Opened in 2025 on Chicago’s Near West Side, the National Public Housing Museum is preceded by almost two decades of research, discourse, and collaboration. It began as a dream of residents to preserve and repurpose the last remaining building of the Works Progress Administration (WPA)-era Jane Addams Homes as a site of conscience—a historic site that calls on the power of place and memory to create a dialogue between history and pressing contemporary issues. The Museum’s design takes place when the role of civic institutions and creative placemaking/placekeeping projects is highly contested. This catalogue shows how exhibitions and the built environment can profoundly shape the public’s perception, knowledge, and emotional experience around the struggle for housing justice. The hardcover volume is richly illustrated with color photographs of the museum and its exhibits, accompanied by interviews with brilliant and opinionated project advisors, as well as design proposals ultimately not pursued.

Lisa Yun Lee is a cultural activist and the executive director of the National Public Housing Museum. She is also an associate professor of art history and gender and women's studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a member of Chicago Torture Justice Memorials. As the former director of the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, she oversaw renovation of the house and reinvigorated public programming. Lee was the cofounder of The Public Square at the Illinois Humanities Council, an organization dedicated to reinvigorating civil society. She writes broadly about arts, culture, aesthetics and politics. Her works include Dialectics of the Body: Corporeality in the Philosophy of Theodor Adorno (Routledge, 2004) and the survey essay for the first comprehensive monograph of Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates (Phaidon, 2015). Lee serves on the boards of the Field Foundation, the American Association of State and Local History, and Preservation Illinois.

Amy Reichert is an award-winning architect and exhibition designer. She is the principal at Amy Reichert Architecture and Design and was the lead exhibition designer for the National Public Housing Museum. Past design projects include the permanent core exhibition at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum and the Killing Fields Exhibit at the Cambodian American Heritage Museum. Reichert has created exhibits on topics as diverse as early 20th century Viennese art and the history of the children’s pedal car. She prefers the collaborative process that exhibition design entails, and her expertise extends to work on projects in the areas of history and the humanities, fine and applied arts, and family and interactive themes. Reichert holds a BA in studio art and an MArch from Yale University and is on the faculty at the School of the Art Institute Chicago.

Lee Bey is the author of the well-received book Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago’s South Side (Northwestern University Press, 2019), and was the Emmy-nominated host of the WTTW special “Building Blocks: The Architecture of Chicago’s South Side.” Bey returned to the Chicago Sun-Times as an editorial writer in 2019. He previously held several positions in organizations involved in planning, development, and architecture, and was also deputy chief of staff for architecture and urban planning in the administration of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Sunny Fischer was executive director of The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation from 1992–2013. She cofounded the National Public Housing Museum (NPHM) in 2006, with Deverra Beverly, the president of the Central Advisory Council, and a Commissioner on the Chicago Housing Authority Board. Fischer currently serves as board chair of the NPMH. In 2008, Governor Pat Quinn appointed Fisher as chair of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. She was coauthor of the 1982 study of Police Response to Battered Women’s Complaints (Chicago Law Enforcement Study Group, 1983), and she wrote the introduction to Women, Philanthropy, and Social Change: Journey to A Just Society (Tufts University, 2005). Fischer received a BA from Hunter College, City University of New York. She earned an MA from the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice, and is a life-long member of its advisory council.

D. Bradford Hunt is a professor and the chair of the history department at Loyola University. He received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and his BA from Williams College. His research focuses on urban history and city planning, particularly in Chicago. Hunt is known for his work on Chicago's public housing and city planning history, and serves as the chair of the exhibitions and programs committee of the National Public Housing Museum. Hunt is the author of Blueprint for Disaster: The Unraveling of Chicago Public Housing (University of Chicago Press, 2009).

Marisa Novara is the vice president of community impact at The Chicago Community Trust. Novara leads the team overseeing the development and implementation of the Trust’s strategic initiatives, policy agenda, and grantmaking to address the Chicago area’s racial and ethnic wealth gap. She has more than 25 years of experience engaging with communities to create innovative programs that respond to their needs and drive policy change. Novara served as commissioner of the Chicago Department of Housing, under Mayor Lori Lightfoot, where she led the passage of nine bills in four years, including efforts to increase opportunities for developers and contractors of color to participate in and build wealth by creating affordable housing. She currently serves on the National Public Housing Museum board of directors.

Crystal Palmer is a resident engagement manager at the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA). Palmer is a tireless champion for CHA residents. She was the president, vice president and treasurer of the Horner Resident Committee, and secretary and treasurer of the Central Advisory Council and outreach specialist, employment specialist and coordinator for FamilyWorks. She is currently the vice chair of the National Public Housing Museum board of directors.

Francine Washington is a longtime and respected voice in the Chicago public housing resident leadership community. Washington is the president of the Central Advisory Council, and is also president of the Washington Park Local Advisory Committee. She was appointed to the Chicago Housing Authority Board of Commissioners in June 2014. Washington lived in Stateway Gardens from 1972–2006. Washington serves as the chair of the National Public Housing Museum’s engagement committee.

Interviews with contributors to the National Public Housing Museum:

Ruth Abrams, Tenement Museum founder, Sites of Conscience founder, and longtime advisor to the National Public Housing Museum; Jayah Arnett, New York City Housing Authority resident and curator of the museum exhibit feeling at home; Dorothy Burge, commissioned artist for celebratory quilt of museum cofounder Deverra Beverly; Richard Cahan, organizer of the first History Lessons: Everyday Objects from Public Housing exhibit; Andrea Carlson, commissioned artist for public art mural on the museum’s Invitation Wall; Monica Chadha, architect for the museum store cooperative; Andrzej Dajnowski, world renowned conservationist and restorer of Edgar Miller’s Animal Court at the National Public Housing Museum; DJ Spinderella, legendary DJ with Salt-N-Pepa, and curator of the REC Room; Mejay Gula, museum landscape architect; Marisa Morán Jahn, commissioned artist for Re-Creation, and 2023 Joyce Award winner for the public art installation OOPS and HOOPcycle; Pete Landon, Terran Wilson, and Tyler Brown, museum architects; Audrey Petty, writing instructor for History Lessons: Everyday Objects from Public Housing workshops; Keith McGee, founding director, National Public Housing Museum; Todd Palmer, former interim director and former program director at the museum; Amanda Williams, commissioned artist with Olalekan Jeyifous of Resilient Hues.

The mission of the National Public Housing Museum (NPHM) is to preserve, promote, and propel the right of all people to a place where they can live and prosper—a place to call home. Established in 2007, NPHM is the first cultural institution dedicated to interpreting the American experience in public housing. NPHM draws on the power of place and memory as a lens on social history, connecting the past, present, and future in ways that are highly relevant to the civic life of the nation. As a site of conscience, the museum’s programs create opportunities for audiences to understand the history and scope of housing insecurity and to collectively create solutions. NPHM exhibitions include art, artifacts, and oral history to unleash the power of storytelling as a catalyst for innovative policy.