The Greater Chicago Chapter is the most recent addition to the Victorian Society in America.  Its charter was granted in October 2003.

We welcome new members to join us in exploring the rich heritage of Victoriana in our area. For more information on the Chapter:
GCCVSA@aol.com

For membership information:
Beverly Offen, Membership Chair, bevoffen@oakton.edu, 847-729-3595

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Forthcoming events

Friday, April 4, 2008
"Mayhem and Monsters: Painting the Dark Side of the Gilded Age"

Most painters of the Victorian era painted the gleaming surface, never dredging into the murkier places below. A few ventured into the darker regions to express the social, sexual, and personal anxieties that underlay this turbulent time. Sarah Burns, Professor of Art History at Indiana University will discuss three such painters—William Holbrook Beard, Elihu Vedder, and Albert Pinkham Ryder—and illustrate her talk with a PowerPoint presentation.

Time: 6:00 reception with cash bar; 7:00 dinner; 8:00 program
Venue: The Cliff Dwellers Club, penthouse dining room, 200 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago
Dinner: Caesar salad; choice of (1) pork tenderloin, (2) salmon, (3) mushroom ravioli; fresh vegetables; starch; dinner rolls; key lime pie; coffee or tea
Cost: $55 for members of the Greater Chicago Chapter; $65 for nonmembers. Send check with dinner choice(s) to:
Greater Chicago Chapter
P.O. Box 3815
Oak Park, IL 60303-3815

***Reservations and payment required by Saturday, March 29, 2008***

Questions: GCCVSA@aol.com or Toby Trabert 708-763-9265
 

Thursday, May 1, 2008
"Bronte"

The Chapter is planning a theater outing to see "Bronte," the American premiere of a new play in its first production outside of England. The acclaimed Remy Bumppo theatre company is producing the play at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater, 2257 North Lincoln Avenue in Chicago. "Bronte" explores the question of how a trio of Victorian spinsters could have produced some of the most passionate literature ever written.

Time: 7:30 pm
Cost: $28
Dinner option: Meet for a group dinner at 5:30 at O'Fame, a moderately priced Italian restaurant at 750 West Webster (one minute walk from theater).

Parking: validated parking at Children's Memorial Hospital, 2316 N. Lincoln and Lincoln Park Hospital, 550 W. Webster
Send check payable to Greater Chicago Chapter to:
Greater Chicago Chapter
P.O. Box 3815
Oak Park, IL 60303-3815

***Payment due by Tuesday, April 22; please note if you will be joining us for dinner.***
Questions: bevoffen@oakton.edu or 847-729-3595

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Events from 2008

The first Chapter program in 2008 was held at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, February 5. Chapter member, Monica Obniski, recently a Research Assistant in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s American Decorative Arts Department, will discuss the installation of the Met exhibit, “Louis Comfort Tiffany and Laurelton Hall—An Artist’s Country Estate.”

 

The program was held at the Second Presbyterian Church in Chicago, whose nearly untouched Arts and Crafts interior from 1900 includes, among many its many treasures, nine Tiffany stained-glass windows.

 

The evening began with a reception, followed by a brief introduction about the Church and then the featured speaker. After the talk, tours of the Church will be offered by trained docents.

 

Date:                Tuesday, February 5

Time:                6:30 pm

Cost:                Pay at the door: $15 for Chapter members; $20 for nonmembers (join

                        the Chapter for 2008 and pay the member price)

Location:          Second Presbyterian Church in Chicago

1936 South Michigan Avenue (NW corner of Michigan and Cullerton)

                                               

Contact: Toby Trabert, 708-763-9265 or tobyrt@aol.com

 

Event Review

It was a dark and stormy night. The person (unnamed) who was bringing most of the food, the sign-in sheet, and the name badges was an hour late. Many people who had signed up were unable to attend. We had computer problems.

However, those who made it to the Second Presbyterian Church on Tuesday night enjoyed an insightful presentation about the Tiffany and Laurelton Hall exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The presenter, Monica Obniski, was one of three museum staff persons who put the exhibit together. She did a great job of describing how the exhibit was created and picturing many of the pieces displayed and the spaces that were made to replicate the designs of Tiffany. Most people realized for the first time that the Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, Florida has a wonderful Tiffany collection and was the source for at least fifty percent of the exhibit. For those who asked about the location of Winter Park, the simplest answer is "around Orlando."

After the talk, docents from the Friends of Historic Second Church gave tours of the church, which was beautifully lit and warm—important on this cold night.

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Events from 2007

We had a very good year in 2007.

The Alumni Chapter Summer School program at Saint Ignatius College Prep was held in February. Although it was snowy and bitterly cold, the program had excellent attendance.

The Greater Chicago Chapter’s first dinner program was held on March 15 at the Cliff Dwellers Club, a private club whose dining room overlooks Michigan Avenue. It was a beautiful, clear evening, and guests had a grand view of Chicago looking north to the Ferris wheel on Navy Pier and south along the lake shore. Walker Johnson, a member of the Cliff Dwellers was our host for the evening.

Deborah Blum, our speaker for the evening, is the author of Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death. Her discussion of spiritualism and the paranormal was interesting and unsettling and led to a lively discussion following the talk.

