Instead of writing about a specific library or museum, today, I want to write about how librarians can sometimes do detective work. I have had experience overseeing book donations and cataloging the books of an unprocessed library. For both tasks, I have always tried to scout out any books that seem potentially significant. I have…
Author: Bet Arkeh
Rolfing Memorial Library
The Chicago area has many universities, both private and public. Undoubtedly, all of them have interesting stories and materials. Trinity International University is an example of one of them. Located in Bannockburn, Illinois (a small suburb about 30 miles north of Chicago) since 1961, the University can trace its roots back to 1897. During that…
International Museum of Surgical Science
“At Home in Chicago” is a consortium of over 20 mansions in the Chicago area that are open to the public. One of these mansions was built for a wealthy Chicago family in 1917, and faces Lake Shore Drive. Since 1954, this mansion has housed the International Museum of Surgical Science, which is owned by…
DuSable Museum of African American History
After the American Civil War, freed slaves began migrating to the northern United States. This trend continued into the beginning of the twentieth century, as the Ku Klux Klan revived in 1915, and as African Americans in the South sought better job opportunities in the North. The migration of African Americans to the North between…
Cuneo Mansion
In 2011, a group of house museums in the Chicago area formed a consortium called “At Home in Chicago.” Some of these houses are free to visit, while others cost admission. A list of the homes can be found here: http://www.chicagohousemuseums.org/directory/ Some of the homes that usually cost admission, occasionally have free days. The Cuneo…
Assyrian War Memorial
My uncle enjoys estate sale shopping, so in 2016, when he was cleaning out his house in order to move, he came across many interesting items that he had acquired over the years. One of those items included a booklet, bound in an unassuming, brown cover. Inside this booklet, dated 1944 (the year before World…
Chicago Public Libraries
The Chicago Public Library was founded in 1872, the year after the Great Chicago Fire, which destroyed most of the city. After the conflagration, the people of England felt pity for Chicago, so they donated 8,000 books to the city. Chicago, then, established a library, in order to store this generous donation. Today, the Chicago…
Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center
In 2009, the third largest Holocaust museum in the world opened up in Skokie, Illinois. The two largest museums are Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C., respectively. Why Skokie, you might ask? Skokie used to have one of the largest Holocaust survivor populations in the world. Whereas…
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Money Museum
In 1913, Congress created the Federal Reserve System to regulate the banks throughout the United States. There are 12 Federal Reserve Banks total, which serve different regions of the United States. Each one provides some type of tour or museum for the public. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago has a Money Museum. The Money…
Ancient Near Eastern Motifs
Del el-Bahari in Luxor, Egypt has an extensive mortuary temple complex. In Queen Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple, some of the artwork was not exposed to the elements, so it is amazingly well-preserved and vivid in color. In one section of the temple, you can see a winged sun disk, which is a common Ancient Egyptian motif….
Bet Arkeh 