MEMBERSHIP

Events & Exhibits

Nov
1

Highland Park 150 History Prize – Adult Deadline

An initiative to contribute to high quality education in Highland Park and environs while stimulating interest in the City’s history and use of archives and historical collections at the Library and beyond. With local history and collections as an educational tool, the Highland Park History Prize aims to encourage original research.Although this effort is intended to reach all and cover a broad spectrum of local history topics, the prize will encourage new study of historical events, actors and groups in Highland Park previously under documented or studied. Examples may include farming and immigrant populations in the 19th centuries; or 21st century newcomers.This prize takes its inspiration from the Chicago History Fair and National History Day. Prizes will be given at 3 age levels: primary-middle, high school and adult. The participants current grade will determine level.Judging will be blind.
Oct
14

Sears Homes of Chicagoland

Do you love old homes? On October 14, come explore the Sears Homes of Chicagoland. From 1908 to 1942, Sears Roebuck and Company sold ready-to-build kit homes through catalogs. Despite the rash of teardowns in the Chicago area, some of these houses have managed to survive.  Learn about the Sears homes still standing in Highland Park and neighboring communities, and how to identify them. Lara Solonickne is the creator of the Sears Homes of Chicagoland website (sears-homes.com). She is an architecture enthusiast who enjoys uncovering the hidden stories behind old houses. She holds a degree from Northwestern University. Her research and blog have been featured by FOX 32 News, Curbed, McMansion Hell, the Chicago Tribune, Yale University Press, The Birmingham News, and more.
July
24

Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad’s Completion

The Big Boy No. 4014, a one-million pound steam locomotive, will be touring the Union Pacific system, taking it through Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Wyoming.  On Friday July 26th sometime between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. one the largest steam locomotive ever built is going to be passing through Highland Park on the railroad tracks west of route 41.  The trip is part of a nationwide tour celebrating the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad.  In honor of the event the HP Historical Society is presenting a program on the building of the transcontinental RR and the history of passenger rail through Highland Park.
Jun
25

A History of Preservation in Lake County

Lake County has a rich history of preservation. Join Lake County’s Dunn Museum curator, Diana Dretske, for an introduction to individuals whose efforts preserved the county's historical and natural heritage, including Bess Bower Dunn, Edward DeWolf, Jesse Lowe Smith, Robert Vogel and Ethel Untermyer. Diana Dretske is the Curator and Lake County historian for the Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County. Dretske is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illinois State Historical Society for making outstanding contributions in promoting, preserving and commemorating Illinois history. Primary areas of expertise for research and programming include the history of Lake County, Illinois.
Jun
17

Highland Park 150 History Prize – Youth Deadline

An initiative to contribute to high quality education in Highland Park and environs while stimulating interest in the City's history and use of archives and historical collections at the Library and beyond. With local history and collections as an educational tool, the Highland Park History Prize aims to encourage original research. Although this effort is intended to reach all and cover a broad spectrum of local history topics, the prize will encourage new study of historical events, actors and groups in Highland Park previously under documented or studied. Examples may include farming and immigrant populations in the 19th centuries; or 21st century newcomers. This prize takes its inspiration from the Chicago History Fair and National History Day. Prizes will be given at 3 age levels: primary-middle, high school and adult. The participants current grade will determine level.Judging will be blind.
May
20

The Archaeology of Two Nineteenth Century Cabins in Kenosha County

Archaeological field research at two nineteenth century Euro-American cabins near UW-Parkside in the Kenosha area in southeastern Wisconsin illustrates what we can learn about day-to-day life in our region at different times in the past. Trapper Jacob Montgomery and his family built a cabin in a lush and supportive forest setting near the Pike River in 1834, and lived there until 1839. Around 1855, another cabin was built some 150 feet away, and was occupied by carpenter Edward Coonley and his family until approximately 1870. Each of these short site occupations give us snapshots of many aspects of Nineteenth Century life in our region, including the early era of pioneer settlement. The remains of the houses and the materials left behind by these families comprise “the tangible debris of everyday life.” What we’ve learned about these two cabins adds significantly to the very limited historical information recorded for the people living at this locality.