CHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director of Curatorial Affairs
Job Titles:
- CURATOR of CIVIC ENGAGEMENT and SOCIAL JUSTICE
Experience: Chicago History Museum, Curator of Civic Engagement and Social Justice, 2022-present. Evanston Art Center, Exhibitions Committee Member, 2020-present. Evanston Art Center, Exhibitions Committee Co-Chair, 2015-20. Navy Pier, Contributor to the Navy Pier redesign Arts and Discovery Plan, Working Group on History and Culture, 2016. Museums and Civic Discourse: Past, Present & Emerging Futures, A Digital Compendium and Conversation Co-Editor / Developer, in progress 2015-18. National Museum of Mexican Art, Editorial Consultant, Nuestras Historias: Stories of Mexican Identity from the Permanent Collection, 2014. Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, Brown University. Co-Curator, Reimagining Columbus, Reimagining Columbus Day, exhibition October 2010-March 2011.
Education: PhD, American Studies, Brown University. MA, Public Humanities, Brown University. BA, Anthropology (Distinction in all studies), Cornell University.
Elena Gonzales, PhD, is Curator of Civic Engagement & Social Justice at the Chicago History Museum and the author of Exhibitions for Social Justice from Routledge's Museum Meanings Series (2019). Gonzales is a lifelong resident of Cook County and grew up in a bicultural Mexican and Polish-American home. Gonzales began her curatorial career at the National Museum of Mexican Art, where she contributed the exhibition Who Are We Now? Roots, Resistance and Recognition to the larger project, The African Presence in México. The exhibitions traveled through 2011. Gonzales received her doctorate in American Studies and Masters in Public Humanities from Brown University in 2015 and 2010 respectively. During her doctoral studies, Gonzales specialized in Chicago History, Cultural Crossings, Visual Culture, and Exhibitions for Social Justice. She has curated exhibitions since 2006 and has taught curatorial studies since 2010, beginning with an exploration into supporting college freshmen and sophomores representing queer histories. In 2012, Gonzales was a Ford Dissertation Fellow. During her years of service on the Exhibitions Committee at the Evanston Art Center, she participated in developing an annual schedule of more than 20 exhibitions per year and was proud to help launch a biannual curatorial fellowship for BIPOC curators. Gonzales has served as a visiting scholar at Northwestern University in American Studies and the School of Education and Social Policy.
Now, Gonzales is focused on curating Aquí en Chicago, which will open at the Chicago History Museum in Fall 2025. The exhibition tells the story of 100+ years of resistance to white supremacy and colonialism by Latino/a/x communities. It is part of a larger effort to appropriately connect the Museum with this third of Chicago. Beyond Aquí en Chicago, Gonzales's research addresses environmental justice, racial injustice, and the intersection of these concerns with the world of museums. She is a contributing author of Change is Required: How Museums Can Prepare for the Post-Pandemic Age (Rowman & Littlefield and the American Association for State and Local History, 2022). Gonzales speaks and publishes widely on the subjects of DEAI, social justice in museums, sharing authority, inspiring action, and making museums worthy of the public trust they enjoy, all of which are crucial to her curatorial philosophy.
Experience: Chicago History Museum, Elizabeth F. Cheney Director of Education, 202 1-present. Chicago History Museum, Public and Community Engagement Manager 20 20-21. DuSable Museum of African American History, Director of Education, 2018-20. DuSable Museum of African American History, Associate Director for Membership and Volunteer Services, 2017-18. DuSable Museum of African American History, Educational Services Manager, 2014-17.
Education: MA, Museum Studies, John s Hopkins University. BA, Biological Anthropology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Erica G. Griffin is the Elizabeth F. Cheney Director of Education at the Chicago History Museum (CHM). She joined the CHM staff in February 2020 as the Public and Community Engagement Manager to develop a framework to increase civic and cultural literacy along with a deeper understanding of historiography related to Chicago stories.
Erica has served as CHM's Elizabeth F. Cheney Director of Education since 2021, leading the Museum's school programs and public and community engagement efforts. She is committed to the design of meaningful programs, resources, and experiences inspiring learners of all ages and backgrounds to investigate Chicago's rich histories and encourages their potential to be active history makers. Erica holds that actively contending with history will contribute to shaping an urban society that is inclusive, empathetic, and understanding. She has a BA in Anthropology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and more than 15 years of experience in the museum field.
Prior to her tenure at CHM, Erica served as director of education at DuSable Museum of African American History where she developed and facilitated innovative public engagement and K-12 learning programs focused on accessibility, equity, and object-based engagement for over 65,000 participants annually, co-curated South Side Stories: The Art & Influence of Dr. Margaret Burroughs, 1960-1980, participated in the widely recognized National Museum of African American History and Culture's Community Curation Chicago Project, and represented the DuSable Museum in the award-winning Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots project.
She has also presented at conferences around the country including the Communicating the Museum Conference, the Global Diplomacy Lab Summit, and the Association of Midwest Museums.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Association of American Anthropologists
Erica is a member of the Association of American Anthropologists and, in her personal time, advises with the Humphrey's County Cultural Museum (HCCM) in Belzoni, MS. The HCCM is dedicated to the amplifying the history of Humphrey's County's African American farmsteads, sharecropping, and tenant farming.
Job Titles:
- Chief Historian Director, Studs Terkel Center for Oral History
Job Titles:
- Curator of Religion and Community History