Charles Lawrence Hutchinson (1854-1924) succeeded Levi Z. Leiter as president, and held the office for forty-two years from 1882 until his death in 1924.[23] In 1882, the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts changed its name to The Art Institute of Chicago and moved from rented space at the intersection of State & Monroe to property owned by the Art Institute at the southwest corner of Michigan & Van Buren, and the Art Institute purchased adjacent land in 1885.[24] In 1885-86, John W. Root of Burnham & Root designed a Romanesque[25] building to house the Art Institute, at 404 South Michigan Avenue, which opened on November 19, 1887.[26] The A.I.C. organization soon outgrew the Romanesque building designed by J. W. Root and a new home had to be found. [27] For Hutchinson, who served a one-year-long term as president of The Commercial Club of Chicago in 1889, promoting the city by bringing the World’s Fair to Chicago and securing a new home for the Art Institute could be combined. If a permanent building were to be erected to temporarily house fine arts exhibitions lent to the World’s Columbian Exposition Company from governments all over the world, then when the World’s Fair ended, the Art Institute could occupy the building. According to historian Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz, the proposal to construct a building that would temporarily serve the World’s Columbian Exposition and permanently house the Art Institute was discussed by The Commercial Club of Chicago in 1890.[28]

Charles A. Coolidge with the Boston architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge designed the Italian Renaissance-style Art Institute of Chicago (A.I.C.) in Lake Park (now Grant Park) which temporarily housed the World’s Congress Auxiliary in 1893 before the AIC organization moved in. The A.I.C. had paid for the construction of the new building by selling its former home, a Romanesque building at 404 South Michigan Avenue designed by John W. Root of Burnham & Root, to the Chicago Club in 1892.

In 1892, the A.I.C. sold Root’s Romanesque building to the Chicago Club.[29] Aaron Montgomery Ward (1844-1913), founder of the Montgomery Ward Company, did not object to the A.I.C. building being built in Lake Park (later re-named Grant Park), though he later regretted it.[30] The only property owner on Michigan Avenue to refuse to sign a consent decree allowing for the A.I.C. building to be erected with a 400-foot-long frontage on Michigan Avenue was Mrs. Sarah Daggett, who was accused of being part of “a New York clique aiming at crippling” Chicago’s effort to host the World’s Fair.[31] Ultimately, her husband signed her name, and city officials and courts decided he had a right to do so.[32] In 1897, the Illinois Supreme Court upheld Ward’s lawsuit against the City of Chicago to clean and improve Lake Park, and prevent the City of Chicago from building a civic center there, but exempted the construction of the A.I.C. in Lake Park and the Chicago Public Library (now the Chicago Cultural Center) in Dearborn Park, where Lincoln once spoke.[33] Charles A. Coolidge with the Boston architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge designed the Italian Renaissance-style structure at the west end of Lake Park along Michigan Avenue. While the A.I.C. project was underway, Coolidge was also awarded the contract to design the Chicago Public Library, the city’s first public library building, which opened in 1897, and in 1977 became the Chicago Cultural Center.[34] The A.I.C. building was erected on the former site of the Inter-State Industrial Exposition Building.[35] Before the A.I.C. took possession of the building, it was used as a lecture hall during the World’s Columbian Exposition, the World’s Congress Auxiliary. The “Congresses” (international conferences and symposiums) were the brainchild of Chicago lawyer, judge, teacher, author, and orator Charles Carroll Bonney (1831-1903), and covered such topics as women, labor, medicine, education, finance, temperance, evolution, religion, philosophy, literature, architecture, and art.[36] The Art Institute opened in its new home on December 8, 1893.[37] The gala opening of the new A.I.C. building was on December 31, 1893.

As part of Free Winter Weekdays, all residents of Chicago and Illinois as a whole receive free museum admission on the 18^th, 19^th, 22^nd, 23^rd, 24^th, 25^th, and 26^th of January. LINK and WIC cardholders receive general admission to the museum. They should present these cards along with photo identification cards to receive free access for themselves and their families. Children under fourteen are always free. Teenagers from Chicago under the age of eighteen are always free. This is a good time to see special exhibits like Rodin: Sculptor and Storyteller, which unites sculptures and drawings from private collections with The Art Institute’s holdings. This special exhibit in Gallery 246 is open through March 4, 2018. The address is 111 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60603.

