Tenancy culture studies: the National Public Housing Museum (Chicago)

Having last year observed the centenary of the public housing system in New South Wales, including with an Institute of Tenancy Culture Studies tour of significant public housing sites in Sydney, we bemoaned Housing NSW's neglect of the centenary and the forgetting of our public housing history.

By contrast, in Chicago, Illinois, the history of public housing is being remembered and celebrated, in the new National Public Housing Museum.

In its own words, the Museum

promotes and fosters the deep cultural understanding through artifacts, photos, archival documents, social history, public policy, and other material objects spanning seven decades. It is the first institution dedicated to interpreting the experience of public and social housing and the illumination of resilience of poor and working class families of every race and ethnicity.

The Museum is to shortly find a permanent home in a conserved building that was part of the Jane Addams Homes, Chicago's first federally-funded public housing project. Take a virtual tour:


Congratulations and best wishes to all involved in the inspiring work of National Public Housing Museum.

Tip of the hat to Robert Mowbray.