Free for a day? If you are, then these museums are, too

There's a day set aside for appreciating squirrels (Jan. 21), National High Five Day falls on the third Thursday of April each year and Salami Day, celebrated each Sept. 7, pays homage to the beloved processed meat. So, why not Museum Day - an afternoon to expand your gray matter in a completely legal way?

The fourth annual Smithsonian magazine's Museum Day is just that: It offers free admission on Saturday, Sept. 27, at select museums and cultural institutions and celebrates the dissemination of knowledge - what a concept in a day when Paris Hilton's catchphrase "That's hot" is better known than "One small step for man -"

A dozen Chicago-area museums will participate in Museum Day 2008, when doors swing open free of charge to Smithsonian magazine readers and online visitors. Not a magazine reader? Simply present an Admission Card available in this month's issue of Smithsonian or download the printable version at smithsonian.com/museumday. Each admission card admits two people, and with museum admission fees going as high as $20 per person these days, you can even afford the gas to get you there.

Here are some Illinois museums participating in Museum Day:

• Hinsdale History Museum & Historical Society, 15 S. Clay St.; (630) 789-2600; hinsdalehistory.org

Museum Day hours of operation: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Many museums contain reproductions of the past; for example, they have replicas of furnishings that might have been in a 19th-century dining room. This museum is an authentic house, circa 1874, that illustrates what life was like in Hinsdale's early days.

What's there: Guided tours help you get the most from your visit.

What's cool: The Historical Society saved the former 100-year-old Immanuel Church at 302 S. Grant from demolition, renamed it Immanuel Hall and, when renovation is complete, it will serve as an intimate, historic venue for community events.

What's nearby: Duck into Embrace Boutique and Bistro at 29 E. First St. to shop for hip clothing, accessories and home goods and sup on Champagne-poached Atlantic salmon in the dining lounge.

• Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture, 6500 S. Pulaski Road, Chicago; (773) 582-6500; balzekasmuseum.org

Museum Day hours of operation: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Developed from Stanley Balzekas' personal collection of art, armor and rare maps, this is the sole museum about Lithuanians in the Western Hemisphere.

What's there: The exhibit "Lithuania Through the Ages" presents the country's history and culture from prehistory to the present. There's a cool collection of more than 200 maps from the 16th to the 19th centuries, and 700 modern maps of Lithuania and Eastern Europe.; displays of Lithuanian coins, currency, tokens, medals and military orders; and a small Children's Museum of Immigrant History where kids can don armor and fight imaginary dragons.

What's cool: If you can't make it back for the annual Lithuanian Easter egg decoration or Christmas straw ornament construction workshops, just go to the gift shop and pick up some.

What's nearby: Little Lithuania's Seklycia, 2711 W. 71st, will make you feel as though you're in Grandma's house with super-friendly service and platters of delicious dumplings filled with mushrooms, meat or cheese. Show your worldly side and order cepelinai, a meat-filled grated potato concoction bathed in butter and bacon bits. Call (773) 476-1680 for directions.

• DuSable Museum of African American History, 740 E. 56th Place, Chicago; (773) 947-0600; dusablemuseum.org

Museum Day hours of operation: 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The first institution of its kind in the country, the DuSable Museum of African American History preserves and interprets the historical experiences and achievements of black Americans through art, history, music and more.

What's there: Explore the continent of Africa region by region in the permanent exhibition "Africa Speaks." Military history buffs will like "Red, White, Blue and Black: A History of Blacks in the Armed Forces." Don't miss "Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures: Masterpieces from the DuSable Museum Collection," which includes works by William Carter, Charles Dawson and Walter Ellison.

What's cool: The Hyde Park Jazz Festival also falls on Saturday, Sept. 27, and some of the tunes ensue right at the museum as well as other nearby venues. Stroll over to the Midway Plaisance to sample bites from food vendors including Goose Island Brewery, Robinson's Ribs and Istria Café.

What's nearby: Before the mega bookstore chains, there were sweet neighborhood book shops like 57th Street Books at 1301 E. 57th St. You'll have to work a bit to find it (it's on the ground floor of a residential building), but it offers a wonderful collection of children's books, books about Chicago and indie titles. Call (773) 684-1300.

• McCormick Freedom Museum, 445 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago; (312) 222-4860; freedommuseum.us

Museum Day hours of operation: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

With an address on the Magnificent Mile and interactive exhibits about protest movements and banned music, the teenagers will accompany you without too many sneers.

