The Glessner House Museum and the Victorian Society in America host a day-long symposium on the interpretation of the Victorian house on Saturday, September 27, 2014 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Glessner House Museum in Chicago. Speakers include:

• Richard Guy Wilson, keynote speaker and Commonwealth Professor’s Chair in Architectural History, University of Virginia on “Creating the Victorian House”
• Laura Gundrum, Chief of Interpretation, Lincoln Home on “Interpreting Abraham Lincoln as a Family Man at Lincoln Home”
• Lise Dube-Scherr, Executive Director, Richard H. Driehaus Museum on “Contemporary Perspectives on Historic Houses: Building Community through Diversified Programming”
• Marta Wojcik, Executive Director and Curator, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Westcott House and Westcott Center for Architecture + Design on “A Frank Lloyd Wright House as a Community Anchor”

• Bruce Davies, Curator, Craigdarroch Castle National Historic Site on “Craigdarroch Castle – Telling the Whole Story”
• Lisa Yun Lee, former Director, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum on “Dangerous, Radical, and Queer: Interpreting the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum”
• John C. Eastberg, Historian and Director of Development, Pabst Mansion on “Imagination and Reality: The Development of a Victorian Historic House”

Registration is $50 per person (includes breakfast and lunch) and pre-paid reservations are required.  More details on the Glessner House Museum Events Calendar.

If you can add an additional day before or after, you might be interested in:

• “The Historic House Detective:  Planning for Restoration” on Friday,  September 26, 2014 with a 6:30 pm reception and 7:15 pm lecture at the Glessner House Museum.   $15 per person.   An accurate and thoughtful restoration project involves countless hours of onsite investigation and archival research before the actual work begins. In this lecture by Executive Director and Curator William Tyre, learn how photographs, journal entries, original contractor inovices, and physical evidence were used to develop the restoration plans for the parlor, corner guestroom, and guest bathroom. More details on the Glessner House Museum Events Calendar.
• Victorian Society of America Study Tour on Victorian Chicago which includes the Saturday symposium and Friday reception and lecture, along with motorcoach tours of Chicagoon Saturday and of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin on Sunday.  Registation $415.  You’ll want to reserve early because space is limited.  A brochure with more details and registration is available from VSA.

Thanks to Pat Miller for giving me a heads-up about these events.