Evanston History Center

In accordance with the City of Evanston Health Department mitigation order, proof of vaccination is required for entry beginning January 10, 2022. All visitors to the Evanston History Center must wear a mask for the duration of their visit inside the Dawes House.

Under the Buffalo Lecture Series

Thursday, February 10, 2022
7:00 pm
Admission: $10. EHC Members Free.
Registration Required. Click Here to Register.

“Landscapes of Hope: Nature and the Great Migration in Chicago”
Join us for a virtual presentation by Brian McCammack, author of the award-winning Landscapes of Hope: Nature and the Great Migration in Chicago.

Diorama-Rama! Exhibit

Diorama-Rama!
Opening July 10, 2021 – Diorama-Rama! In recognition of the 200th anniversary of the invention of the diorama, the Evanston History Center will showcase the historic dioramas in our collection. The exhibit combines dioramas with related media such as building models and art, including a beautifully woven tapestry panorama of Evanston.

News

One Year Later: An Evanston Community Survey
How has the last year been for you? What would you like to share about how the pandemic has impacted you? In an effort to capture and record something of Evanston residents’ (and those who go to school or work in Evanston but live elsewhere) experiences of this critical historical time, the Evanston History Center (EHC) invites people to fill out a survey documenting their experiences of and reflections on the last year.
Cold, Gray Days in Evanston: A World War and a Pandemic, 1918
Jenny Thompson, PhD, Director of Education In April 1918, there were a lot of things to fear. The First World War, now in its fourth devastating year, was reaching a critical level for the United States. In the year since the country declared war against Germany in April 1917, the U.S. armed forces had grown … Read more
Knowing our history is a powerful means to make meaningful and positive change
At EHC, we oppose racism in all its many forms. We believe that knowing our history is a powerful means to make meaningful and positive change. This year’s house walk featured the homes and stories of Evanston women and women’s organizations that had positive impacts on the community through their work in suffrage and politics. … Read more

Give your gift today!

Evanston History Center Annual Appeal
The Evanston History Center Board of Trustees and Staff extend to you warmest wishes for a Joyous Holiday Season. Eden Juron Pearlman, Executive Director, is celebrating her 25th year at the Evanston History Center! We are recognizing this remarkable achievement by raising funds to name the Executive Director’s Office in her honor. Click to give your gift today!

Did you miss the Evanston Stormwater Management 101 event? Watch online!

On November 18, 2021, we hosted Dick Lanyon to discuss stormwater management in Evanston.

The event was sold out! As promised, we are sharing the recording of the presentation. You can watch it here: https://bit.ly/EvanstonStormwater101 Feel free to share! You can also learn more about Dick Lanyon by clicking the link above.

Become a Member

Become a Member
There has never been a more exciting time to join a vibrant community that enjoys and takes pride in, Evanston’s rich history. With your membership, you also support the Evanston History Center’s mission to collect, preserve and share the history of our community for generations to come.

