Join Rob Spiller, Assistant Secretary for Advancement and Chicago native, as he traverses the city—visiting Smithsonian partners, artworks and places that remind him of the institution and its work.
In the morning, Rob strolls along the shore of Lake Michigan. The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center is partnering with state and federal agencies to monitor invasive species, such as the zebra mussel and round goby, across the Great Lakes—protecting freshwater ecosystems for human and nonhuman swimmers.
Music trails Rob throughout the city— Chicago’s South Side was a hub for the burgeoning American jazz scene in the early 1900s. Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures at the National Museum of African American History and Culture features Chicago jazz icon Sun Ra’s space harp and original sheet music for Astro Black, Hidden Spheres and Magic City, on loan from the University of Chicago.
The Field Museum is a must when Rob visits Chicago. The museum and the Chicago Botanic Garden are key partners in the Biodiversity Heritage Library, a global consortium hosted by the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives that digitally documents life forms on Earth—free and accessible to all.
Rob attends meetings with partners at the Adler Planetarium, a Smithsonian Affiliate. He sneaks a peek at Mission Moon—an exhibition exploring America’s first forays into outer space, featuring the Gemini 12 space capsule, Gemini 12 Chronograph and Apollo 11 penlight on loan from the National Air and Space Museum.
Rob drops by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago to visit a recent Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden acquisition: Rebecca Morris’ Untitled #03-20, on view through April 15, 2024.
Rob regularly visited the Newberry Library in the Near North Side as a student conducting research. The Archives of American Art surveyed the library as part of a 2015 project to uncover the history of American art in Chicago, cataloging collections that include illustrators and book artists such as Paula Gerard and George Salter.
And in the evening: No stay in Chicago is complete without a trip to watch the Cubs play at Wrigley Field. The Smithsonian holds a little piece of Wrigley Field at the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C. The exhibition Baseball: America’s Home Run (open through Jan 5., 2025) features the second base used at a 2019 Cubs game.