Figure 5 Credit: Courtesy of The Art Institute of Chicago Caption: Mrs. James Ward Thorne. E-14: English Drawing Room of the Victorian Period, 1840–70 (detail), about 1937. The Art Institute of Chicago. Gift of Mrs. James Ward Thorne.

Figure 6 Credit: Photo courtesy of The Field Museum Caption: This is the North Entrance of The Field Museum of Natural History. Marshall Field I donated $1,000,000 to the Columbian Museum in 1893, whereupon it became the Columbian Field Museum, the name under which it opened in 1894. He bequeathed another $8,000,000 to form an endowment and build this structure. His nephew, Stanley Field, who donated another $2,000,000, served as President of The Field Museum for fifty-six years.

Next December, The Field Museum will celebrate the 125^th anniversary of its foundation. It is the anchor of the Museum Campus in Burnham Park. Originally, it was housed within the Palace of Fine Arts in Jackson Park, which had been an art museum during the World’s Columbian Exposition and now houses the Museum of Science and Industry. F.W. Putnam, chief ethnologist of the World’s Columbian Exposition, encouraged The Commercial Club of Chicago to use materials from the WCE to form a permanent museum. Edward E. Ayer (1841-1927) was a railroad-tie magnate who persuaded Marshall Field I (1834-1906) to donate money for what became The Field Museum of Natural History. Rep. Robert McMurdy of Hyde Park proposed a bill that the General Assembly passed as An Act Concerning Museums in Public Parks on June 17, 1893. The Colombian Museum of Chicago incorporated on September 16, 1893. Marshal Field I announced he would donate $1,000,000 to the institution on October 26, 1893. The Columbian Museum of Chicago was renamed the Field Columbian Museum on May 21, 1894. The Field Columbian Museum opened on June 2, 1894.

The Columbian Field Museum occupied the Palace of Fine Arts from 1894 until 1920. Charles B. Atwood (1849-1895), the chief architect of the World’s Columbian Exposition designed the Palace of Fine Arts to act as a temporary fine arts museum during the World’s Fair. Whereas most of the other buildings from the White City had been railroad sheds with plaster facades, the Palace of Fine Arts was a brick structure with a plaster façade so it would be considered fireproof by the standards of the day and owners would not fret that their artworks might burn in a city infamous for having burned down in 1871. The Field Museum of Natural History moved in 1920 to its new home in Burnham Park, paid for with a bequest from Field, on land the Illinois Central Railroad donated to the South Park District to fulfill a provision of Field’s will that the land for the new museum building be provided free.

Ayer served as its first President of the Field Columbian Museum from 1894 to 1898. He remained on the Board of Trustees until 1927. Ayer was also a patron of the Chicago Historical Society, The Art Institute of Chicago, and The Newberry Library. [38] Harlow Higinbotham (1838-1919), a business partner of Marshall Field I, was President of the World’s Columbian Exposition Company and headed the World’s Columbian Exposition’s Council of Administration was a Field Museum board member from 1894 to 1919, served as the second President of the Field Columbian Museum from 1898 to 1908. He purchased the World’s Columbian Exposition’s Tiffany gems and the George Frederick Kunz gemology and mineralogy library for the Field Columbian Museum.

In 1900, the Executive. Committee of the Board of Trustees abandon “industrial and historical collections.” During this time, the trustees voted to focus on natural history. Industrial and art exhibits from the World’s Columbian Museum that did not fit that vision were given back to their donors or transferred to other museums. Marshall Field I left the Museum an $8,000,000 bequest. This included $4,000,000 to provide an endowment and $4,000,000 for erecting a new building to house the institution, if land were provided for it within six years. The bequest included the land under Carson Pirie Scott. The General Assembly passed a law on May 14, 1903 that empowered Chicago’s South Park Commission to levy a tax for the maintenance of the Field Columbian Museum. In 1905, the Field Columbian Museum changed its name to the Field Museum of Natural History.

Aaron Montgomery Ward said he wouldn’t oppose the new building in Grant Park if the City Council agreed not to build anything else. They refused, and after Ward counted twenty proposals for museums, libraries, and monuments, he sued, and in 1909 the Illinois Supreme Court again upheld him. In 1911, the Illinois Central Railroad donated land at 12^th Street adjacent to Grant Park to the Field Museum project, an act that would eventually allow for the creation of the Museum Campus around the Field Museum. This land was not considered an addition to Grant Park, but the northeast corner of Burnham Park contiguous with Grant Park.

