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All donations from these online lectures directly benefit our speakers and general operations.
All donations from these online lectures directly benefit our speakers and general operations.
2023: GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
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CITY STREETS RENAMED
Contentious stories of street name changes over the years, and how the grid is affected by the politics of whiteness. Lecture by Bill Savage → WATCH THE RECORDING THE STEAMSHIPS OF LAKE MICHIGAN
Learn about the floating palaces that once roamed the Great Lakes, from iron ore freighters to pleasure craft. Lecture by Walter Kiefer → WATCH THE RECORDING THE CINEMA OF YESTERYEAR
A few lost Chicago movie palaces, and what it was like to go to the cinema some 100 years ago. Lecture by Leyla Royale → WATCH THE RECORDING AGRICULTURAL ATROPHY
Livestock, celery, cabbage, pickles, asparagus, and more: the agricultural uses that once dominated our landscape. Lecture by Patti Swanson → WATCH THE RECORDING CHICAGO'S BROTHELS
Explore how brothels shaped the Chicago crime world while we unearth lost stories of "the world's oldest profession." Lecture by Mandy Crypt → WATCH THE RECORDING FORGOTTEN VICE DISTRICTS
We all know the Levee, but what about The Black Hole, Rotten Row, and the city's other, lesser-known dive districts? Lecture by Adam Selzer → WATCH THE RECORDING INFIRMARY, ASYLUM, SANITARIUM
Contagious, sick, poor: where did you go? A history of Dunning's hospitals and the city's tuberculosis sanitarium. Lecture by Giovina Romandine → WATCH THE RECORDING |
DISAPPEARING DEPARTMENT STORES
How the Loop's long-gone department stores changed downtown and the experience of shopping. Lecture by Emily O'Keefe Davenport → WATCH THE RECORDING PLAYBOY'S CHICAGO ROOTS
Looking at the heydey of Playboy Magazine and the pop culture impact it made from the shores of Lake Michigan. Lecture by Olivia Sobieraj → WATCH THE RECORDING STREETS OF AGO
Historical uses of street space, and how the advent of the automobile changed things forever. Lecture by Emma Nippe → WATCH THE RECORDING ABANDONED TRANSIT
Train stations and transportation routes that no longer exist, and the discriminatory policies behind their closures. Lecture by Erica Ruggiero → WATCH THE RECORDING LOST BUILDINGS OF NORTH PULLMAN
Discover the lost history and structures once defining the streets of North Pullman. Lecture by Armel Sagbohan → WATCH THE RECORDING LOST CHICAGO NEIGHBORHOODS
A look at Chicago's lost Dutch neighborhood, a Logan Square ghost town, and a leveled chunk of Englewood, & more. Lecture by Anthony Alfaro → WATCH THE RECORDING |
2022: CHICAGO OBSCURA
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AVIATION IN CHICAGO
Octave Chanute, the Wright Brothers, and other pioneering Midwesterners who sent people into the skies. By Walter Kiefer → WATCH THE RECORDING |
DEEP DARK LAKE MICHIGAN
Ghost ships, pirates, tunnels & more: strange and sordid stories pulled from the depths of Chicago's inland sea. By Sam Prestigiacomo → WATCH THE RECORDING |
TALES OF THE CHICAGO STAGE
Exploring stories of actors acting, early film, and infamously zany Chicago performers. By Lance Baker → WATCH THE RECORDING |
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PARIS ON THE PRAIRIE: PARLEZ-VOUS CHICAGOAN?
Joliet! Marquette! DuSable! Illinois! Des Plaines! Discovering the history of French colonialism & culture in Chicago. By Olivia Sobieraj → WATCH THE RECORDING |
WHERE DID ALL THE PUBLIC HOUSING GO?
A history of public housing in Chicago, from the policies that shaped them, to segregation, demolition, & privatization. By Elsa Haarstad → WATCH THE RECORDING |
1920s BOHEMIA & THE WIND
BLEW INN Recently unearthed tales of fearless flappers, "petting parties," secret booze, and the Inn's proprietor Lillian Collier. By Adam Selzer → WATCH THE RECORDING |
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A HORRIBLE HISTORY OF CHICAGO BRIDGE SAFETY
The evolution of Chicago's bridge safety (0 to 100!) as told by the deadly accidents they caused. By Leyla I. Royale → WATCH THE RECORDING |
A BRIEF HISTORY OF DEMOLITION IN CHICAGO
We built & we built... and then we tore it all down. How urban renewal and other factors created vacant lots citywide. By Patti Swanson → WATCH THE RECORDING |
WAYWARD WARDS: REDISTRICTING CHICAGO
Looking at how Chicago's wards have evolved, how they've been drawn, and how they're set to change this year. By Debbie Liu → WATCH THE RECORDING |
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FIGHTING CENSORSHIP: MARGARET ANDERSON
Chicago's scandalous literary history of the 1910s-20s, centered around Margaret Anderson's The Little Review. By Emily O'Keefe Davenport → WATCH THE RECORDING |
THE WOMEN WHO DEVELOPED CHICAGO
A long-overdue dive into the history of Chicago's women architects, engineers, and real estate developers. By Erica Ruggiero → WATCH THE RECORDING |
(ARGUABLY) THE BEST
MCCORMICK Chicago's infamous McCormick family featured many bizarre historic figures... and the exceptional Katherine Dexter. By Mandy Crypt → WATCH THE RECORDING |
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HOW BRONZEVILLE INVENTED THE LOTTERY
Long before it was sanctioned by any state, black Chicagoans played Policy... and Bronzeville was its epicenter. By Ms. Bea → WATCH THE RECORDING |
CHICAGO'S LOST DIME
MUSEUMS A dive into the vast & weird array of low-cost oddity museums that once proliferated throughout the city. By Anthony Alfaro → RECORDING COMING SOON |
