Events & Exhibits

Pearl Harbor – A Day of Infamy

It was a day that our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles would never forget. It was a day that would live in infamy forever more - December 7, 1941. That morning Japanese warplanes appeared over the Hawaiian Islands to launch a surprise aerial bombardment of American air and naval installations. It was the event that propelled the United States into the Second World War. Battlefield expert Robert Mueller reviews the why and how the Japanese almost wiped out the American Pacific Fleet in one fell swoop. Using individual stories the men who responded to the attack, Mr. Mueller presents the tactics and the consequences of the most treacherous assault ever launched upon American soil. The program ends with a review of the surviving relics and, appropriately, a visit to National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

The Pilgrim Kitchen & The Harvest Celebration of 1621: Plimoth Patuxet Museum, Plymouth Massachusetts

As part of the research for his book, The Kitchen, John Ota travelled to Plymouth, Massachusetts where he cooked a meal over an open fire with Pilgrim Foodways historian Kathleen Wall. On the 400th anniversary of the Harvest Feast between the New England colonists and the Wampanoag people, John will share his experiences of the culinary history, architecture, cooking methods and the dishes from the first Thanksgiving of 1621. John’s presentation will include multiple images, 1621 recipes as well as truths and misconceptions about this favorite holiday occasion. Yes, there was turkey - but it was not the main event!

Chicago’s Second Greatest Fire: Union Stock Yards Fire of 1934

HPHS Board Member Jeff Stern, also on the Board of the Fire Museum of Greater Chicago, tells how a fast-moving fire in cattle pens, fed by dry conditions and strong winds, destroyed a significant portion of the Union Stock Yards, and required the efforts of 1,600 firemen and 100 of the city's 121 pumpers to control.

This Land is Your Land: The Folksongs of Woody Guthrie

Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) is America’s most legendary folksong writer. His music continues to uplift and excite musicians and audiences around the world. Inspired by Guthrie’s most famous song, This Land Is Your Land features the performance (guitar and vocal) of several Guthrie songs, as well as commentary on the time period and each song. The program also places Guthrie and his music in a larger historical context while also offering details on his life.

Viennese Cuisine Prior to 1938 with Susan Belovari, Archivist

The famous Wiener Küche had long been a collective culinary tradition of Jews and non-Jews alike. It was perhaps the perfect example, in an imperfect and Anti-Semitic city, of two formerly distinct groups moving towards each other and integrating while daily creating, cooking, and eating one cuisine. This is to be expected of people who lived so long and close to each other, when there still was an ‘us’ in Vienna before 1938, as fragile as it may have been. Any knowledge of this shared history was wiped out by genocide and mass flight – after 1945, there were almost no Viennese Jews left in Vienna to remind us. It required the memories and cookbooks of Jewish refugees and survivors across the world to rediscover the contributions of Viennese Jews to the famous Viennese Cuisine.

Exploring the Land of Lincoln

A one-of-a-kind travel guide, Exploring the Land of Lincoln invites road-trippers and history buffs to explore the Prairie State's most extraordinary historic sites. Charles Titus blends storytelling with in-depth research to highlight 20 must-see destinations selected for human drama, historical and cultural relevance, and their far-reaching impact on the state and nation.

Highland Park’s Lakefront Beach History, Lake County History Symposium, 2020

North Shore Yacht Club: A Century of Fun & Safety on Lake Michigan The North Shore Yacht Club (NSYC) is where Lake County has come to play on the waves on summer days for nearly a century, combining the exhilaration of boating on Lake Michigan with safety and camaraderie. Their records are housed at the Highland Park Archives and Local History Collections at the library. A Day at the Beach (Ossoli Club of Highland Park) The Ossoli Club of Highland Park created a public beach on the site of the current North Shore Yacht Club. In the summer of 1911, this public beach was replete with instruction, lifeguards, and play equipment in the sand and water. Club women chaperoned and supervised.

Ossoli Cookbook A fundraiser for the first public beach in Highland Park, Illinois

A joint meeting of the Highland Park Public Library and Highland Park Historical Society will host ‘Ossoli Cookbook, a fundraiser for the first public beach in Highland Park, Illinois,’ on Tuesday May 4, 2021 at 7:00 pm via Zoom. We are encouraging people to prepare a recipe from this antique community cookbook and discuss the results. This cookbook is available online via the University of Illinois.

A May Day Call for an Environment in Distress

The Highland Park Historical Society is putting out a May Day call for all hands that might be available, starting around 1:00 PM on Saturday, May 1, 2021. The locations in distress are the environs of the Stupey Cabin, between City Hall and Highland Park Public Library, where months of inactivity, brought about by a worldwide epidemic, have left the grounds in disarray.

Ravinia Music Under the Stars Around the World, An Archives Access Project Courtesy of the Illinois Secretary of State

This project has been a journey of discovery through the basement, closets and file cabinets of an institution established in 1904. A hidden collection laid waiting for an archives program to claim it. We hope this is the beginning of a program that will fill in gaps in the Festival’s institutional memory and documentation. Thankfully, the Highland Park Historical Society had already begun the work with the Ravinia Park Collection, an important task of collecting of programs, posters, and other historical materials for each season. And, the Ravinia Association donated records to the Newberry Library, creating an additional resource. These materials and many stored on site at the Ravinia Festival have been digitized with a grant to the Highland Park Public Library from the Illinois Secretary of State, as have other materials documenting the festival housed at Ravinia, the Newberry Library, and other locations. A presentation of key images and documents will be presented to create a historical timeline of Ravinia Festival from this collaboration.