Stanley Field – Marshall Field I’s nephew gave the Field Museum $2,000,000, and served as Second Vice President of The Field Museum of Natural History from 1906 to 1908. He served as third President of The Field Museum of Natural History for fifty-six years. He was also President of the Shedd Aquarium Society, Chairman of the Chicago Zoological Society’s Building and Operating Committee, and sat on Mayor Dever’s 1926 A Century of Progress committee. The Field family has remained active in the operation of The Field Museum for generations. Marshall Field V has served as Chairman of the Board of both The Art Institute of Chicago and The Field Museum.

The new Field Museum was designed by Ernest B. Graham and Peirce Anderson. Ernest Graham (1866-1936) went from being Atwood’s assistant during the World’s Columbian Exposition to become Burnham’s partner in Burnham & Company, the name Burnham had adopted in 1896, and carried on business under the name Graham Burnham & Co. In 1917, after Burnham’s sons left the firm, Graham changed the name to Graham, Anderson Probst & White, which is the name under which the firm still operates. His partner William Peirce Anderson (1870-1924) was point on the project. The organization vacated the Palace of Fine Arts in 1920 and The Field Museum of Natural History opened in 1921.

The Field Museum has over 30,000,000 artifacts and specimens. Over 150 scientists, conservators, and collections staff members work there. During Chicago Museum Week, The Field Museum will offer $2 off admission for Illinois residents. Tickets at The Field Museum are normally $24 for adults, $21 for students and senior citizens, and $17 for children (ages three-to-eleven). Anyone with an EBT or WIC identification cards can receive admission for up to six people, including the cardholder. The cardholder must also present a valid photo identification card. Note that the Chicago Museum Week discount cannot be combined with any other offers or discounts and the Chicago Museum Week discount is only available when one purchases a ticket on site. The address is 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605.

Figure 7 Credit: Photo courtesy of The Field Museum Caption: This is the South Entrance of The Field Museum, which faces Soldier Field. The Museum Campus in Burnham Park is comprised of The Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Adler Planetarium.

Figure 8 Credit: Photo courtesy of The Field Museum Caption: This is another view of the South Entrance of The Field Museum. Graham, Anderson Probst & White designed The Field Museum building in Burnham Park, which opened in 1921. It looks remarkably like the Palace of Fine Arts in Jackson Park, which The Field Museum occupied from 1894 to 1920, and now houses the Museum of Science and Industry.

The John G. Shedd Aquarium is located on the Museum Campus in Burnham Park. The founder and eponym was John Graves Shedd (1850-1926), one of Marshall Field I’s protégés. He was President of Marshall Field & Company from 1906 to 1923 and the first Chairman of the Board of Marshall Field & Company from 1923 to 1926.[39] He provided an endowment of $3,250,000. The Shedd Aquarium Society incorporated on Monday, February 11, 1924. Stanley Field was the first Secretary of the Shedd Aquarium Society. As associate director, Walter H. Chute, a self-taught fish expert, visited aquariums across the United States and Europe on a fact-finding mission before ground was broken, and the Shedd Aquarium still has his small notebook with information and intricate diagrams.[40] Chute worked closely with the architects when he returned in 1926, and subsequently supervised the installation of machinery and oversaw construction of the galleries. [41] The founders of the Shedd Aquarium were inspired by the popularity of the temporary aquarium in the Fisheries Building designed by Henry Ives Cobb (1859-1931) for the World’s Columbian Exposition (1893) and the Lincoln Park Zoo’s Aquarium & Fish Hatchery, which existed from 1923 to 1936, as well as other aquariums in distant cities. Of course, when the Shedd Aquarium became operational in 1930, it made the Lincoln Park Zoo Aquarium obsolete, because the larger Shedd Aquarium could house saltwater as well as freshwater fish.

The architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst, and White designed the building. The groundbreaking occurred on Wednesday, November 2, 1927. In 1928, Chute had been promoted to director, and he would hold the post until 1964. [42] The public preview occurred on Thursday, December 19, 1929 – just after a blizzard had blanketed the city and two months after the stock market crash that triggered the Great Depression – the Shedd Aquarium had a preview for the public.[43] In 1930, twenty railroad cars made eight round trips to carry 1,000,000 gallons of seawater from Key West. The Shedd Aquarium opened on Thursday, May 8, 1930. Professor Sally Kitt Chappell opined, “The Shedd Aquarium, a triumph of design, is Chicago’s most brilliantly sited building.”[44]

Before the Oceanarium was built, the Shedd aquarium was surrounded on all sides by a terrace that reflected the original building’s octagonal shape.[45] Professor Kitt Chappell referred to the design as “A Greek cross within an octagon within a circle.”[46] The main entrance is the western arm of the cross.[47] The interior of the entrance wing is dominated by a lobby, while the other three arms of the cross housed two exhibit galleries each, for a total of six galleries.[48] At the center of the cross, directly over the rotunda, is a low octagonal tower that is capped by a pyramidal roof. [49] In 1931, the year the last room was finished, the Shedd Aquarium was visited by 4,690,000 people.[50] The previous year, 1930, Shedd’s daughters, Helen Shedd Reed Keith and Laura Shedd Schweppe, provided an additional $400,000 for the Shedd Aquarium’s first animal collection.[51] In 1938, Mary Shedd provided a $1,500,000 endowment. [52]

The Shedd Aquarium has over 32,000 living animals representing 1,500 species on site. [Counting coral polyps, it has over 1,000,000 animals on site.] The number of visitors hovers around 2,000,000 every year, rising to 2,200,000 in 2012 and falling to 1,800,000 in 2014.[53] The Shedd Aquarium is a Smithsonian Affiliate.

During Chicago Museum Week, the Shedd Aquarium will offer free general admission, including all exhibits, to Illinois residents on select dates: January 18^th and 19^th and the 22^nd through the 26^th. This offer is not valid on the weekend of Saturday, January 20, 2018 and Sunday, January 21, 2018.[54] For more detailed information, visit http://www.sheddaquarium.org/specialoffers. Under the Museums for All program, LINK (EBT) and WIC cardholders receive free admission to the Shedd Aquarium. The Shedd Aquarium is the first American aquarium to join Museums for All. The address is 1200 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605.

Figure 9 Credit: J.B. Spector, Museum of Science and Industry Caption: Architect Alfred Shaw (1895-1970) oversaw the restoration of the Beaux-Arts exterior of the Palace of Fine Arts from the World’s Columbian Exposition (1893) designed by Charles B. Atwood (1849-1895) as well as the design of the new Art Moderne interior.

The Museum of Science and Industry is housed within the Palace of Fine Arts in Jackson Park in the neighborhood of Hyde Park. Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932), who replaced Alvah C. Roebuck (1864-1948) as the business partner of Richard Sears (1863-1914) in Sears, Roebuck & Company, founded the Museum of Science and Industry in 1926 with the co-operation of The Commercial Club of Chicago (of which he was a member) and the South Park Commission.[55] The Museum of Science and Industry opened in 1933 during Chicago’s second World’s Fair, A Century of Progress International Exposition (1933-34). This year, the Museum of Science and Industry (M.S.I.) will celebrate the 85^th anniversary of opening.

Chicago’s two World’s Fairs and the M.S.I. are inextricably interlinked. The plaster façade of the Palace of Fine Arts had already begun to fall apart by the time The Field Museum organization departed in 1920. The famous local sculptor Lorado Taft (1860-1936) wanted to turn the Palace of Fine Arts into a sculptural museum. Mrs. Albion Headburg organized 6,000 women to donate $1 each to restore a small part of the Palace of Fine Arts to show what it could look like. In 1924, the South Park Commission gained permission through a plebiscite to sell $5,000,000 in bonds to restore the building to serve multiple purposes. Rosenwald proposed to transform part or all of the Palace of Fine Arts from the World’s Columbian Exposition into a science museum modeled on the Deutsches Museum in Munich and the Technical Museum in Vienna.[56] He publicly offered $3,000,000 for the project, money that would be necessary to build a new interior, acquire artifacts, and hire a staff. Most of Atwood’s Beaux-Arts superstructure was recreated in limestone, the original brick substructure of the building underwent restoration, and an Art Moderne interior was built inside the brick substructure.

Architect Alfred Shaw (1895-1970) oversaw the restoration of the exterior as well as the design of the new interior. When Shaw began to work on M.S.I., he was part of the architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst, and White. In 1937, Shaw co-founded the firm Shaw, Naess, and Murphy, and completed his work on M.S.I. at that firm.

