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Our mission is to preserve, promote, and propel the right of all people to a place where they can live and prosper—a place to call home.

    History Lessons:
    Everyday Objects from Public Housing

    Two wooden bookends, each with a copper baby shoe inscribed with the name “Daniel,” sit on a wooden table.

    Daniel Anderson’s Baby Shoes

    Exhibition

    • Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Gallery,
      1st Floor

    • Free

    History Lessons: Everyday Objects from Public Housing in the Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation Gallery

    “What is an object that tells a story about your life and experiences in public housing?”

    History Lessons: Everyday Objects from Public Housing is a national effort to collect objects from public housing residents in diverse communities across the USA, and work with residents in storytelling and writing workshops to write their own labels.

    The selected objects from this project span over 90 years of public housing history and have much to tell about the significance of family, true love, longing, and desire, and the mysteries of life and death, grand hopes, and dreams deferred. 

    This is an ongoing project and objects will regularly rotate as we continue to work with communities across the country to record their stories and collect objects.  Our first year focuses on the objects and stories of residents from Chicago, New York and Houston.  

    History Lessons was developed with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities special initiative A More Perfect Union: America at 250.  The exhibition also received generous funding from the Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation. 

    Green water hose hanged on the wall
    Miss Juanita’s Garden Hose
    Classic light aircraft artifact made of metal. The airplane is primarily green with red, white, and blue on the tailpiece.
    Shaq’s Airplane
    Yellow landline telephone centered and taken from above
    Yellow Telephone

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