Symposium Accommodations
Chicago will host a very large convention during the weekend of May 2 and 3 that is in addition to the symposium in honor of Neil Harris! Some hotels are already fully booked for that weekend.
Subject to availability, rooms may be reserved at the Union League Club of Chicago at a special rate of $190 plus a use fee 16% per night, or a total of $220.40 per night. These rooms are newly renovated, with nice appointments, such as flat screen TV's (in case anyone needs to see more politics or display after the symposium). The club is in the Loop at 65 W. Jackson, just west of Dearborn, a convenient taxi, train, or bus ride to Hyde Park and the University of Chicago. A room rental also gives one access to the other facilities of the club, such as the gym. The Union League Club also has an important art collection, see below. You may go to http://www.ulcc.org/guestrooms/ to get more information.
To see if rooms are available and reserve a room, call (312) 427-7800 and ask for "Overnight Reservations." Tell them you are booking for the Neil Harris Symposium.
For those who may wish to stay on campus, we have also been able to reserve a small number of rooms at the Quadrangle Club, 1155 E. 57th Street, at the rate of $125.00. To reserve a Quadrangle Club room, call Diane Brady in the History Department at (773) 702-8394 or e-mail her at <dhbrady@uchicago.edu>.
Art Collecting at the Union League Club In a letter that accompanied the Union League Club of Chicago’s first significant work of art in 1886, its donor, J.M. Thatcher, wrote: “I trust this gift may soon find company.” Club members quickly took his words to heart and, within a decade, had established an Art Committee and an art acquisitions fund. The Club’s early acquisitions were nearly all from contemporary American and European artists, with an increasing emphasis on the native school. Prints, Civil War scenes, portraits of American presidents, Club officers, and local landscapes constituted an eclectic medley of art that distinguished the Club from other similar organizations at an early date. By the mid-20th century, the Club had begun a series of biennial exhibitions open to area artists. More than 750 artists submitted their works to the first jury, which selected approximately 10 percent for inclusion in the show. Well-known artists, critics and curators served as judges for the events, among them, Ivan Albright, Aaron Bohrod and Earl Gross during the 1950s and 1960s.Today, the Union League Club of Chicago is recognized as having one of the most important privately held art collections in the region, with more than 750 works of art, including paintings, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts – with particular strength in Midwestern artists.