As much as I can say I’ve been to nearly every museum in the Chicagoland area, one that was always on my to-do list looks to be permanently closed (as you can see from the sign in this photo). We’ve covered museological shut downs here before (the Madison Museum of Bathroom Tissue still breaks people’s hearts) but the Museum of Holography was a place that existed for almost forty years and was so under the radar I didn’t think it’d be going anywhere. Containing the world’s largest collection of holograms, which included giant tarantulas, naked women and Michael Jordan (of course), the museum was established long before Oprah moved in across the street. Consisting of four galleries, small and large holograms were arranged without any attention to theme or subject, even though one of the rooms had a number of works by the late mathematician and holographer Art Freund. One image within an image, binoculars that revealed a parrot perched in a tree, was a particular favorite of Michael Jackson when he visited the museum in 1988. Loren Billings, who ran and lived in the museum, used extra space to host lectures and teach holography classes, but that was a long time ago. The basement, which used to house a printing press, has an abandoned lab where Billings and her late husband once made holograms. In recent years, the museum had become eerily quiet with a somewhat outdated appearance (something I studied as a museologist…how does a museum, even a small one, not become a dusty, forgotten collection of random old things?). Even though the art of holography was making a comeback with a 3-D Tupac and appears to live on in an Allentown, Pennsylvania collection, it is always sad whenever a small, random museum shut its doors. Peace out, hologram lady!

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Happy May Day! No, I’m not talking about the celebration of spring, like in the film Wicker Man, today is about honoring the international labor and left-wing movements from around the world. It all started in Chicago on May 1, 1886 when unionists, reformers, socialists, anarchists and workers got together to fight for the eight-hour work day. The Haymarket Massacre, which occurred after an unknown person threw a bomb at police as they dispersed a public assembly during a general strike and eight of the unionists were found guilty, has been remembered ever since as a day to honor those fighting for the rights of all workers.

The Chicago History Museum has a great collection of items related to the events, including this cabinet card photograph, published by the David Bradley Manufacturing Company a year or two after the riot. Many portraits were made during and after the trial. This one is a composite showing the views of the three buildings near Haymarket Square: Grief’s Hall, Crane’s Manufacturing Company and David Bradley (the company who made the card). Along with the portraits of the men convicted in the trial (from left to right: August Spies, Louis Lingg, Samuel Fielden, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Oscar Neebe, Michael Schwab, and A. R. Parsons) there is also a view of a Haymarket alley with a label: “place where the bomb was thrown.”

The Polish Museum of America is one of the oldest ethnic museums in…you guessed it…AMERICA! In honor of Casimir Pulaski Day, a holiday that only appears to be celebrated in Chicago, (even though Wisconsin supposedly gets some action on this day too) I bring you this Polack museum. I’ve been here a few times over the years, once to specifically research some documents about my Polish relatives. It’s a place time has forgotten, but it’s still interesting if you’re a Polack and like weird, dusty mannequins (exhibit A). And it’s always good to support small, local museums. The museum is located in the same building as the Polish Roman Catholic Union, open since 1873. This area of the city used to be known as the “Polish downtown”, my relatives settled here when they first emigrated to the U.S.

The painting, from the 1930’s Century of Progress Fair, shows Pulaski fighting in the Battle of Savannah during the Revolutionary War. Not soon after he died from battle wounds. Kazimierz Pułaski (gonna write it the Polack way) was important for many reasons: he saved George Washington’s life, founded the American cavalry and is one of only a few foreigners to get honorary U.S. citizenship. Okay…I’m done. Now time for some dumb Polish jokes.