March 7, 2012

The historic lobotomy being practiced by the director of the Hull House Museum was called to task during the February 12, 2012 Panel discussion: Historic Preservation and the People’s History.

Can TV: Sunday March 4, 10:30am on Comcast (or RCN) channel 21.

The policies of the University of Illinois and the Hull House Museum’s director, as it concerns Taylor Street and the Hull House neighborhood, were refuted by nationally recognized experts during a heated debate at the Hull House Museum.

Taylor Street’s Little Italy, the port-of-call for Chicago’s Italian American immigrants, became the focal point in an intense discussion by a group of prominent panelists – plus an audience comprised of historians, researchers, educators, students, representatives of the Taylor Street community, and Lisa Lee, the director of the Hull House Museum. The panel remained steadfast in their definition of historic preservation – concurring with the Italian American community’s long held position that the preservation of the stories of the people who lived the experience of growing up in the Hull House neighborhood was as equally, if not more, important than the preservation of the buildings that housed their activities. Taylor Street’s contingent won the day when the renowned group of panelists dismissed the arguments of the Hull House director that one must be a vetted historian to include their stories in the Museum’s website. One panel member suggested “job security” as a remedy to the resistance to include “the people’s history” in their historic preservation.

Further, exposing the hypocrisy on display that day was the printed handout distributed by the Museum’s director. Buildings are much more than… They tell us a lot about our society – who, how and why they lived the way they lived. Here’s our recipe for conscientious observation: Multiple voices and stories; Nurture public memory; Challenge dominant narratives; Bring invisible histories to light.

Amazingly that printed handout, while supporting the panel and the community, completely contradicts the position the Museum’s director has publicly taken in her refusal to include a website link that would contain the stories of immigrants and migrants that had lived the experience of Jane Addams’ “Hull House Neighborhood.” Once again, the Museum’s director, arrogantly and with impunity, “talks the talk” but refuses to “walk the walk.”

Further discrediting and refuting the position of the UIC’s Hull House Museum was the quote attributed to the sponsor of the event, the National Public Housing Museum: “We are more than objects. We are more than artifacts. Our legacy is the sum of our stories.”
www.TaylorStreetArchives.com

Epilogue

Unfortunately, the edited version of that TV program left out the hotly contested discourse that occurred between Lisa Lee, director of the Hull House Museum, and community residents challenging her right to arbitrarily direct the Museum to dispense, by both omission and commission, flawed history concerning Jane Addams, sociologist, and the “Hull House Neighborhood.”

Reminded that she had boycotted a meeting with the community representatives on this issue–as was requested by both the UIC Chancellor and the President of the UIC Board of Trustees–to discuss the recommendation that the Hull House Museum’s website contain a link titled: Stories From the Hull House Neighborhood, the director, abruptly left the premises without a response.

Tracy,
This may be useful (probably indispensible) in filling the gaps for those who may come to the forefront in dealing with the intellectual arrogance of the Museum.

1. The actual handout given to the UICBOT is attached. It differs from the abbreviated handout you received in that it contains the following:
   

   Summary:

   In addition to the Hull House rolls, every writer, every historian of the Italian American experience confirms that, for most, if not all of the history of the Jane Addams’ Hull House, Italian Americans were the primary component of the Hull House Neighborhood.
   The history of the Jane Addams’ Hull House is not complete without acknowledging the symbiotic relationship that existed with the Legendary Taylor Street’s Little Italy. The Neighborhood, with its original enclave of 10,000 Italian-American immigrants (1895 census), became the laboratory upon which the Hull House elitists tested their theories and based their protests to the establishment. Read more…

January 22, 2011

To:       UIC Trustees
Paula Allen-Meares, Chancellor
From:  Vincent Romano, Taylor Street Archives
Re:       January 20, 2011 presentation

Thank you for the opportunity to address your group on a matter of mutual concern; i.e., the mission of the Hull House Museum, as mandated by Board policy.  The success in the implementation of that policy was also touched upon in that presentation. The following, for our mutual edification, is extracted from the Museum’s mission statement.  The full body of that mission statement is available.
          

Mission Statement
The Jane Addams Hull House Museum serves as a dynamic memorial to Jane Addams, the work of her associates, and the neighborhood they served. The museum embodies UIC’s urban land grant commitment by preserving and developing the original Hull House site for the interpretation and continuation of the historic settlement house vision, linking research, education, and social engagement.   Read more…

January 22, 2011

To:       UIC Trustees
Paula Allen-Meares, Chancellor
From:  Vincent Romano, Taylor Street Archives
Re:       January 20, 2011 presentation

Thank you for the opportunity to address your group on a matter of mutual concern; i.e., the mission of the Hull House Museum, as mandated by Board policy.  The success in the implementation of that policy was also touched upon in that presentation. The following, for our mutual edification, is extracted from the Museum’s mission statement.  The full body of that mission statement is available.

Mission Statement
The Jane Addams Hull-House Museum serves as a dynamic memorial to Jane Addams, the work of her associates, and the neighborhood they served. The museum embodies UIC’s urban land grant commitment by preserving and developing the original Hull House site for the interpretation and continuation of the historic settlement house vision, linking research, education, and social engagement.   Read more…

January 20, 2011

Presentation to the U of I Trustees

Chicago Campus

Vince Romano

The Hull House Museum, under the guardianship of the UIC, is the primary outlet for the dissemination of information to the public.  Consistent with the code of the International Community of Museums, the Museum preserves the legacy of the Jane Addams Hull House and the Neighborhood it served. Read more…

Beginning with the mass migration from the shores of southern Europe over a century ago, a unique phenomenon in American culture began to unfold–the psychological genocide of a people.  Media induced; this holocaust vilified Italian Americans in a manner unprecedented. Today, another medium, the Hull House Museum, mandated by the U of I Trustees for the benefit of scholars, historians and the public, has chosen to manipulate history by disengaging Chicago’s Italian American immigrants, who constituted the inner core of the Hull House Neighborhood, from the history of Jane Addams and the Jane Addams’ Hull House. Read more…

By Vince Romano

August 28, 2007

On August 28, 2007, Florence Scala, Chicago’s legendary Taylor Street activist, died. Upon the passing of Florence Scala, Derrick Blakely of TVs CBS 2 News, reported:

“She was fearless!  She spoke for a neighborhood that she believed didn’t have to die. She spoke for the people! Who she was most hurt by were what she called the good people, the board of directors of Hull House, the Hull House mob, which encouraged Daley to go ahead and destroy the neighborhood. She thought they were the ones that really betrayed the people of the neighborhood.”

Read more…