Vernon, Christopher.  Graceland Cemetery: A Design History. Amherst, Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press in association with Library of American Landscape history (2011).

President’s Commentary, February, 2012.

Chicago’s Graceland Cemetery too often is best known for its “residents” and their monuments. Now, thanks to this well-researched and illuminating book, the cemetery itself comes into view as a masterpiece of American landscape design. First laid out in 1860, the cemetery took shape as a result of national and local trends, including the innovation of the “rural” cemetery as epitomized by Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the building mania in Chicago, which attracted architectural talent to that city even before the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. William Le Baron Jenney – who finally has his own gravestone at Graceland – is a key figure for both the city and the cemetery. If this book had been written two decades ago, it would have had an elegiac tone, because over the years, some of the cemetery’s original features had fallen into disuse and guiding principles had been forgotten. Beginning in 1991, however, Graceland has seen one successful renovation after another, all based on careful research. This new book will serve that on-going project well, but equally importantly, it will help us to understand and appreciate cemeteries around the country that were built in the same spirit.

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Editor’s note: The Chicago History Museum welcomes first-time blogger Naomi Blumberg, who recently joined our curatorial staff.

When it was announced that the Hull House Association would be shutting down, I was struck by how many people were shocked and saddened by the news. Having worked for two years at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, I was prepared to know a lot of people who would be emotionally affected by the closure of the organization, people dedicated to telling the stories of the revolution that had its humble beginnings in that very building on South Halsted Street.

The Hull-House complex at 800 S. Halsted Street, c. 1910. CHM, photograph by Barnes-Crosby, i19288

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After 58 years of publishing in Chicago, Playboy Enterprises recently announced the move of all editing, art, and photography operations to Los Angeles. Readers of the announcement, largely communicated through Facebook and other social media, could hardly believe their eyes—and needless to say, they weren’t looking at any centerfold. Say it ain’t so, Playboy!

The first issue of Playboy, December 1953
CHM collection

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New Year’s parade in Chicago’s Chinatown, 2011

Happy Chinese New Year, Chicago! Today, January 23, is the first day of 4710 according to the Chinese calendar. It’s the year of the dragon. If you can, check out the New Year’s parade in Chinatown this weekend. It kicks off at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 29, on Wentworth Avenue south of Cermak Road. And, if you go, remember to wear something red for luck in the coming year and wish everyone, “Gung Hay Fat Choy,” or Happy New Year!

Footage from the 2011 Chinese New Year parade in Chinatown: