Everything You Think You Know About the Vikings is Wrong

Replica of a Viking wooden sailing vessel

Close your eyes and picture a Viking. Most likely, you envisioned a axe-wielding, muscle-bound man clad in filthy animal skins, wearing a metal helmet with pointed horns protruding from each side. As I learned recently at a behind-the-scenes preview of the new Vikings exhibition at Chicago’s Field Museum, this stereotype couldn’t be further from the … Read more

“The Plant” in Chicago – Blueprint for a Sustainable Future

Purple LED grow lights in the aquaponic farm

I can’t count the number of times I’ve looked at a building in Chicago and wondered about its history or wished I could see inside. Fortunately, one weekend each year, the Chicago Architecture Foundation makes that possible during Open House Chicago, a citywide architectural festival that offers free, behind-the-scenes access to more than 150 buildings … Read more

From Traitor to Nobel Laureate – the Work of Jane Addams is Chronicled at Chicago’s Historic Hull House Museum

Jane Addams Hull House Museum historical landmark

Jane Addams attracted national attention when, with with her friend Ellen G. Starr, she founded Chicago’s Hull House in 1889. The facility was located on the city’s near west side, in a densely urban neighborhood populated primarily by struggling immigrants. Modeled after the settlement houses in London, the mission of Hull House was to assist … Read more