Blog

statue

Best of Independence Day: The Gilded Age Edition

June 29, 2012The Fourth didn’t become a federal holiday until 1941, but America has been celebrating it since the signatures went down on the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Looking back at a Gilded Age’s worth of Fourth of July celebrations in Chicago, here are some of best (and some of the worst) moments between the Civil and First World Wars.Read Article

painting

A Tour of the World’s Fair: Decorative Objects from the 1893 Columbian Exposition

June 25, 2012On permanent display in the Driehaus Museum are a number of decorative objects—an artistic silver punch bowl by Tiffany & Company; a painting of the Administration Building; and even a trio of Japanese bronzes, souvenirs purchased by the Nickerson family that originally occupied this mansion—that come exclusively from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Read Article

servants

Below America’s Stairs: Domestic Servants in the Gilded Age

June 14, 2012The Museum’s visitors are always interested in how America’s wealthy lived back in the Gilded Age—with their parties, art collections, luxuries, Europe tours, and so on—but lately we’ve noticed this curiosity giving way to a positive deluge of questions about the other half: the Nickersons’ live-in servants.Read Article

endangered places

America’s Endangered Places

June 06, 2012Today the National Trust for Historic Preservation released its 25th anniversary list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Places. As always the range is wide, from the country’s post office buildings to private estates like Theodore Roosevelt’s North Dakota ranch or Malcolm X’s boyhood home.Read Article

Mathilda

[You Asked] What Was Mrs. Nickerson Like?

June 02, 2012Today’s blog is part of an occasional series dedicated to answering visitors’ questions.Read Article