The Chicago History Museum is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Chicago's rich and varied history, as well as American history. The museum is located at the southwestern corner of the city's famous Lincoln Park and housed in a building constructed in 1932; the modern addition was built in 1988. The museum was founded in 1856 as the Chicago Historical Society and given its current name in 2006. Its collection is very large, amounting to 20 million items. The museum features several permanent exhibits including: "Chicago: Crossroads of America," "Sensing Chicago," "Chicago Authored," and "Lincoln's Chicago," which explores President Abraham Lincoln's political rise in Chicago, his presidency, assassination, and legacy. The museum offers many temporary exhibitions as well.
The International Museum of Surgical Science is home to 4 floors “filled with extraordinary artifacts, as well as paintings, illustrations and sculptures that interpret the primitive and modern healing practices of Eastern and Western civilizations. From early practices to today’s revolutionary techniques, the Museum’s collections and exhibitions portray the mysteries, breakthroughs, failures, and milestones that have shaped modern surgical science” (“Exhibits”).
The Charnley-Persky House (1891) was designed by two famous architects, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. Sullivan had hired Wright as a draftsman in 1887, but allowed him to help with the design of the Charnley House, an abnormal role for a draftsman at the time. Sullivan's rejection of Beaux-Arts style, as well as their mutual rejection of Victorian-era designs are noted, as well as features that came to be synonymous with the Prairie School. The building was constructed during the height of Chicago's meteoric population and construction boom, and for James Charnley, a lumber magnate in Chicago at a time when Chicago existed as the world's largest lumber market.
The Newberry Library is a private, independent research library in Chicago that began operations in 1887 thanks to an endowment from Walter L. Newberry. Newberry amassed a fortune in real estate and railroads and donated a portion of that fortune to create a substantial library for the city of Chicago. The research library specializes in materials related to the humanities and supporting the work of humanities scholars with programs, grants, and a collection of over million books and documents. The library's collection is known to scholars around the world and its non-circulating collection includes many rare materials dating as far back as the Middle Ages. The library holds thousands of rare books and millions of original documents related to early American history, European history, and Western culture. The library operates a wide variety of programs to encourage public engagement and research. These programs include lectures, classes, and fellowship opportunities opportunities for scholars.
Located in the Near North Side neighborhood within its Magnificent Mile district, Chicago’s famous Water Tower remains a symbol of its pre-Great Fire past. Constructed in 1869, it held pumps to draw water from Lake Michigan as well as tall standpipes that could provide high-pressures for firefighting as well as regulate water surges. Architect William Boyington designed the building almost entirely with Joliet limestone in his famous castellated Gothic Revival style. Because of the Water Tower being constructed primarily of stone, it was one of the few to survive the Great Fire of 1871. The building underwent two renovations during the 20th-century, first between 1913-1916 and the second during 1978. The Water Tower is now an art gallery for the Chicago Office of Tourism and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 23, 1975.
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is one of the world's foremost contemporary art museums. It was established in 1967 and has grown to house a collection of 2,500 works of art that date from the 1920s to today. These include paintings, photographs, sculptures (some of which are displayed outside), videos and films. The museum also features a theater where various kinds of performances take place and offers changing exhibitions throughout the year. The museum's mission is to foster the creation of contemporary art and engage the public in this process through its exhibitions, collection, and performances that take place here.
Beginning in 1982, The Chicago Children’s Museum was founded based on program setbacks in Chicago’s public schools. It was founded by the Junior League of Chicago and would start off at the Chicago Public Library in two hallways of the establishment. The museum would soon offer trunk shows and traveling exhibits due to the large crowds that would gather to see it in person. The museum now includes 3 floors of exhibits and activities that provide crowds with highly interactive exhibits, sensory experiences, and education. The exhibits and programs focus mostly on literature, science, math, the performing arts, and health.
The Driehaus Museum was founded by the Philanthropist Richard H. Driehaus in 2003. The museum is housed in the former home of banker Samuel Mayo Nickerson, and underwent a five-year restoration before becoming the museum. The museum offers original furnishings and historic pieces from the Driehaus Collection of Fine Arts. The Driehaus Museum also features an extensive collection of fine furnishing from the turn of the 19th century into the new millennium of the 20th century.
The Chicago Foodseum is a nonprofit food museum that serves food enthusiasts and aspiring chefs of all ages by "Creating a central location for anyone to learn about, celebrate and be inspired by food” (“Mission”). The museum includes interactive exhibits, educational seminars, developmental programs, and events about the history of food, including people and the processes critical to getting food from its most raw forms to ready to eat.
The Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago is dedicated to the preservation and presentation of television and radio history to the public. It claims to be one of only three museums in the nation focused solely on broadcasting. The museum first opened in 1987 and is now located at North State Street. It is notable for possessing and preserving 85,000 hours of television and radio broadcasts, as well as thousands of other artifacts. The museum is also home to the National Radio Hall of Fame.
