Recently, Jennie Brier and I, as the curators of Out in Chicago, were invited to be guests on Feast of Fun, the nation’s most downloaded LGBT podcast. Life partners Marc Felion and Fausto Fernós produce the talk/variety show from their home in Andersonville. They beckoned us inside from the February chill with a cup of chamomile tea, and we proceeded to have a blast.
Out co-curators Jennifer Brier (left) and Jill Austin examine a caricature of nineteenth-century gender rebel Dr. Mary Walker. Photo by Roberta Dupuis-Devlin, courtesy of UIC College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.
February 16th, 2012by Peter Alter Filed under: History
Blogger’s note: For this installment of the People and Places series, DePaul students Christina John, Kevin Kauffman, Maureen Maher, and Brandon Wright talked with Pam Smith about her late father, James L. Smith.
A decorated World War II veteran, civil rights activist, and loving father, Mr. Smith had one weapon of choice when fighting for equality — his typewriter. Smith spent much of his time tenaciously typing hundreds of letters through which he fought for African American rights and equality.
February 14th, 2012by Russell Lewis Filed under: Events, History
The only noteworthy characteristic about the building that stood at 2122 North Clark Street was its scale—a two-story brick structure in a block of three-story and higher apartment buildings and commercial structures. The façade was unremarkable; two mounted lights framed a small storefront window and an entrance door, and the limestone-capped parapet wall above the roof made an architectural nod to a pediment. It had the appearance of a funeral home rather than a warehouse.
Police and curious onlookers crowd the street in front of the SMC Cartage Company at 2122 North Clark Street as news of the crime spreads across the city. CHM, ICHi-27393
See Chicago’s first-ever L car travel from the CTA’s storage facility in Skokie to the Chicago History Museum. Contractors took two days (January 18 and 19, 2006) to relocate the 42,000-pound artifact and carefully lift it into the second floor of our building. Russell Lewis, the Museum’s chief historian and executive vice president, narrates the video, explaining the origins of the L and its importance to Chicago.