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Museum Exhibitions

We look forward to welcoming you to the National Public Housing Museum.

Located in the last remaining building of the historic Jane Addams Homes, our museum is committed to preserving the profound legacy of public housing and fostering a nuanced understanding of its impact on communities.

Admission is free with tickets required for the Historic Apartment Tours. Tickets are coming soon.

Exhibitions

Black and white image of a 1940s Jane Addams Homes kitchen. A mother stands at the counter with her two sons.

Historic Apartments

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…

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

History Lessons: Everyday Objects from Public Housing

“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…

On a sideways piece of lined notebook paper with old fashioned handwritten text, a pencil drawing of three indigenous women wrapped in blankets look directly at the viewer. At the top of the page is a sliver of a Chicago street map.

Still Here

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…