At the center of the new Chicago Riverwalk, The McCormick Bridgehouse and Chicago River Museum celebrates and honors “the Chicago River and its world-famous movable bridges.” At river level, visitors can see the city’s most famous movable bridges and then walk through 5 stories of exhibits that highlight the river and bridge.
The American Writers Museum is the first and only museum dedicated to the lives and the work of American writers. The museum opened in 2017 and puts a strong emphasis on modern, interactive exhibits that incorporate technology. The mission of the museum is “to engage the public in celebrating American writers and exploring their influence on our history, our identity, our culture, and our daily lives.”
Famous for its two stained glass domes, the Chicago Cultural Center is an architectural beauty that offers free music, dance, theater events, as well as films, lectures, art exhibitions, and family events/programs for the City of Chicago. These events honor international, national, regional, and local arts, musicians, and performers. The Chicago Cultural Center was designed by Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge and built in 1897 to serve as the city’s first central library. The building was deemed a national historic place in 1972 and a Chicago landmark in 1976. In 1991, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs designated the library to become the Chicago Cultural Center.
The Pritzker Military Museum and Library feature a collection of books and other materials on military history and citizen soldiers in America with a mission to increase understanding of military history and sacrifice. The museum houses a collection of prints, posters, photos, artifacts that cover early war and conflicts, 20th-century war and conflicts, modern war and conflicts, military reading lists, military leaders, and the armed forces, as well as a permanent exhibit called Medal of Honor. The museum also prides itself on being "a public forum to discuss the past, present, and future of the military." Admission is $5 or free for any member or person with an active military ID.
The Art Institute of Chicago, established in 1879, is a world-renowned, encyclopedic art museum housing one of the world’s most important permanent collections. The Institute offers around thirty exhibitions a year and its permanent collection of over a quarter million works represents the third largest collection of art in the United States. The Institute is also home to the largest collection of impressionist paintings outside of Paris.
Opening on May 30, 1930, Shedd Aquarium has grown to include exhibits of over 1,500 species ranging from the rare and endangered deep ocean varieties to dolphins and whales. At one time, Shedd stood as the largest indoor aquarium in the world, boasting over five million gallons of water. This was also the first aquarium to feature a permanent saltwater fish collection.
The Field Museum explores the history of life on Earth and takes visitors on a “journey of scientific discovery.” With over 24 million specimens, dozens of galleries, and a collection of nearly 300,000 books, the Field Museum is one of the largest museums in the world. Highlights of the museum include some of the world's most valuable gems, ancient hieroglyphs and two-dozen Egyptian mummies, rare Chinese jade artifacts that are over 8000 years old, and Sue, the most complete and best-preserved fossil remain of a Tyrannosaurus Rex in the world. There are numerous exhibits and programs for children, as well as outreach programs for schools and evening lectures for adults.
A National Historic Landmark and a famous piece of architecture, the Glessner House Museum was completed in 1887 by American architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose design differed vastly from the traditional Victorian style. The museum is “one of the country's premier sites for the study and enjoyment of decorative arts” and “offers both the casual visitor and the serious connoisseur a unique opportunity to partake in the pleasures of the Aesthetic and English Arts and Crafts movements” (“Collection”). The museum offers tours, lectures, and programs on art, architecture, and social history from the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as on the Gilded age (“when America’s newly rich industrialists were living in modern-day castles” (“The House”)) and changes to the historic Prairie Avenue area.
Arguably Chicago’s oldest residential house, the building has survived two moves, a fire and decades of tremendous growth. The historic structure now serves as a local history museum that offers exhibits and programs about the early history of the city and influential Chicagoans such as hardware and building magnate Henry Clarke. Like many of Chicago's founding mothers and fathers, the Clarkes arrived a few years prior to Chicago gaining its charter and both promoted and profited from the city's growth. The museum and its architecture also interpret the significance of Greek and Roman architecture found in many of the homes and buildings in and beyond the city.
The Chinese American Museum of Chicago was the first museum to be located in Chicago’s Chinatown. The museum showcases Chinese American culture and history, with a particular focus on the communities of the Midwestern US. Exhibit topics have included Chinese immigration, the history of Chinatown, fashion, art, and archaeology. In 2008, just three years after opening, a devastating fire claimed a significant portion of its collection. In a city-wide community effort, the museum was able to gather additional artifacts for its collection and raise funds to build new displays. The renovated building reopened in 2010.
The Heritage Museum of Asian Art opened in 2014 in Chicago’s Chinatown. Local bookstore owner and third-generation resident of Chinatown, Jeffrey Moy, was motivated to start the museum as a way to expose people to Asia’s ancient history. The exhibits cover most Asian cultures, with artifacts such as jade sculpture, bronze vessels, ornately embroidered robes, folk pottery, and household décor. The mission of the museum is “to preserve and promote the tradition of Asian art for the enrichment of present and future generations.” The museum reopened in much larger facility on 26th Street in 2017.
The largest science museum in the Western Hemisphere, the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry is home to 40,000 square feet of interactive exhibits and 35,000 artifacts. Based on 2009 attendance, the museum was the second largest cultural attraction in Chicago. One of the leading attractions at the museum, German submarine U-505 was produced for Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II and was captured by the US Navy on June 1944. Visitors can tour this U-boat, which provided the Allies with a multitude of classified information. Among its diverse and expansive exhibits, the Museum features a full-size replica coal mine; a German submarine (U-505) captured during World War II, which is the only German U-boat in the United States; a 3,500-square-foot model railroad; Pioneer Zephyr, the first diesel-powered streamlined stainless-steel passenger train; the Apollo 8 spacecraft that carried the first humans to the Moon; Science Storm; You! The Experience; Baby Chick Hatchery; The Great Train Story; Toy Maker 3000; Genetics: Decoding Life; Earth Revealed; Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle; Farm Tech; and Tech Flight. The museum also features an 800 seat auditorium, 2 small theaters, and a 5-story, domed Omnimax Theater. The Museum of Science and Industry encourages and inspires children and other visitors to learn and strive in the fields of science, technology, medicine, and engineering. The museum's Center for Science Education offers teacher education courses and youth programs, featuring learning labs and after-school science clubs.
The University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art houses collections of art from around the world, including Asian art, Old Master art, modern art/design, and contemporary art. The museum, which focuses on teaching and research, hosts several educational programs, including public talks, lectures, symposia, a teaching gallery, studio workshops, field trips, family days and programs, artist talks, workshops, tours, concerts, films, and events for University of Chicago students.
The DuSable Museum of African American History is the first and oldest museum dedicated to the study and conservation of African American history, culture, and art. The museum was founded in 1961 by educator and art historian Dr. Margaret Burroughs and works to preserve and interpret the experiences and achievements of people of African descent. The museum's permanent collection includes thousands of documents and artifacts, including many that are related to the history of Chicago. Visitors can also see works of art and tour special exhibitions throughout the year. The museum also sponsors workshops and lectures.
The Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture is dedicated to preserving the story and traditions of Lithuanian Americans and their homeland. It was founded in 1966 by the Balzekas family, partly to push for Lithuanian independence. The facility is one of the largest sources of Lithuanian knowledge and artifacts outside of Lithuania itself, and serves as an anchor for Chicago’s Lithuanian American community. It contains thousands of historic and cultural artifacts; many permanent and temporary exhibits; and a research library. It also offers various outreach programs, most notably a biannual trip to Lithuania. The museum is a member of the Chicago Cultural Alliance.
Established in 1997, this local history museum is located in firehouse that was built in 1916 and served as the home of Engine 123 and its crew. The museum is home to historic apparatus and equipment, a library of historic documents and photographs, and exhibits that chronicle the growth of the fire service throughout the city of Chicago.
The Chicago Maritime Museum works to preserve and raise awareness of Chicago's maritime history. The city became the major metropolis it is today because of its location between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River system, enabling it to become one of the most vital ports in the United States. The museum opened in 2016 on the first floor of the Bridgeport Art Center, and posseses a collection of over 10,000 artifacts. Items of note include a large collection of historically significant canoes and an original diving suit from the 1915 Eastland disaster. The museum also hosts a historical maritime lecture series as well as other community programs.
Located in the Pilsen neighborhood, the heart of Chicago’s Mexican and Mexican-American community, the National Museum of Mexican Art is a shrine to Mexican culture and art. Founded in 1987 by Carlos Tortolero, the museum contains over 10,000 pieces of art in its permanent collection; pieces dating from 3,000 years ago to the present. The National Museum of Mexican Art also remains the only museum devoted to Mexican Art that is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The museum also has several famous traveling exhibitions that are lent out to museums across the United States and Mexico. Some of these exhibits include The Art of the Other Mexico, The African Presence in Mexico, and Frida’s Contemporaries: Women Artists of Modern Mexico.
