April 27 – May 31, 2013
America faced its greatest constitutional test with the election of Abraham Lincoln as the nation’s 16th president in 1860. Divided: Are We Single Nation? Bound: Can Slavery Be Uprooted? Dissent: Must Civil Liberties Give Way?
Based on an original interactive exhibit developed by the National Constitution Center, this traveling version explores Lincoln’s struggle to resolve the contested issues dividing America at the most perilous moment in our nation’s history.
President Lincoln used the Constitution to confront these three crises of war, ultimately reinventing the Constitution and the promise of American life.
The National Constitution Center and the American Library Association Public Programs Office organized the traveling exhibition, which was made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The traveling exhibition is based on an exhibition of the same name developed by the National Constitution Center.
The traveling exhibition is composed of informative panels featuring photographic reproductions of original documents, including a draft of Lincoln’s first inaugural speech, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Thirteenth Amendment.
Further Your Understanding of Lincoln and the Civil War
Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War Exhibit Opening Gala
The Glen Ellyn community celebrated the grand opening of Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War exhibit. Guests met Abraham Lincoln and listened to his inaugural address, heard live performances of Civil War era music, and learned about the Glen Ellyn community’s involvement with the Underground Railroad. Guests had the war come to life through the eyes of three Illinois women, including Jennie Hodgers, who fought in the war for three years disguised as a male soldier, and through a surgeon from the 17th Corps Field Hospital who discussed medial treatments on the battlefield.
Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln: Fact or Fiction
Film critic Brian Tallerico discussed the historical accuracy of the movie Lincoln. Tallerico, a member of the Board of Directors for the Chicago Film Critics Association, serves as content director for hollywoodchicago.com and appears weekly on WGN-AM 720. Tallerico showed several clips from the film, discussed the history behind the events, and took questions from the audience.
Renaissance, Science, Magic, and Medicine
June 9 – July 19, 2014
“There was a lot more to magic, as Harry quickly found out, than waving your wand and saying a few funny words.”
– Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J. K. Rowling
The exhibit features beautifully rendered and informative panels detailing the world of Harry Potter and its roots in Renaissance science, medicine, history, and culture.
Although perceived as fantasy, the magic depicted in the popular Harry Potter novels and films can be traced to Renaissance traditions that played a pivotal role in the development of modern science and medicine.
Using materials from the National Library of Medicine’s “History of Medicine” collection, the exhibition explores Harry Potter’s wizarding world, its roots in Renaissance science, and the ethical questions that affect not only the wizards in J.K. Rowling’s books, but also the historical thinkers featured in the series.
Featuring fifteenth and sixteenth century works from the period’s leading thinkers, alchemists, naturalists, and occultists, the exhibition panels explore the intersection between the Harry Potter novels and Renaissance thinkers, lore, and practices.
March 18 – April 15, 2015
The Freedom Riders were men and women of both races who challenged the mores of a racially segregated society by performing a simple act — traveling together in small interracial groups and sitting where they pleased on buses.
Demanding unrestricted access to terminal restaurants and waiting rooms, they were met with bitter racism, mob violence, and imprisonment along the way. But their courage and sacrifice over eight months in 1961 changed America forever.
Freedom Riders is a traveling exhibition developed by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in partnership with AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. Major funding provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Freedom Riders, men and women spanning all walks of American life, embarked on a mission that deliberately violated Jim Crow laws and tested their belief in nonviolent activism.
Further Your Understanding Of The Civil Rights Movement
Freedom Rider: The Life of a Foot Soldier for Civil Rights
Thomas Armstrong spoke about his extraordinary experiences as a veteran Civil Rights activist in Mississippi during the 1960’s.
Armstrong, a native of Silver Creek, Mississippi, was at the forefront of early protests led by black Southerners for voting rights and later became an influential activist in the Freedom Riders movement.Armstrong spoke about his childhood influences, discovering what it meant to live in a segregated world, and his decision to actively work towards building a better future.