Pictured: Speaker and author, Deborah Blum; Chapter President Beverly Offen with two guests in Victorian attire; and enrapt Chapter member, Phyllis Johnston.

In May, many Chapter members met at the Frances Willard House in Evanston, headquarters of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and a National Historic Landmark. In addition to a tour of the home and library, a talk was delivered by Carolyn De Swarte Gifford on the journals of Frances Willard.

Chapter members were interested to learn that Frances Willard was at one time the most famous woman in America. Her fame has been eclipsed by other early pioneers in the struggle for reform and for women’s rights. The WCTU is alive and well, although it now accepts men as honorary members and much of its focus is directed at the problem of illegal drugs.

Frances Willard’s handwriting was such that the transcription of her journals, accomplished by Carolyn Gifford, was very nearly a task of translation.

While the WCTU was important for promoting social and political reform, a more important role was the part it played in providing women with training in leadership.


Saturday, July 28, 11:00 am
Ellwood House and Museum in DeKalb

In July, Chapter members spent a day in the country, visiting the Ellwood House and Museum and two other restored Victorian houses in DeKalb, Illinois. It was a beautiful day, and lunch was served on the outdoor terrace of the Ellwood House. Isaac Ellwood made his fortune in the development and manufacture of barbed wire.


Sunday, September 16, 12:00 noon
Blackwelder House
10910 South Prospect Avenue
Morgan Park in Chicago

In September, a program was held at the Blackwelder House, located in Chicago’s Morgan Park. The Blackwelder House was once the residence of Isaac Blackwelder, the president of the Village of Morgan Park. The original portion of the house was built in the Italianate style in 1874, with a Queen Anne style addition to the front added in 1887.

Jack Simmerling, current owner of the home, is an artist, author, and expert on Chicago architecture. We had lunch at the home and then viewed the house and Jack’s collection of architectural artifacts salvaged from historic Chicago buildings demolished in the 1960s.


Tuesday, November 6, 6:30 pm
“Songs of the Victorian Music Hall and Parlor”
1904 W. H. Lake House.

The 2007 Annual Meeting and final program took place at the 1904 W. H. Lake House. Following a reception and viewing of the home, Chapter members were treated to a performance of songs popular in the Victorian music hall and the parlor.

The house was designed by George W. Maher and is located on Chicago’s Landmark District Hutchinson Street.
 

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Preservation

The chapter's nomination of Union Station in Springfield, Illinois for a VSA Preservation Award was successful.  The award was presented at the Annual Meeting in Mobile on April 28 and was accepted by the Chapter President on behalf of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. The award will be formally presented to Robert Coomer, Director of the Agency, at a ceremony on June 21 at Springfield’s Union Station.

Union Station
Springfield, Illinois
AWARD

For the rehabilitation of this 1898 Romanesque Revival train station designed by architect Francis Bacon, and in particular for the reconstruction of its 150-ft. tower and for its adaptive reuse as the visitors’ center for the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum.

 

The magnificent 150-foot clock tower of this Romanesque Revival building, constructed in 1898, was removed in 1946 in a program to “modernize” the structure.  After disuse as a train station, the building was converted into a shopping mall and subsequently fell into disrepair. 

 

The State of Illinois acquired the building and in 2000 began a complete rehabilitation that included reconstruction of the landmark clock tower, requiring reinforcement of its foundation for support.  The station has been sensitively adapted for reuse as the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, which now welcomes visitors from around the world who come to Springfield to visit Lincoln’s home and grave.

Related: Development Press Release

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Events from 2006

The Annual Meeting of the Greater Chicago Chapter and its final program event of 2006 was held on:

Monday evening, December 4th, 2006

Saint James Cathedral in Chicago
Corner of Huron Street and Wabash Avenue
enter on Wabash Avenue (latecomers, enter at 65 E. Huron Street)

A program and the Chapter’s Annual Meeting held on Monday evening, December 4 from 6:00-8:30 at the historic Saint James Cathedral in Chicago.

Saint James was built in 1857 at its current location. Largely destroyed in the Great Fire of 1871—the bell tower and walls survived—it was rebuilt and reopened in 1875. Mrs. Potter Palmer was a member of Saint James.

A wine and hors d’oeuvre reception will be held in the narthex of the Cathedral. The Historiographer for the Episcopal Diocese in Chicago will give a short presentation on the award-winning restoration of the English Arts and Crafts interior.

Following the reception and talk, Leslie Goddard, actor and historian, will appear in the person of Bertha Palmer and will welcome guests in the Saint Andrew Chapel. She will present Mrs. Palmer and her life as the doyenne of Chicago’s social elite in the late 1800s. The Saint Andrew Chapel was designed by Bertram Goodhue.

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In 2006 the Chapter also sponsored the following events:

• A presentation about the restoration of the Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Home, with an accompanying tour of the home.
  
  

   

• A presentation on Victorian gardens and a tour of a Victorian Ornamental Garden at the Garfield Park Conservatory.
  
   
• A visit to the Grosse Point Lighthouse and a presentation about this National Historic Landmark lighthouse as well as a brief history of lighthouses.

THE VICTORIAN SOCIETY IN AMERICA

1634 Sansom Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone: 215-636-9872
Fax: 215-636-9873

Email: info@victoriansociety.org