The building opened in three stages between 1933 and 1940, as construction work was completed and exhibits were installed. The first opening ceremony of M.S.I. occurred during the first year of A Century of Progress. A number of scientific or technical exhibits built for A Century of Progress were later donated to M.S.I. or were built to serve both organizations. For example, the Piccard Gondola demonstrated at the World’s Fair was later donated to M.S.I. A Century of Progress Corporation supplied M.S.I. with its third and fourth presidents – Rufus Cutler Dawes (1867-1940) and Major Lenox Lohr (1891-1968) – as well as staff members, including two business managers and a physics curator. Some of these people went directly from A Century of Progress Corporation to M.S.I., while others followed Major Lohr from A Century of Progress Corporation to NBC to M.S.I. The University of Illinois’s famed dermatologist Dr. William Allen Pusey had a hand in planning medical exhibits in both organizations and became a trustee of M.S.I. in 1936. Marion Mercer (1899-1935), Assistant Curator of Geology & Mineral Industries, helped design M.S.I.’s Coal Mine and served as General Manager of the World’s Fair’s Diamond Exhibits Corporation while on leave from M.S.I. A Century of Progress also provided multiple opportunities for M.S.I. to honor Rosenwald and various scientists. In addition, while the exterior of the Palace of Fine Arts is a Beaux-Arts neoclassical design by Atwood (rebuilt in limestone), the Art Moderne interior design by Shaw is the same style prevalent at A Century of Progress.

During Chicago Museum Week, Museum Entry (general admission tickets) will be 20% off for adults and children on the 18^th, 19^th, 22^nd, 23^rd, 24^th, 25^th, and 26^th of January and 10% off Museum Entry for adults and children on Saturday, January 20, 2018 and Sunday, January 21, 2018. Museum Entry (general admission tickets) at the Museum of Science and Industry are normally $18 for adults, $17 for senior citizens, and $11 for children (ages three-to-eleven). Admission is free for babies and toddlers two years of age and under. The address is 5700 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60637.

Figure 10 Credit: J.B. Spector, Museum of Science and Industry Caption: The Museum of Science and Industry has expanded underground twice. The front lawn is on top of a subterranean garage structure, the Silver Streak exhibit hall, the Entry Hall, and the U-505 exhibit hall.

Figure 11 Credit: Photo courtesy of Adler Planetarium Caption: Ernest Grunsfeld, Jr. (1897-1970), cousin of Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum founder Max Adler (1866-1952), designed the original building. Lohan Associates designed the addition.

Founded in 1930, the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum is located on Northerly Island in Burnham Park, the only artificial island called for in the Plan of Chicago that was actually built. It is part of the Museum Campus in Burnham Park. The Adler Planetarium is a Smithsonian Affiliate. The founders, Sears, Roebuck & Company executive Max Adler (1866-1952) and famed Northwestern University astronomer Major Philip Fox, Ph.D., were intimately connected with the M.S.I. Max Adler was the brother-in-law of Sears, Roebuck & Company president and M.S.I. founder Julius Rosenwald, while Dr. Philip Fox went from being the founding Director of the Adler Planetarium to being the third Director of the M.S.I. In 1928, Max & Sophie Adler traveled with Adler’s cousin, the architect Ernest Grunsfeld, Jr., to Germany including stops at the Deutsches Museum and at Jena, Germany, where five years earlier in 1923 Dr. Walther Bauersfeld had invented the Zeiss Projector. Adler initially wanted the Adler Planetarium to be firmly associated with M.S.I., but the South Park District offered him land on which to build the Adler Planetarium as a stand-alone institution. Consequently, the first planetarium in the Western Hemisphere was built as a 160-foot diameter dodecagon at what is now known as the Museum Campus, which is also home to The Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium, at the northern end of Burnham Park. Of the three museums in Burnham Park, Fox wrote, “The three are fittingly closely associated and form a trinity dedicated to the study of “The Heavens above, the Earth beneath, and the waters under the Earth.”[57]

Ernest A. Grunsfeld, Jr. designed the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum (1930).[58] Grunsfeld’s design garnered an A.I.A. gold medal in 1930.[59] The regular dodecagon-shaped building has an exterior diameter of 160 feet with a rainbow granite façade, topped by a copper dome with a diameter of eighty feet.[60] At the center of the building is a circular planetarium chamber, seventy-two feet in diameter capped by a sixty-eight-foot-diameter dome.[61] The linen of the inner dome was stretched out over horizontal battens that circled the dome like almucantars.[62] The Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum opened its doors to the public on May 12, 1930.[63] Max Adler not only provided the South Park Commissioners with the money to build the Planetarium, but also donated a valuable collection of historical artifacts related to astronomy, navigation, timekeeping, and engineering. Unlike The Art Institute of Chicago, The Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, and the M.S.I., which are all operated on park district land by non-profit corporations, the Adler Planetarium was originally owned and operated outright by the South Park District.

