You're browsing History Lessons in Chicago, IL

Chicago is a great city for biking. The amazing lakefront and parks, the rich history, and spectacular architecture provides for a great experience. Add to that Bike and Roll’s friendly tour guides, and what you have is your best day in Chicago!  Please arrive 10-15 minutes prior to departure time.  All tours return to start location....

Get out of the tourist district and get the insider's scoop on what Chicago is really about! Explore the quiet, tree-lined streets and local businesses of the luxurious Gold Coast, stately Old Town, and trendy Lincoln Park neighborhoods. Top sights include Lincoln Park, amazing architecture, the original Playboy Mansion, Oz Park, and historic Wrigley...

Get out of the tourist district and get the insider's scoop on what Chicago is really about! Explore the quiet, tree-lined streets and local businesses of the luxurious Gold Coast, stately Old Town, and trendy Lincoln Park neighborhoods. Top sights include Lincoln Park, amazing architecture, the original Playboy Mansion, Oz Park, and historic Wrigley...

Discover the world of maples. From the sweetness of sugar to the sturdiness of furniture to the myriad species of moths that dwell in their branches, explore where these trees are typically found and how they have been used over the centuries.  Hear folklore and stories and learn about faunal partnerships. We’ll also look at species and cultivars...

Not only do the seedpods of perennials feed birds and wildlife throughout winter, they add a rich textural element to the dormant garden. Explore seeds, pods, and stems that bring interesting shapes and structure to the garden.

Remember when feminism happened, and Georgia O’Keeffe kicked butt, and now museums and the art world totally treat male and female artists with equal value? JK JK IT’S STILL SUPER BAD!  On this two-hour tour of the Art Institute of Chicago, we get three things done: We celebrate the awesome women who ARE represented We fill you in on some...

Dive into the history of roses from antiquity to today. Explore the long history of cultivation, native species, traditional uses, and how best incorporate them into your landscape. Find out just how resilient a rose can be! This class will be taught online via Zoom. All registrations must be submitted online two days before your class starts. Registered...

Contexts of Early Modern Literary Criticism in Italy and Beyond The symposium, designed for a broad audience of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty members, local scholars, and the interested general public, will introduce participants to: the extraordinary array of relevant research materials in the collection of the Newberry the crucial...

Explore the history of photography, beginning in 1827 with the first photograph, through the age of daguerreotype portraits, the photograph’s early development as an art form, the invention of Kodak’s Box Brownie, to contemporary photography. Discover great photographers and examine how this relatively new medium has affected our culture. This...

Words are powerful and operate on many levels through sound and symbols. Explore how to use hieroglyphics and apply them with meditation, divination, and dream work. Harness and enliven ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics as tools for manifesting ideas in the material world. Join Ellis, author of Hieroglyphic Power of Words, to gain a deep experience...

In this strange chapter of the Earth’s history, the world continues to be in a momentous transformational process. This rite of passage through multiple crises of the novel coronavirus pandemic, pervasive injustice, oppression, inequalities, and extreme weather conditions, can be challenging. Yet, it is an opportunity to stay positive—balanced...

A new exhibition at the Art Institute allows us to examine the impact of French Impressionism on an American city at the turn of the 20th century. But what formative experiences and events moved artists to participate in this modern movement? This class sees works of art by Claude Monet, and those of his colleagues and friends, through the frame of...

Thrive is an unconventional documentary that lifts the veil on what is really going on in our world by following the money upstream and uncovering the global consolidation of power in nearly every aspect of our lives. Weaving together breakthroughs in science, consciousness, and activism, Thrive offers real solutions, empowering us with unprecedented...

The prolific nineteenth century portrait painter George P. A. Healy had no formal training yet his sitters were a definitive who’s who of society, culture, and prestige. So how did this Boston born painter make his way to Chicago via Paris? And why does the Newberry own several of his prestigious works? Find out the answers to these burning questions...

This is a one time FREE course The Politics of Conversion: An Early Modern Studies Conference This is the third meeting under the general rubric of Politics of Conversion, sponsored by Early Modern Conversions: Religions, Cultures, Cognitive Ecologies, a multi-year SSHRC-funded project. The first, smaller, meeting was held at the University...