Erin FH Hughes is the Curator of Collections and our Social Media expert. She spends a lot of her time making sure the collection is properly cared for while using our artifacts to educate the public. She believes, “social media is a great way to bring interesting bits of history to the general public and allows people to see what staff does behind the scenes at the Evanston History Center.”
The Evanston History Center in the historic Charles Gates Dawes House
The Evanston History Center is located in the historic Charles Gates Dawes house, a National Historic Landmark, on a two-acre lakefront site. Built in 1894-1896 the French chateaux style home was built by architect Henry Edwards Ficken. The three-and-a-half story mansion has twenty-five rooms, six bedrooms, seven bathrooms and eleven fireplaces.
The home was originally built for Robert Sheppard, treasurer and business manager of Northwestern University. Charles Gates Dawes, an American banker and politician who was 30th Vice President of the United States, bought the house from Sheppard in 1909.
The mission of the Evanston History Center is to collect, preserve and interpret the rich history of the City of Evanston and all its people through exhibits, educational programs and research facilities.
Curator, Erin FH Hughes, working on a condition report for a surgeon’s operating case. This case was made between 1851 and 1881 by Dietrich Kolbe, who had a contract to produce surgical sets for Union troops during the American Civil War.
Here at the Evanston History Center, we spend lots of time working on projects that eventually become programs, exhibits or special events for visitors. While visitors see the fruit of this work, rarely do they see the preparation for these events and the everyday activities at the Evanston History Center. Are you interested in learning more about what goes on behind the scenes? Would you like to learn about tid-bits of history as we discover them? You’re in the right place!
Welcome to the Evanston History Center blog. We hope that this will be a place where you can learn a little more about the Evanston History Center. The staff is an amazing group of talented professionals with fascinating stories to tell from their time and research at the museum. Subscribe by clicking “follow” at the right, then you won’t miss a single post. We look forward to hearing from you through the comments at the end of each post.
And, be sure to visit our website often for more information on touring the house, our archival resources, upcoming events and programs, and information on exhibit and collection items. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Evanston History Center 