During Chicago Museum Week, the Adler Planetarium will offer 25% off any admission package and 20% off Individual, Individual Plus, and Family Memberships. Over 570,000 people visit the Adler Planetarium every year. The address is 1300 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605.

Figure 12 Credit: Photo courtesy of Adler Planetarium Caption: The Trustees of the B.F. Ferguson Monument Fund, which is to say the Board of Trustees of The Art Institute of Chicago, commissioned Sir Henry Moore (1898-1986) to produce the bronze sundial sculpture Man Enters the Cosmos that stands northwest of the Adler Planetarium.

The DuSable Museum of African American History is located at the eastern edge of Washington Park (not to be confused with Washington Square Park, Harold Washington Playlot Park, or Dinah Washington Park ) in the Washington Park Community Area on the South Side of Chicago. It is just outside the campus of The University of Chicago. Artist Margaret T. Burroughs (1917-2010) and her husband, Charles Burroughs, founded the DuSable Museum on the ground floor of their home in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. Mrs. Burroughs was a graduate of Chicago Teachers College and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago who had served as art director of the Negro Hall of Fame. Originally, they called their new museum the Ebony Museum of Negro History and Art when it opened in 1961. They later dropped “Ebony” from the name and in 1968 renamed it in honor of Jean Baptiste Du Sable, who is considered the founder of Chicago because he and his family established a farm and trading post that was the first permanent settlement on the site of Chicago. Since 1973, the DuSable Museum has been housed in the former Washington Park Administration Building. Designed by D.H. Burnham & Company, this Beaux-Arts-style building was erected in 1910 to house the offices of the South Park Commission. A 28,000-square-foot addition built in 1993 includes a 450-seat auditorium. In 1986, Mayor Harold Washington appointed Mrs. Burroughs to the Chicago Park District’s Board of Commissioners. On Wednesday, August 12, 2015, the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners named a 29.75-acre parcel of land in Burnham Park (31^st Street Beach and some adjacent green space) Margaret T. Burroughs Beach and Park.[64]

The DuSable Museum is located in Washington Park at the intersection of 57^th Street and Cottage Grove. The DuSable Museum is a Smithsonian Affiliate. Admission will be up to 50% off. For adults, it will be $5 instead of $10, $3 for senior citizens instead of $5, $3 for students instead of $7, and $2 for children (ages six-to-eleven) instead of $3. It will be free for children ages five and under. The DuSable Museum is free to all on Tuesdays.[65] Family Memberships, which are valued at $60 – and only Family Memberships – will be half-price. There will be special weekend guided tours and a DuSable Museum gift basket giveaway. The address is 740 East 56^th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637.

The Museum of Contemporary Art opened in 1967. It is located between Seneca Playground Park to the west and Lake Shore Park to the east in the neighborhood of Streeterville (the neighborhood between the Magnificent Mile of Michigan Avenue and the lakeshore). The Museum of Contemporary Art is sometimes listed as the “Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago” and is increasingly branding itself as “MCA Chicago.” The M.C.A.’s new restaurant, Marisol, features a menu planned by Chef Jason Hammel (Lulu Café). Zagat named it one of the top ten hottest restaurants in Chicago. It is open outside museum hours, but, please note, it is closed on Sundays. The M.C.A. is free for youths eighteen and under. The M.C.A. is also a Blue Star Museum. It is free to armed services members and veterans, police, and firefighters. During Chicago Museum Week, adult museum admission will be $12.

The M.C.A. will be free to Illinois residents on Tuesday, January 23, 2018, because it is always free to Illinois residents on Tuesdays. Under the Museums for All program, visitors with LINK (EBT) Cards can purchase $3 tickets for up to six individuals.[66] During the Chicago Museum Week, visitors who mention this offer at the MCA Store can receive 10% off their purchases (20% if they are members). This offer is only good on regular-priced, in-stock merchandise. This offer cannot be combined with other discounts. The offer is only good in-store. EnChroma color-blindness-correcting eyeglasses are available for visitors to borrow for free during visits to the M.C.A. The address is 220 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60611.

