Our history is filled with stories of people leaving behind everything - families and possessions - to reach a new life in another state, across the continent, or even across an ocean.

Many chose to move, searching for something better in a new land. Others had no choice, like enslaved Africans captured and relocated to a strange land and bravely asserting their own cultures, or like Native Americans already here, who were often violently removed by newcomers.

This exhibition runs from September 5 - October 18, 2009.

Our history is filled with stories of people leaving behind everything - families and possessions - to reach a new life in another state, across the continent, or even across an ocean.

Many chose to move, searching for something better in a new land. Others had no choice, like enslaved Africans captured and relocated to a strange land and bravely asserting their own cultures, or like Native Americans already here, who were often violently removed by newcomers.

This exhibition runs from July 18 - August 30, 2009.

Aristotle said, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” Yet, historically many have grappled with what happiness truly means. Its essence has been expounded upon by psychologists, philosophers, preachers, and gurus. While products and pills have been marketed as the magic cure-all for depression, the true essence of happiness remains a debate.  

Recently Michael Norton, a psychologist and assistant professor at Harvard Business School, conducted tests to figure out the correlation between money and happiness. Drake Bennett of The Boston Globe writes “First, they surveyed 632 Americans on their general happiness, along with what they spent their money on, and found that higher ‘prosocial spending’ - gifts for others and donations to charity - was indeed correlated with higher self-reported happiness. They followed this up with a more detailed look at 16 workers before and after they received a profit-sharing bonus from their company. They found that the only factor that reliably predicted which workers would be happy six to eight weeks after the bonus was their prosocial spending - the more money people spent on charity and gifts for others, the happier they were.”

Join us in celebrating the birthdays of Jane Addams and our Special Keynote Speaker Grace Lee Boggs, an acclaimed activist, writer, and speaker whose more than sixty years of political involvement encompass the major U.S. social movements of this century: Labor, Civil Rights, Black Power, Asian-American, Women's, and Environmental Justice. Grace will be our Keynote Speaker for the annual Jane Addams Birthday Conversation on Peace and Justice and will speak on "Love and {r}evolution."

In addition to celebrating and honoring the birthday of Jane Addams, we are also celebrating Grace's 94th birthday and her tremendous commitment to social justice and making our world a more just and democratic one. Every year, we take the opportunity on Jane Addams birthday to celebrate the Hull-House progressive tradition, but also offer an opportunity to look forward and cross various boundaries to bring together people working on issues of peace broadly defined.

This event is co-sponsored by The Jane Addams Hull-House Museum and The Public Square.

Aristotle said, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” Yet, historically many have grappled with what happiness truly means. Its essence has been expounded upon by psychologists, philosophers, preachers, and gurus. While products and pills have been marketed as the magic cure-all for depression, the true essence of happiness remains a debate.  

Recently Michael Norton, a psychologist and assistant professor at Harvard Business School, conducted tests to figure out the correlation between money and happiness. Drake Bennett of The Boston Globe writes “First, they surveyed 632 Americans on their general happiness, along with what they spent their money on, and found that higher ‘prosocial spending’ - gifts for others and donations to charity - was indeed correlated with higher self-reported happiness. They followed this up with a more detailed look at 16 workers before and after they received a profit-sharing bonus from their company. They found that the only factor that reliably predicted which workers would be happy six to eight weeks after the bonus was their prosocial spending - the more money people spent on charity and gifts for others, the happier they were.”

At the Philadelphia Exposition in 1876, Mary Florence Potts' cold-handled sad iron was the toast of the fair. She spent the next two decades touring the country with a promotional lecture. Mrs. Potts will visit your group as a stop on her tour to promote her invention. She will discuss domestic life in the 19th Century, the science and technology behind the development of her invention, and what it means for a woman to hold a US Patent and manage her own affairs. Mrs. Potts can appear at your event in 1885, or if you prefer, in 1893 when she was in Chicago for the Columbian Exposition. Mrs. Potts arrives costumed in the preferred year, with examples of her invention and period appropriate promotional materials.

Aristotle said, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” Yet, historically many have grappled with what happiness truly means. Its essence has been expounded upon by psychologists, philosophers, preachers, and gurus. While products and pills have been marketed as the magic cure-all for depression, the true essence of happiness remains a debate.  

Recently Michael Norton, a psychologist and assistant professor at Harvard Business School, conducted tests to figure out the correlation between money and happiness. Drake Bennett of The Boston Globe writes “First, they surveyed 632 Americans on their general happiness, along with what they spent their money on, and found that higher ‘prosocial spending’ - gifts for others and donations to charity - was indeed correlated with higher self-reported happiness. They followed this up with a more detailed look at 16 workers before and after they received a profit-sharing bonus from their company. They found that the only factor that reliably predicted which workers would be happy six to eight weeks after the bonus was their prosocial spending - the more money people spent on charity and gifts for others, the happier they were.”

Our history is filled with stories of people leaving behind everything - families and possessions - to reach a new life in another state, across the continent, or even across an ocean.

Many chose to move, searching for something better in a new land. Others had no choice, like enslaved Africans captured and relocated to a strange land and bravely asserting their own cultures, or like Native Americans already here, who were often violently removed by newcomers.

This exhibition runs from July 18 - August 30, 2009.

Author, researcher and lecturer Rebecca Hunter became fascinated with the phenomenon of mail order homes in 1996, and is currently engaged in the study of kit homes and agricultural buildings marketed from 1906-1946 by nine different companies.

Hunter has sought these buildings throughout Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and in many other states. She has located mail order buildings in over 400 Illinois municipalities and in 29 other states.

Through funding from the Illinois Humanities Council, Rebecca Hunter recently completed surveys of River Forest, Bellwood, Maywood, and Elmhurst. These findings will be used in the creation of a mail-order home database which will be unveiled early next year.

Want to learn about mail-order homes, apply to host Ms. Hunter's IHC Road Scholar program, "Do You Live in a Mail Order House? Mail Order Homes in the USA 1906-1945."