Is it hot enough for ya?

In the summer from 1912 to 1963, Hull-House reformers would pack up children from the 19th ward and their families and take them out of the, hot, dense, chaotic city into the quiet countryside for a city break. The Bowen Country Club was 72 acres of freedom where the youth of the near west side could go swimming, play sports, take art classes and relax around the campfire and sing songs. We can’t invite you out to the Bowen Country Club any more, but perhaps you could sit by the lake and check out some images from the Country Club from UIC Special Collections. In any case, we hope you’re staying cool!  

This newsletter will feature updates on events from June, some dates to keep in mind and a list of fun to get into around the city in July! And, as a reminder, the Museum has cool air conditioning and friendly educators who are around excited to chat with you about all things Hull-House. 

Hull-House Visitors and Updates

Our friends from Reilly Elementary came back to joins us for a training session for their Peacemakers team. You may recall their visit a few months back where they brought their families in for a community visit. This time, the Reilly Peacemakers returned to take a deeper look at our galleries to explore and find inspiration from the past on what changes and developments they would make in their own neighborhoods.

We got a visit all the way from Japan! Chicago Sister Cities International (CSCI) brought in a team of delegates from the Osaka Social Services Committee as a part of a social services exchange. These exchanges feature a robust schedule of visits to various sites, allowing delegates to learn about best practices and engage in dialogue on topics such as clinical interventions, program evaluation, funding, and cutting-edge research in social services. Our Educator, Candace, had a wonderful time in conversation with the delegates on the history of social work in Chicago and Osaka. The last visit we had from the group was in 2019 and we hope to welcome them again soon. 

Hull-House Books is OPEN (For now!). Our launch on Friday was a success. We had friends and newcomers alike come browse our beautiful new bookshop. Hull-House Books will be open until July 21st and reopen again alongside our new exhibition. The bookshop is beautifully designed and crafted by artists Titus Wonsley and Michal Koszychi and its visual identity was created by Hour Studio. 

At Civic Engagement or Bust!, We met so many new Hull-House community members. The food from Chesa’s Bistro was warm and filling and, according to our event survey comments, “the music was fire” so we definitely hope to welcome Vision in the Rhythm and Tukkiman into our space again. One visitor remarked that one of their favorite parts of the event was considering “[t]he idea that civic engagement can be fun & joyful and can take many forms”. We’d consider that a success. Thanks again to the Chicago History Museum and the Terra Foundation for their generous contribution to our event. You can check out CHM’s remaining Civic Season events in the list at the end of this newsletter, and we hope to welcome even more visitors at next year’s Civic Season event! 

Museum Closures 

We hope to see you in the short time we’ll be open in July. We’ll have educators on-site to answer your questions and we’ll be running tours until the end of the month but here are some dates to keep in mind.  

- In observance of US Independence Day, the Hull-House Museum will be closed Thursday, July 4th and Friday, July 5th. 

- Hull-House Museum will be closed beginning July 22 until September 5th as we install our fabulous new exhibit, Radical Craft: Arts Education at Hull-House, 1889-1935 

- July is also your last chance to hang out in Read/Write Library!  

- You can check out Hull-House Books until July 21st. That is the last day to use the 10% discount for Hull-House newsletter subscribers. We hope to see you soon!

Reserve a spot on an Educator-led Public Tour 

Hull-House Friends

- The Chicago History Museum will be hosting an Independence Day celebration on July 4th. Join them for a day full of indoor and outdoor activities, including gallery tours; performances; artmaking; family-friendly trivia, games, and crafts; a collaborative mural; opportunities to connect with civics-focused organizations in Chicago; and more! Admission is FREE for Illinois Residents. Check out more here. 

- The National Museum for Puerto Rican Arts and Culture recently opened liminal: LGBTQ+ Chicago – Boricua Imaginings. This exhibition explores how LGBTQ+ identifying Boricua artists, specifically based in Chicago, explore the innate, often unintelligible liminal intersections between their LGBTQ+ and Puerto Rican identities. Congratulations to Curator Anais Cezanne Caro, who is showing at the museum for the first time!  

- One of our storytellers at Civic Engagement or Bust! was Fabrizzio Subia who is a resident at the Chicago Art Department. This summer they’re hosting Contra Corrienta Festival, a series of programs and exhibitions which spotlight the work of artists, activists, and organizations driving racial and environmental justice on the Southwest Side of Chicago and beyond. Check out more info here and if you see Fabrizzio, tell him we said hi!