Gazette Article by: Patti Van Cleave
Appeared in the Gazette: Spring/Summer 2009

The arrival of spring always brings a fresh burst of energy, and in addition to reopening the Schmidt-Burnham Log House for the season we have other exciting news. But first I’d like to recap some of the activities that have occurred since last fall’s newsletter.
Our wedding exhibit, “I Do, I Do,” continues to be popular with visitors, and we have extended the exhibit through the summer. The curators’ column below explains an interesting update made necessary by the unusual nature of an antique textile.

We launched our new website and it is now easier than ever to research Winnetka history, thanks to a new feature that allows searches by keywords. We are very grateful to our former curator, Stephanie Giordano, who along with David Schober donated countless hours of expertise to develop the site. Go to https://www.winnetkahistory.org and see the difference!

Our winter programs were a great success. Our sold-out luncheon featured actor R.J. Lindsey as Daniel Burnham, with a cameo appearance by costume curator Ellie Carlson as his long-lost relative Anita Willets Burnham. Both the luncheon and our current exhibit, “Plan of Chicago 1909 and Plan of Winnetka 1921,” are part of the Burnham Plan Centennial celebrations taking place throughout the metropolitan area in 2009.

We also had a wonderful turnout for a panel discussion among Winnetka veterans that was moderated by our curator, Katie Macica, and held at the Woman’s Club as part of their Veterans Day celebration. Another highlight was two curator’s talks about historic Winnetkans that were held in private homes: the Harold Ickes home on Private Road and the Lola Maverick Lloyd house on Birch Street. We will continue this series in the fall.
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On to spring! On April 16 we held a thank-you reception for all the donors to the recently ended capital campaign. It was truly a pleasure to honor all those whose deep commitment of resources have made possible all that we do today. The donors also got a sneak preview of our new permanent exhibit, “Creating Community: A History of Winnetka,” which opened to the public May 19.