Jane Addams Hull-House Museum

Written by Julie Greiner

The Jane Addams Hull-House Museum is located at 800 South Halsted Street on the University of Illinois campus. The Hull-House Museum commemorates the work of social welfare pioneer and peace advocate Jane Addams, her settlement house associates, their innovative programs and the neighborhood they served. The museum is in an original Hull-House building which is preserved and operated by the University of Illinois.

History of Hull House

The Hull Mansion was built in 1856 by Charles J. Hull and was occupied by Jane Jane Addams Social Welfare Pioneer in Peace Work

Addams in 1889. The furnishings are original and depict the history of the settlement and the work of its residents. Jane Addams, Florence Kelley, Dr. Alice Hamilton, Julia Lathrop, Ellen Gates Starr, Sophonisba Breckinridge and Grace and Edith Abbott were among the residents. They provided services for the neighborhood, such as kindergarten and daycare facilities for children of working mothers, an employment bureau, an art gallery, libraries and music and art classes. Among the projects that they launched were the Immigrant's Protective League, The Juvenile Protective Association, the first juvenile court in the nation and a Juvenile Psychopathic Clinic (later called the Institute for Juvenile Research).

Jane Addams

Jane Addams (1860 - 1935) was born in Cedarville, Illinois in 1860, graduated from Rockford College in 1882 and founded the world famous social settlement Hull-House on Chicago's Near West Side in 1889. Jane Addams became the country's most prominent woman through her writings, settlement work and international efforts for world peace. She produced eleven books, was an active worldwide speaker, the founder of the Chicago Federation of Settlements in 1894, helped to establish the National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers in 1911, chairman of the Labor Committee of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, vice-president of the Campfire Girls, on the executive board of the National Playground Association, the National Child Labor Committee Jane Addams of Hull House in Chicago

and the National Association for the Advancement of Color People. Jane Addams also actively supported the campaign for woman suffrage and the founding of the American Civil Liberties Union. Jane Addams was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.

Visiting the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum

The Museum is open to the public for tours Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. Admission is free and parking is available across the street. This Museum is an internationally recognized symbol of multi-cultural understanding, educational innovation, social service, urban research and social reform. The Museum is both a National and a Chicago Historic Landmark. For more information on visiting the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum call 312-413-5353 or visit the website at http://www.uic.edu/depts/jaddams/hull.