What's there: You can't get more topical than "Vote4Me! Inside a Presidential Election," an exhibit that takes you from presidential hopeful to commander in chief. See if Junior can figure out how to create an appealing platform, win important swing states and raise money in his or her quest to the White House.

What's cool: Prominent Chicagoans and several nationally acclaimed authors will read passages from their favorite banned and "challenged" books during Banned Books from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27, at Pioneer Court, right outside the Freedom Museum doors.

What's nearby: Chat about freedom of the press at the Billy Goat Tavern, across the street and under Michigan Avenue, where more than a few celebrated Chicago reporters had a beer and a burger after their stories about crooks, cops and celebs were put to bed. It's at 430 N. Michigan Ave.; (312) 222-1525.

• International Museum of Surgical Science, 1524 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago; (312) 642-6502, ext. 3130

Museum Day hours of operation: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

If you complained to your family for days after getting blood drawn, get a load of what you would have had to bear if it were 1808 instead of 2008.

What's there: Housed in an elegant, historic mansion on Lake Shore Drive, the museum is four floors of fascinating displays and extraordinary artifacts charting the history of medicine and surgery. There's also a collection of more than 600 paintings, prints and sculptures, from the macabre to the abstract, depicting specific medical procedures or events.

What's cool: Don't miss the Austrian amputation saw with reversible blade circa 1500; original X-rays taken by radiology pioneer Emil Grubbé around 1910; and the Lindbergh perfusion pump, which allowed organs to function outside the body, invented by aviator Charles Lindbergh and Nobel Prize-winning surgeon Alexis Carrel in 1935. You might want to leave the hypochondriacs at home.

What's nearby: For some real cutups, get tickets to a Second City performance, just a quick taxi ride way at Wells Street and North Avenue There's a "Best Of" revue at 4 p.m. on Saturdays. Get tickets at secondcity.com.

• Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, 756 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago; (312) 243-9088; art.org

Museum Day hours of operation: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

If you think you're just not that interested in art, try this museum that preserves, displays and studies the work of artists who aren't influenced by the mainstream art world and conform to nothing but a personal vision.

What's there: Don't miss "Finding Beauty: The Art of Lee Godie," a new exhibit that assembles the well-known Chicago street artist's colorful drawings and self-portrait photography. This is the first major retrospective since the flamboyant outside artist's death in 1994. "Sunday Painters: Discarded Paintings by Gifted Amateurs" is a fascinating collection of thrift-store paintings by unknown artists ranging from surreal to ordinary, ridiculous to sensuous.

What's cool: The gift shop has something for those quirky family members who think a tag on an item from a retail chain is the mark of the beast. You'll find art books, intuitive and outsider art from all over the world, one-of-a-kind T-shirts, toys, jewelry and peculiar pieces found nowhere else in Chicago.

What's nearby: Enjoy an entire avant garde day and take in a cutting-edge or foreign film at the Gene Siskel Film Center/School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 164 N. State St., followed by deep thoughts over coffee or wine in the gallery/café. Call the hotline at (312) 846-2800 for current titles and times.

• Joliet Area Historical Museum, 204 N. Ottawa St., Joliet; (815) 723-5201; jolietmuseum.org

Museum Day hours of operation: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Go down to the crossroads of Route 66 and Lincoln Highway and get in touch with the Route 66 experience.

What's there: "The Route 66 Experience" gives visitors a virtual feel of how Route 66 elevated the automobile to a higher place in the hearts of Americans. There's a drive-in diner that you can sit in and a drive-in movie theater where you can watch the history of Route 66.

What's cool: There are neat photo opportunities throughout the Route 66 exhibit, including statues of the Blues Brothers, and you can send a free e-mail postcard with your photo at the Free Photo Booth.

What's nearby: Check out the downtown Joliet Historic Stop Gas Pumps to continue on your Route 66-themed trip. Four pumps are located throughout downtown at various significant stops and are great photo ops. The fifth gas pump is located in Route 66 Park on Broadway Street about 10 minutes north of the museum; there, you can get an ice cream cone at the Rich and Creamy stand, play in the park gym and check out the Route 66 kiosks on display.

• Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, 3001 Central St., Evanston; (847) 475-1030; mitchellmuseum.org

Museum Day hours of operation: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The only museum in the Chicago area that focuses exclusively on the history, culture and arts of the native people of North America, the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian contains collections ranging from the Paleo-Indian period through the present day.

What's there: Permanent exhibits depict native peoples of the Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, Northwest Coast and Arctic regions of North America. Kids will gravitate toward the Touching Tables in each gallery to handle real pottery, baskets, bead work, clothing and stone tools and the raw materials that make such implements - including snakeskin, caribou fur, birch bark, turquoise and buffalo.

