HeyJaredWandering Down the Rabbit Holes of History
Musings about history, memory, and how we got this way. Focus on Hyde Park, Chicago, and the experience of 20th Century America, especially during World War II. Sent out weekly (mostly). You can choose which section you follow if you don't want both.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 7
- Latest publication
- Sep 21, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 5, 2026
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A lost W.W. Boyington building (opens the original)
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The Hyde Park Historical Society forwarded an inquiry to me this week, asking if I had some information about the Hyde Park Seminary and whether his great-great-grandmother might have taught there in the 1860s. I could shed a little light on the subject, but it also reintroduced me to Catharine Van Valkenburg Waite. I’d bumped into her during my Grand Hotel research. The inquiry was about her husband’s side of the family, Charles Burlingame Waite. Charles and his brother George at first blush lo
Liberty Caps and the Obama Presidential Center (opens the original)
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My quick tour of the Obama Presidential Center is now posted. Quick because there’s so much to see that I couldn’t pack into a 45-minute presentation. So here’s one of the rabbit holes I couldn’t fit in. Bending the Arc and the Phrygian Cap<a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UBhf!,f_auto,q_auto:go
A Tour of the Obama Presidential Center (opens the original)
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The Chicago Hyde Park Village asked me to give a zoom talk and I chose to do a quick tour of what you could see and experience at the OPC, especially for free and without a ticket. There’s a lot. There’s a lot of art for free too—a free contemporary art museum. As for the museum itself, I’ll just have time to touch on what’s on each floor. Last time I went, I spent four hours just going through the four floors. This is a lunchtime talk!So, it’s an introduction to what I experience there and how
Outtakes 2 from my 8/25 Jackson Park talk (opens the original)
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First off, I want to encourage folks to join in at the Hyde Park 5K next weekend and if you can’t go, to donate. You can also just come by and learn about resources on the South Side for support and detection. There was an article about this event and organizers in the Herald. It’s organized by friends of mine and the money goes to researching an under resourced breast cancer that afflicts women of African descent.
History of Jackson Park (opens the original)
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One of the things that fascinates me is what random things survive from the past and what just vanishes. The Hyde Park Historical Society invited me to talk about my map of things that have survived in Jackson Park, so I decided to organize the items by the eras in the history of Jackson Park and how they survived. I figure people might not know the whole history—and some people may have lived through the more recent eras! I’m at the stage where I’m whittling things down so it’s not ridiculously
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