Catholics, Race, and the Civil Rights Movement in Chicago
Dr. Karen Johnson, a 20th Century U.S. race and religion historian and professor at Wheaton College, talked about her research into Chicago Catholics and the Civil Rights Movement. In 1930s Chicago, Catholic support for civil rights seemed a slim possibility. Dr. Johnson spoke at length about Peggy Roach and Catherine de Hueck and their influence in Chicago’s Catholic support of Civil Rights.
May 2-27, 2016
The Glen Ellyn Public Library’s Cable No More Family Room is an interactive exhibit designed to give you the opportunity to try out both streaming services and devices in a comfortable, stress-free environment.
With cable provider prices continuing to rise and the unnecessary bundling of some services in order receive a “discount” (channels you don’t want, landline services you don’t need), cutting ties with traditional cable has become a very real trend.
The popularity of these online services has risen sharply over the last several years for a couple of reasons: first, streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video have achieved a very high standard of quality, and second, the hardware for viewing these services directly on your TV (in HD quality) has become affordable, dependable, and very versatile.
The Cable No More Family Room looked and felt like a typical family room, giving visitors the opportunity to try out an array of online streaming services and devices in a comfortable, hands-on environment.
Guests could access the major streaming services and test them on some of the most popular streaming devices. Devices were chosen from across the cost spectrum, from the low-end (Amazon Fire TV Stick) through the mid-range (ROKU 3) and up through the top-tier (Apple TV 4th Generation), giving each visitor an accurate representation of the devices available and their capabilities.
Visitors received a copy of approximate pricing information and a list of the pros and cons regarding the featured services and devices.
Featured Services
- Amazon Prime Video
- Similar to Netflix, but with a smaller library
- Award-winning original content and high quality original children’s programming
- Hulu
- Some current TV shows are added the day or week after they air
- More current major network television than Netflix, but not as many back episodes
- Some original programming
- Netflix
- Offers a huge library of movies and television as well as award-winning original content
- Not a lot of new movies and only previous seasons of some TV shows, not current ones
- Sling Television
- Live, streaming television
- No major networks, but many popular cable channels such as AMC, ESPN, TNT, HGTV, Food network, etc.
- VUDU
- Digital copies of movies and TV shows purchased by the library
- Some new movies and shows, but not everything
Featured Devices
- Amazon Fire TV Stick
- Small and is typically hidden behind your TV
- Ties to your Amazon account so you can access any digital purchases you have made
- All major streaming apps work: Netflix, Hulu, Sling TV, etc.
- Simple gaming options
- Does NOT work with any Apple iTunes or App Store purchases you have made
- Apple TV
- 4th generation Apple TV “puck”
- Ties to your Apple ID and iTunes account
- Can download any iOS apps you have previously purchased IF they are compatible with tvOS, the Apple TV operating system
- Can view any videos or listen to any music that you purchased from Apple
- Supports touch and talk remote as well as Bluetooth gaming controller for mobile games
- Can watch Netflix and Hulu but not Amazon, Sling TV, or VUDU
- ROKU
- 3rd generation ROKU “puck”
- Remote with independent headphone jack or you can use the app on a mobile device
- Searches across all services for programming
- Compatible with all streaming services: Netflix, Hulu, Sling TV, Amazon Prime Video, VUDU, etc.
- Has USB port for viewing personal media
Other Devices and Services Available For Purchase
Devices
Services
Patios, Pools & the Invention of the American Backyard
The suburban backyard is an American original — an invention so familiar it hardly seems invented at all. In the 1950s, America was a nation emerging from the shadow of World War II, searching for ways to enjoy its newfound peace and prosperity.
One postwar trend was the dramatic rise in home ownership, contributing to the development of the suburban backyard.
Patios, Pools, & the Invention of the American Backyard explores the mid-century backyard from the rise of the suburbs and tract houses, to the beauty of postwar garden design, and the birth of the environmental movement.
Filled with vintage photographs, historic drawings, and fun period advertisements, the exhibition reveals how these spaces became such an integral part of American popular culture.
Patios, Pools, & the Invention of the American Backyard is presented by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and the Smithsonian Garden’s
