Current Exhibits

Have you visited an exhibit at the Chicago Public Library? It's fun. Come listen to a lecture, browse a gallery and experience the Library in a new way. 

Building an Icon: Construction Photographs of Millennium Park
September 26, 2009 – January 17, 2010

Congress Corridor, First Floor
Harold Washington Library Center
400 South State Street

Since opening in July 2004, Millennium Park has attracted Chicagoans and visitors alike with its world-class art, architecture and public programs. The transformation of Millennium Park, from unsightly railroad tracks and an underground parking lot, into a breathtaking internationally acclaimed urban park is the subject of this new exhibit. A total of forty photographs that dramatically illustrate the successive construction phases of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion and the Park’s other structures were selected for the exhibit. These photographs are from a collection of more than 5,000 construction shots made between 1999 and 2005. The images were created as U.S. Equities Realty oversaw the construction of Cloud Gate, Crown Fountain, Millennium Monument, Jay Pritzker Pavilion and BP Bridge. In 2006, Robert Wislow, Chairman and CEO of the company, donated the collection to the Chicago Public Library.

Inspiring Dreams! Promoting the Burnham Plan
August 3, 2009 – February 2010

Chicago Gallery, Third Floor
Harold Washington Library Center
400 South State Street

Daniel Burnham’s Plan of Chicago inspired the dreams of people living and working in Chicago in the early decades of the 20th century. Many strategies were employed to enable Burnham and the Commercial Club of Chicago, who supported his work, to “sell” the “Plan” to the City Planning Commission and eventually the public. This exhibit explores how the “Plan” was promoted to Chicago’s citizens. Burnham’s plan became part of the public school curriculum and was supported by clergymen in sermons. It also was the feature of illustrated lantern slide lectures, a film, and department store window displays. The Plan of Chicago even inspired the development of future guidelines for the Chicago Public Library when Chief Librarian Henry E. Legler published A Library Plan for the Whole City in 1916. Burnham’s plan continues to influence strategic goals for Chicago, most recently seen in the City’s bid for the 2016 Olympics. 
 

Tall Man of Destiny: Images of Abraham Lincoln
February 7, 2009 to February 28, 2010

Special Collections Exhibition Hall, 9th floor
Harold Washington Library Center
400 S. State St.

The face of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), the16th President of the United States, is one of the most recognizable in America. In celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth, the Chicago Public Library will present an exhibition on the myriad of images of President Abraham Lincoln. This exhibit looks at a variety of images of Lincoln during his lifetime as well as representations of him from his death in 1865 to today. The images are drawn primarily from the Chicago Public Library’s Grand Army of the Republic and Civil War Collections. Additionally, in conjunction with the bicentennial celebration of President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, the Chicago Public Library will feature the life, times, and history of President Lincoln as the theme for the 2009 Summer Reading Programs for children and adults. The Library’s Summer Reading Programs will run from June through August 2009.

“To See Reality in a New Light:” The Art and Activism of Marion Perkins
January 31 – December 31, 2009

The Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection
of African American History and Literature
Exhibit Gallery
Woodson Regional Library
9525 S. Halsted Street

The Chicago Public Library’s Vivian G. Harsh Collection opened a major retrospective exhibition on the life and work of Chicago Renaissance sculptor and social activist Marion Perkins. The exhibit includes original sculptures by Perkins, on loan to the Chicago Public Library from the Art Institute of Chicago, DuSable Museum of African American History, members of the Perkins family, art galleries, and private collectors. The Marion Perkins exhibition also features original correspondence, rare photographs, and memorabilia from the holdings of the Harsh Research Collection.

Called to the Challenge: The Legacy of Harold Washington
Harold Washington Library Center
Harold Washington Exhibit Hall, Ninth Floor
Ongoing

This exhibit highlights three themes from Washington's personal and political legacy – his life, his image, and his work. Harold Washington, 42nd Mayor of Chicago, was the city's first African American Mayor. He was a reformer who changed Chicago politics and a person who never lost sight of the place from which he came and the influences that inspired him. This exhibition, drawn largely from the Harold Washington Archives & Collections of the Special Collections & Preservation Division of the Chicago Public Library, highlights three themes from his personal and political legacy – his life, his image, and his work.