The National Museum of Mexican Art is located in Harrison Park in Pilsen on the South Side of Chicago. In 1982, Carlos Tortolero and Helen Valdez organized a group of educators to establish the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum. In January of 1986, the Mexican Fine Arts Museum and the Chicago Park District under which the museum would occupy the Boat Craft Shop in Harrison Park. It opened on Friday, March 27, 1987, so this year is the 30^th anniversary of the National Museum of Mexican Art opening. During Chicago Museum Week, the National Museum of Mexican Art is offering a 15% discount for Illinois residents at the gift shop Tienda Tzintzuntzán. One can enter a drawing for a chance to win a Maíz Household Membership. The address is 1852 West 19^th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60608.

The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture, founded in 2001, is located in Humboldt Park in a Queen Anne-style building that was formerly the Humboldt Park Stables and Receptory. The structure looks like it belongs in a sylvan German landscape and the façade could readily be used by film or television productions about history, historical fiction, or a fairy tale. The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture (N.M.P.R.A.C.) is the only national museum devoted to Puerto Rican arts and culture. It became the latest member of the Museums in the Park in 2014. The N.M.P.R.A.C.is an anchor of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, thanks to support from The Chicago Community Trust. The exhibit The Humboldt Park Stables: A Transition into the Future opened on September 16, 2017 and it is supposed to run until January 8, 2018, although the museum will actually be closed from Sunday, December 24, 2017 to Monday, January 8, 2018.[67] Due to its location, in addition to exhibits on Puerto Rican arts and culture, The N.M.P.R.A.C. also has an exhibit on Jens Jensen, an important landscape architect who was one of the fathers of both the Chicago Park District and the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, improved Garfield Park, Douglas Park, and Humboldt Park in 1906. He also lived across the street from Humboldt Park, of which he had been superintendent. The N.M.P.R.A.C. has free admission and free parking every day. The address is 3015 West Division Street, Chicago, Illinois 60622.

In addition to these twelve institutions, there are six others listed on the Chicago Museum Week Website as “Partners.” These are the Bronzeville Children’s Museum, the DePaul Art Museum (DPAM), the Glessner House Museum, the Haitian American Museum of Chicago (H.A.M.O.C.), Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, and the Loyola University Museum of Art (L.U.M.A.). [One can see furniture the aforementioned Coolidge designed while in the A.H. Davenport firm in the John J. Glessner House at 1800 South Prairie Avenue, designed by the great H.H. Richardson.[68]] During 2018 Museum Week, the Bronzeville Children’s Museum will have a special admission discount with two general admission tickets for the price of one. The Bronzeville Children’s Museum will also be celebrating its 20^th anniversary with special programs. The Glessner House Museum will offer a 25% discount on public tours. General admission at the Haitian American Museum of Chicago will be $3 instead of $5 during Museum Week. The same is true of tours of H.A.M.O.C. Haitian music C.D.s that are normally $15 will be $12. Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art will be free on Thursday, January 18, 2018 and offer a 10% discount in the gift shop. During Museum Week, Loyola University Museum of Art will be free and offer a 10% discount in the gift shop.

Use the hashtag #ChicagoMuseumWeek while making posts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to assure the attention of other people who love these institutions and the institutions themselves. The Museums in the Park would like enthusiasts to use the theme “Game Changers” on Thursday, January 18, 2018; the theme “I Love Museums” on Friday, January 19, 2018; the theme “Museum Selfie” over the weekend of Saturday, January 20, 2018 and Sunday, January 21, 2018; the theme “The Future” on Monday, January 22, 2018; the theme “Perspectives” on Tuesday, January 23, 2018; the theme “The G.O.A.T.” (Greatest of All Time) on Wednesday, January 24, 2018; the theme “Throwback Thursday” on Thursday, 25, 2018; and the theme “Kids Day” on Friday, January 26, 2018.

The sponsors of Chicago Museum Week are 365 Outdoors, 93.9 FM, Chicago Tribune Media Group, NBC5 Chicago, and TimeOut Chicago. The Museums in the Park gratefully acknowledge the support of the Chicago Park District on behalf of the people of Chicago.

