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halloween

Halloween: From Ancient Britain to Gilded Age America

November 23, 2017Although people around the world view Halloween as a thoroughly American holiday, it has a far more complicated story than that. In fact, Halloween is a mash-up of ancient Celtic paganism, early Roman Catholicism, nineteenth-century American immigration, modern suburbanism and commercialism, and much, much more.Read Article

Meet the Driehaus museum team

Richard, Membership & Volunteer Coordinator

April 28, 2016Our staff is always asked about their backgrounds and how they came to work at the Driehaus Museum. So we wanted to share some of our amazing team with everyone. And, as always, let us know if you have any other questions.Read Article

Corie, Museum Store Manager

Corie, Museum Store Manager

January 04, 2016First name? Corie-ann What is your title and what role does your position play at the Driehaus Museum? Museum Store Manager – My job is to ensure the day to day running of the Museum Store. I also choose and buy all of the merchandise and set up all of our displays.Read Article

team

Emily, Museum Guide

December 02, 2015Our staff is always asked about our backgrounds and how they came to work at the Driehaus Museum. So we wanted to share some of our amazing team with everyone. And, as always, let us know if you have any other questions.Read Article

crapper's

[You Asked] What’s the Story with the Crappers?

October 16, 2015You Asked… What’s the Story with the “Crapper” Toilets in the Driehaus Museum Bathrooms? Today’s blog post is part of an occasional series dedicated to answering visitors’ questions.Read Article

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Laura-Caroline, Collections & Exhibitions Manager

September 14, 2015Our staff is always asked about our backgrounds and how they came to work at the Driehaus Museum. So we wanted to share some of our amazing team with everyone. And, as always, let us know if you have any other questions.Read Article

team1

Claire, Museum Guide

August 10, 2015Our staff is always asked about our backgrounds and how they came to work at the Driehaus Museum. So we wanted to share some of our amazing team with everyone. And, as always, let us know if you have any other questions.Read Article

team1

Lindsay, Marketing Manager

July 17, 2015Our staff is always asked about our backgrounds and why we ended up working for the Driehaus Museum. So we wanted to share some of our amazing team with everyone. And, as always, let us know if you have any other questions.Read Article

chicago

Get Out and About in Chicago

July 06, 2015It’s finally summer in Chicago and you’ve done the usual: baseball game, boat tours, street festivals and so forth. It’s time to check out some of the gems of the city, some of which a lot of people don’t realize are right near them. We are going back through the archives of the Driehaus Museum Blog to suggest some great places to bike or take the train over and explore!Read Article

John Gardner

[From the Archives] Featured Designer: John Gardner Low

May 18, 2015John Gardner Low was a ceramics artist of about 41 when he approached the crowded exhibitions in Philadelphia at the 1876 Centennial Exposition. He was a Massachusetts man and had traveled far, like the millions of others, to see the first U.S. world’s fair.Read Article

Colombian Exposition

A Guide to Enjoying the World’s Colombian Exposition

October 01, 2014The standard for the American mind, wrote M.G. Van Rensselaer, is to be “alive with mere curiosity as [much as] it is with a craving for instruction—pleased to look at anything, discontented only to think that other people are seeing things with which it cannot make acquaintance.” Read Article

fielder

Interior Designers of the Nickerson Mansion: William August Fiedler

May 21, 2014“We strongly advocate the use of different styles in different rooms, to avoid the monotonous effect invariably produced by the fanatic apostles of the so-called Eastlake or Modern Gothic. For the same reasons it will be necessary for articles of luxury, as Easels. Hanging Shelves, Cabinets, etc., to use motifs from the Mooresque, Byzantine, Japanese, etc., though diametrically opposed to the prevailing style of the room.” – August FiedlerRead Article

Driehaus Prize

The 2014 Driehaus Prize

April 21, 2014The two honorees were awarded prizes for their contributions to the built environment during a public ceremony which took place at the John B. Murphy Memorial Auditorium on March 29.Read Article

Tiffany

Happy Birthday to Louis Comfort Tiffany!

February 18, 2014Happy 166th Birthday to Louis Comfort Tiffany born February 18, 1848.Read Article

winter book club

[Q&A] Introducing Winter Book Club!

January 30, 2014The Driehaus Museum is excited to introduce its first Book Club series. We begin the series with Sally Sexton Kalmbach’s book Jewel of the Gold Coast: Mrs. Potter Palmer’s Chicago. The Jewel of the Gold Coast book clubs take place on January 30th and February 5th. Here is a brief selection from the book, as well as a conversation with Anna Wolff, Driehaus Museum Educator.Read Article

Games and Toys

Gilded Age Games and Toys

December 24, 2013As the Nickerson and Fisher families looked forward to their holiday seasons, they and other Gilded Age families would have enjoyed games, toys and books in their spare time.Read Article

floral

Tiffany and Chicago: The McCormick Windows

October 05, 2013Cyrus H. McCormick was many things. A native Virginian who became one of Chicago’s great industrialists, he was also a famous penny-pincher, generous philanthropist, stolid Presbyterian, and patent hound. He moved to Chicago in 1847, where he set up the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company factory and prospered.Read Article

Harris

Inspired by Art

February 04, 2013Remember The Polar Express? Jumanji? The Mysteries of Harris Burdick?Read Article

Main Hall

Director’s Note: Looking Back at 2012

December 23, 2012Each year since the Driehaus Museum opened in 2008 has come with its own sense of growth and accomplishment. But by all accounts, 2012 was a particularly wonderful, milestone-filled year.Read Article

tree

Decking the (Marble) Halls

November 20, 2011If you happened to stroll by the Museum during the Halloween season, you may have noticed the gigantic witch. She sat astride a broom just a few feet away from the main entrance—red eyes glowing, cape flapping, dwarfing the landscaping and pretty much anything else near the corner of Wabash and Erie. Read Article