Grab your camera or phone this October for the Wilmette Photo Challenge! Our newest exhibit, "Wilmette in Photographs, 1850-1950," provides a fascinating glimpse of Wilmette in the mid-19th through mid-20th centuries with many of the photos taken by amateur photographers. Your photos can help future generations get a glimpse into Village life today. The Museum will add some of the submitted photos to its permanent collection and also include many of them as a digital display. We are looking for color pics that show families, informal groups and gatherings, activities and special events, local workplaces, street scenes and more. Participation is easy. Click here for more details and to start submitting your photos!
Wilmette Photo Challenge
Why Illinois was Ground Zero for Innovation
Join award-winning author and journalist John Wasik on Sunday, October 20th at 2 p.m. for a lively discussion about how and why Illinois became a hub of innovation. His talk includes such inventions as John Deere‘s self-scouring plow, the construction of the first steel-framed skyscraper in Chicago, and Nikola Tesla’s introduction of the alternating current system at the World’s Columbian Exposition. He will also invite us to contemplate what must be done to ensure that our state thrives in a global and high tech economy. The lecture is free for members and $5 for non-members.
Wilmette in Photographs: 1850-1950
Stop by to see our exciting new exhibit which explores a century of photographs of Wilmette people and places. Antique cameras, glass photographic plates, tintypes, stereo cards, and other unusual artifacts from the Museum’s collection join dozens of rarely seen photos in the main gallery to illustrate how developments in camera technology, and the emergence of fads like the “real photo postcard” craze, resulted in a treasure trove of images that have forever captured the look of everyday life in one small Midwestern town.
