As you walk down Taylor Street, you will meet one of our founders, Commissioner Deverra Beverly, and learn about the changing neighborhood through the stories of past residents. These exhibits are accessible from the outside of the museum, even when the building is closed.
Taylor Street side of the NPHM building
The shape of this Near West Side neighborhood has undergone significant demographic, economic, and cultural shifts through the years. Look out on Taylor Street as you listen to an excerpt of a conversation between two former Jane Addams Homes residents who reflect on their memories of the neighborhood, and the stark differences between them.
Voice 1: Allen Schwartz, Jane Addams resident: 1943–1954
Voice 2: Janetta Sue Pegues, Jane Addams and ABLA resident: 1962–1983. Hear Janetta’s full-length, solo interview here.
Amidst the demolition of the Jane Addams Homes, longtime ABLA resident, Commissioner Deverra Beverly came together with her community to save one building. They dreamed of making a museum to tell the important stories of public housing. Learn more about this formidable leader through one of her most precious objects.
Experience the texture and fabric of public housing throughout time by visiting three recreated historic apartments showcasing different families’ experiences at different moments in public housing history between 1938 and 1975. The intimate individual, family and community stories become the lens to understand large national public housing policies and their impact…
“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…
Still Here uses art, archives, and public dialogue to explore and connect histories of displacement on the land where the National Public Housing Museum is located. As an institution that addresses displacement of public housing residents, we also want to understand the forcible removal of Indigenous peoples that came before and grapple with how those experiences are interwoven…
Additional resources available at the front desk.