[1] Steve Johnson, “First Chicago Museum Week joins a dozen area museums,” Chicago Tribune, 8 September, 2015 (http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/museums/ct-chicago-museum-week-20150908-column.htm) Accessed 12/22/17

[2] Chicago History Museum, “The Chicago Historical Society: 1846-1946,” Chicago History, Volume I, Number 3, Spring 1946, pages 57 & 58

[3] Carl Smith, The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press (2006), p. 47

See also Landmarks Preservation Council and Service, Chicago’s Landmark Structures: An Inventory, Part 2: Central Area Chicago (1975), p. 6

[4] Bessie Louise Pierce, A History of Chicago, Volume II: from Town to City 1848-1871. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press (1957, 2007), pages 400 and 419

See also Landmarks Preservation Council and Service, Chicago’s Landmark Structures: An Inventory, Part 2: Central Area Chicago (1975), p. 6

[5] Chicago Historical Society, Chicago History, Volume I, Number 3, Spring 1946, p. 68

[6] Richard Popp, “Descriptive Inventory for the Collection at Chicago History Museum, Research Center,” June 1982, p. 2

[7] Landmarks Preservation Council and Service, Chicago’s Landmark Structures: An Inventory, Part 2: Central Area Chicago (1975), p. 6

[8] Smith, p. 47

See also Landmarks Preservation Council and Service, p. 6

“Richardsonian Romanesque” is the name for the style of Romanesque Revival architecture developed by Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886).

[9] Pierce, A History of Chicago, Vol. III , p. 422

See also Landmarks Preservation Council and Service, Chicago’s Landmark Structures: An Inventory, Part 2: Central Area Chicago (1975), p. 6

[10] Landmarks Preservation Council and Service, p. 6

[11] James Ballowe, A Man of Salt and Trees: The Life of Joy Morton DeKalb, Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press (2009), pages 198 and 226, and 260

[12] Smith, p. 47

[13] “About the Building,” Chicago History Museum (http://www.chicagohistory.org/aboutus/building) Accessed 07/26/07

Sally A. Kitt Chappell, Chicago’s Urban Nature: A Guide to City’s Architecture. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press (2007), p. 174

Graydon Megan, “Jean Haider, civic leader who played a role in ‘reinvention’ of Chicago History Museum, dies,” Chicago Tribune, 14 July, 2017 (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obituaries/ct-jean-haider-obituary-20170714-story.html) Accessed 12/22/17

Steve Johnson, “Chicago History Museums wins National Medal for Museum and Library Services,” Chicago Tribune, 19 April, 2016 (http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/museums/ct-chicago-history-museum-award-20160419-story.html) Accessed 12/22/17

[14] “Matthew Laflin’s Gift,” The New York Times, 23 November, 1892

See also Ira J. Bach and Susan Wolfson. Chicago on Foot: Walking Tours of Chicago Architecture. Fifth edition. Revised and updated by James Cornelius. Chicago Review Press (1994), p. 279

[15] Ira J. Bach and Susan Wolfson. Chicago on Foot: Walking Tours of Chicago Architecture. Fifth edition. Revised and updated by James Cornelius. Chicago Review Press (1994), p. 279

[16] Bach and Wolfson, pages 278-279

[17] Peggy Notebaert is the wife of Richard C. Notebaert, Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of the University of Notre Dame and former C.E.O. of Ameritech, Tellabs, and Qwest.

[18] Lee Bey, “Notebaert Nature Museum is a harmonic convergence,” Chicago Sun-Times, 24 October, 1999

[19] Museums for All is an initiative of the I.M.L.S. and the Association of Children’s Museums.

[20] Julia Sniderman Bachrach, The City in a Garden: A History of Chicago’s Parks. Chicago: The Center for American Places at Columbia College Chicago. Distributed by The University of Chicago Press (2012), p. 11

See also Rosenthal, Mark, Carol Tauber, and Edward Uhlir: The Ark in the Park: The Story of Lincoln Park Zoo. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press (2003), p. 22

[21] Rosenthal, pages 23, 28, and 48

[22] Pierce, A History of Chicago, Vol. III , pages 494 & 495

[23] Jane H. Clarke, “The Art Institute’s Guardian Lions,” Museum Studies, Vol. 14, No. 1, 1988, p. 49

[24] Pierce, A History of Chicago, Vol. III , p. 495

[25] Examples of Romanesque architecture include the Cathedral of Trier in Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany; the Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham in Durham, England; and the Cathedral of Saint-Front in Perigueux, France. In The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Trilogy (2001-2003), the capital of Gondor, Minas Tirith (also known as the White City) is depicted in Romanesque style.

[26] Carl Smith, The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press (2006), p. 49

See also Donald F. Miller, City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster (1996), pages 385-387