Hull House was established in Chicago's Near West Side community in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Starr when the community consisted mostly of Southern European immigrants. Mexican immigration to Chicago occurred in the early 20th century and they soon became the dominant immigrant group in the Hull-House neighborhood. Therefore, Hull House, and the immigrant rights organizations associated with it like the Immigrants Protection League, had to change the services that it offered to serve this new community. Hull House became a center of engagement for Mexican-Americans to pursue the arts, helping to inspire Mexican artists such as Jesus Torres and Miguel Juárez and helping to create a new sense of Mexicanidad in Chicago. The settlement house eventually became a symbol of the dispersal of the Latinx population during the construction of the University of Illinois at Chicago in the 1960s in a time of urban renewal. Currently, the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum serves as a dynamic memorial to social reformer Jane Addams, the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and her colleagues whose work changed the lives of their immigrant neighbors as well as national and international public policy. The museum preserves and develops the original Hull-House site for the interpretation and continuation of the historic settlement house vision, linking research, education, and social engagement. The museum is open to the public at the University of Illinois at Chicago campus and contains original settlement house buildings- the Hull Home, a National Historic Landmark, and the Residents' Dining Hall, a beautiful Arts and Crafts building that has welcomed some of the world's most important thinkers, artists and activists.
Chicago's National Hellenic Museum is dedicated to promoting Greek culture. Located in the city's popular Greektown district, the current museum building opened in 2011. The museum contains thousands of artifacts spanning Greek history from ancient Greece to Greek Americans in the present day. It has multiple permanent and temporary exhibits, as well as an extensive research library. The museum also engages in community outreach with educational programs such as lectures, language classes, and culture classes.
The Polish Museum of America is the largest ethnic museum in Chicago and one of the first ethnic museums in the United States. It was founded in 1935 by a Polish fraternal organization in the city’s historically-Polish neighborhood. The museum is focused on preserving Polish history and culture, and contains thousands of artifacts and resources on Poland and Polish Americans. The museum occupies a building that was constructed in 1913 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In addition to the museum, the building is also the headquarters for both the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America and the Polish Genealogical Society of America.
This Chicago museum was founded in 1952 by Ukrainian scholars fleeing the Soviet Union and offers exhibits and programs that help share Ukrainian history along with the experience and perspectives of Americans of Ukrainian heritage. The museum is located in Chicago's historic Ukrainian Village neighborhood, a longtime center of the Ukrainian American community. The museum contains thousands of artifacts from folk art to war memorabilia and a library and archives. The museum also hosts many programs around the year including art exhibits, cultural activities, and community events.
Located in the historic Humboldt Park Stables and Receptory, the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture was founded in 2001 to celebrate Puerto Rican heritage and culture. The center offers seasonal exhibitions and programming as well as community and art programs exhibitions, workshops, films, and an arts & crafts festival. The museum has a courtyard decorated with mosaic artwork, two galleries, performance spaces, and art classrooms. Current renovations are set to include a café, a gift shop, and the main gallery.
The National Veterans Art Museum collects and exhibits art inspired combat and created by veterans. This museum also offers a space where military personnel and civilians can discuss the impact of war. All the artwork is created by veterans and the museum also supports the latest memorial to Vietnam veterans.
The National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial is dedicated to preserving the history and culture of Cambodia and connecting the Cambodian American community together. Much of the museum is focused on the Cambodian Genocide, during which over two million people died under the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979. It is one of only two Cambodian museums in the United States and is home to the Killing Fields Memorial, the first permanent monument to the victims of the Cambodian Genocide. The museum is also home to the Cambodian Association of Illinois, which provides support services to the state’s Cambodian American community and offers a variety of cultural and language classes. It is a member of the Chicago Cultural Alliance.
The DANK Haus German American Cultural Center in Chicago is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of German language and culture. The center has its roots with DANK, the German American National Congress, which was founded in 1959. The current building in Lincoln Square was purchased in 1967. The cultural center hosts a variety of events exploring German heritage, culture, and language. It also serves as the meeting place for many German clubs, and is home to a language school, a museum, a library, and an art gallery. It is a member of the Chicago Cultural Alliance.
Located in Chicago's Swedish cultural center Andersonville, the Swedish American Museum is the “cultural center for the education, celebration and interpretation of Swedish American history and culture in Chicago, Illinois” (“About”). The museum serves to honor and celebrate Swedish culture, history, customs, traditions, and the Swedish immigrant experience. Home to over 12,000 artifacts, the museum has a special exhibits gallery that hosts 4 exhibits a year as well as a permanent exhibit entitled “The Dream of America-Swedish Immigration to Chicago” that is updated annually; the exhibit is about immigration to Chicago at the end of the 1800s and features artifacts, immigrant experiences, and immigrant perspectives. The 24,000 square foot museum hosts events, language classes, programs, and field trips, as well as the Brunk Children's Museum and the Nordic Family Genealogy Center.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
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This tour includes over three dozen Chicago art, history, and science museums. The tour begins at the Chicago History Museum and includes numerous museums dedicated to preserving the history of the diverse ethnic communities that continue to shape the city.
Museum Virtual Tours and Citywide Museum Trails