Events Calendar

	January 2022
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
						1 Evanston History Center Closed Evanston History Center Closed January 1, 2022 - January 7, 2022 See more details Evanston History Center Closed Starts: 12:00 am Ends: January 7, 2022 - 11:59 pm More details... •
2 Evanston History Center Closed Evanston History Center Closed January 1, 2022 - January 7, 2022 See more details Evanston History Center Closed Starts: 12:00 am Ends: January 7, 2022 - 11:59 pm More details... •	3 Evanston History Center Closed Evanston History Center Closed January 1, 2022 - January 7, 2022 See more details Evanston History Center Closed Starts: 12:00 am Ends: January 7, 2022 - 11:59 pm More details... •	4 Evanston History Center Closed Evanston History Center Closed January 1, 2022 - January 7, 2022 See more details Evanston History Center Closed Starts: 12:00 am Ends: January 7, 2022 - 11:59 pm More details... •	5 Evanston History Center Closed Evanston History Center Closed January 1, 2022 - January 7, 2022 See more details Evanston History Center Closed Starts: 12:00 am Ends: January 7, 2022 - 11:59 pm More details... •	6 Evanston History Center Closed Evanston History Center Closed January 1, 2022 - January 7, 2022 See more details Evanston History Center Closed Starts: 12:00 am Ends: January 7, 2022 - 11:59 pm More details... •	7 Evanston History Center Closed Evanston History Center Closed January 1, 2022 - January 7, 2022 See more details Evanston History Center Closed Starts: 12:00 am Ends: January 7, 2022 - 11:59 pm More details... •	8
9	10	11	12	13 Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction January 13, 2022 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Registration required, click here to register Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction A Virtual Presentation by Kate Masur Thursday, January 13, 2022 Noon – 1 pm Admission: FREE! Registration required, click here to register Join us for a special pre-Martin Luther King Jr. Day event as we host Northwestern University professor Kate Masur to discuss her recent book, Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction. Masur’s book is a groundbreaking history of the movement for equal rights that courageously battled racist laws and institutions, Northern and Southern, in the decades before the Civil War. The half-century before the Civil War was beset with conflict over equality as well as freedom. Beginning in 1803, many free states enacted laws that discouraged free African Americans from settling within their boundaries and restricted their rights to testify in court, move freely from place to place, work, vote, and attend public school. But over time, African American activists and their white allies, often facing mob violence, courageously built a movement to fight these racist laws. They countered the states’ insistences that states were merely trying to maintain domestic peace with the equal-rights promises they found in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. They were pastors, editors, lawyers, politicians, ship captains, and countless ordinary men and women, and they fought in the press, the courts, the state legislatures, and Congress, through petitioning, lobbying, party politics, and elections. Long stymied by hostile white majorities and unfavorable court decisions, the movement’s ideals became increasingly mainstream in the 1850s, particularly among supporters of the new Republican party. When Congress began rebuilding the nation after the Civil War, Republicans installed this vision of racial equality in the 1866 Civil Rights Act and the Fourteenth Amendment. These were the landmark achievements of the first civil rights movement. Kate Masur is a professor of History at Northwestern University. She specializes in the history of race, politics, and law in the nineteenth-century United States. She is the author of numerous books and articles including An Example for All the Land: Emancipation and the Struggle over Equality in Washington, D.C. and, with Gregory Downs, The World the Civil War Made. Masur’s scholarship has recently appeared in The Journal of the Civil War Era and the American Journal of Legal History, and as commentary in the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, and the Washington Post’s “Made By History.” See more details Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction Starts: 12:00 pm Ends: January 13, 2022 - 1:00 pm Location: Registration required, click here to register Description: Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction A Virtual Presentation by Kate Masur Thursday, January 13, 2022 Noon – 1 pm Admission: FREE! Registration required, click here to register Join us for a special pre-Martin Luther King Jr. Day event as we host Northwestern University professor Kate Masur to discuss her recent book, Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction. Masur’s book is a groundbreaking history of the movement for equal rights that courageously battled racist laws and institutions, Northern and Southern, in the decades before the Civil War. The half-century before the Civil War was beset with conflict over equality as well as freedom. Beginning in 1803, many free states enacted laws that discouraged free African Americans from settling within their boundaries and restricted their rights to testify in court, move freely from place to place, work, vote, and attend public school. But over time, African American activists and their white allies, often facing mob violence, courageously built a movement to fight these racist laws. They countered the states’ insistences that states were merely trying to maintain domestic peace with the equal-rights promises they found in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. They were pastors, editors, lawyers, politicians, ship captains, and countless ordinary men and women, and they fought in the press, the courts, the state legislatures, and Congress, through petitioning, lobbying, party politics, and elections. Long stymied by hostile white majorities and unfavorable court decisions, the movement’s ideals became increasingly mainstream in the 1850s, particularly among supporters of the new Republican party. When Congress began rebuilding the nation after the Civil War, Republicans installed this vision of racial equality in the 1866 Civil Rights Act and the Fourteenth Amendment. These were the landmark achievements of the first civil rights movement. Kate Masur is a professor of History at Northwestern University. She specializes in the history of race, politics, and law in the nineteenth-century United States. She is the author of numerous books and articles including An Example for All the Land: Emancipation and the Struggle over Equality in Washington, D.C. and, with Gregory Downs, The World the Civil War Made. Masur’s scholarship has recently appeared in The Journal of the Civil War Era and the American Journal of Legal History, and as commentary in the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, and the Washington Post’s “Made By History.” More details... •	14	15
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Visit Us!

View Toward the Future: The Capital Campaign

History is alive at the Dawes House. Each year, thousands come to explore the questions history provokes, feel the excitement of discovery, and experience the thrill of examining artifacts and reading directly from original documents.

All of us who care about preserving Evanston’s history have the opportunity to safeguard one of our most visible and important artifacts, the Dawes House. The Capital Campaign will ensure that, with your help.

Click here to learn why it’s a good idea to give, or click here to donate now.