What's cool: There are craft classes for kids every Saturday during which they can make dream catchers, miniature woven rugs and masks. Get there early on Museum Day so the kids can create their own shields. Plus, a new exhibit opens on Saturday, Sept. 27, that displays American Indian traditional and contemporary art.

What's nearby: Just a block away, Hartigan's Ice Cream Shoppe has been serving up super sundaes and cones for years, so take the opportunity to feed your dairy devotion before winter takes over. Find it at 2909 Central St.; (847) 491-1232.

• Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, 2430 N. Cannon Drive, Chicago; (773) 755-5100; chias.org

The kid-friendly Lincoln Park science museum was way ahead of the curve in terms of teaching visitors from tots to nanas to respect and care for the environment. The nature museum's outstanding permanent and traveling exhibitions are worth the drive and ghastly lack of neighborhood parking. Make an eco day of it and take the train.

What's there: How about the region's only year-round butterfly sanctuary where you can glimpse as many as 75 species of native and exotic butterflies on any given day? Eco-kids can throw themselves into a two-story hands-on, body-on exhibit, "Hands-on Habitat," which takes them on an exploration of the secret world of animal homes.

What's cool: "Worms at Work" reveals the importance of some of the planet's smallest creatures. It's free; from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27.

What's nearby: Lincoln Park Zoo, one of the only free admission zoos in the country, is a hop, skip and a kangaroo jump away. Pack a picnic and you'll have an entire outing gratis! It's at 2001 N. Clark St.; (312) 742-2000.

• Smart Museum of Art, 5550 S. Greenwood Ave., Chicago; (773) 702-0200; smartmuseum.uchicago.edu

Museum Day hours of operation: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

It's on the brainy University of Chicago campus and it does boast a permanent collection of more than 10,000 objects, spanning five millennia of both Western and Eastern civilizations. The museum is really named for brothers David and Alfred Smart, who were the publishers of Esquire magazine.

What's there: The incredible collection includes Frank Lloyd Wright furniture; modern sculptures by Degas, Matisse, and Rodin; and 20th-century paintings and sculptures by Mark Rothko, Arthur Dove, Diego Rivera and Henry Moore.

What's cool: Families can explore the galleries and art works using a helpful Family Gallery Guide that makes exploring the collections fun. The Web site features an interactive Smart Kids guide that will get them excited to visit the museum.

What's nearby: Hyde Park Jazz Festival, also on Saturday, Sept. 27, brings a free concert to the Smart Museum of Art's outdoor sculpture garden. Take a stroll to the B Side at 1303 E. 53rd St. to leaf through nearly 20,000 albums and CDs with a jazz emphasis.

• Swedish American Museum, 5211 N. Clark St., Chicago; (773) 728-8111; samac.org

Museum Day hours of operation: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The highlight of the Swedish American Museum is the permanent exhibit, which documents the mass immigration of Swedes to the Chicago area nearly 200 years ago.

What's there: In addition to studying the permanent exhibit, you can access actual church records from parishes all over Sweden through the Nordic Family Research Center on site. At 11 a.m. on Museum Day, take a tour of the current exhibit about contemporary textile art with a docent or get a start on the holidays with unusual gifts and ornaments in the museum gift shop.

What's cool: Your surname needn't be Lindgren to enjoy the new Children's Museum of Immigration: the interactive, hands-on exhibits for ages 3 to 12 show how the story of Swedish immigration parallels that of many other groups who built new lives in the U.S.

What's nearby: Ann Sather, the grandmama of Swedish restaurants, is just a few blocks away, and if you're not in the mood for Swedish potato sausage and meatballs, go for the real roasted turkey, mashed spuds and cranberry sauce available year-round. Find it at 3416 N. Southport; (773) 404-4475.

• The Children's Museum in Oak Lawn, 9600 E. Shore Drive; (708) 423-6709; cmoaklawn.org

Museum Day hours of operation: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Good things come in small packages (just look at the little ones in your house). Even though the Oak Lawn museum is the smallest museum in the Association of Children's Museums' membership, its eight interactive exhibits have a lot of heart.

What's there: Geared for ages 2 to 10, the facility offers a puppet theater, market, construction area, water table and periscopes, plus an "Art Cart" so kids can create their own kite. Located in a beautiful park setting, there is an outdoor playground and a nearby lake with wildlife, which makes a fine place to picnic.

What's cool: The Children's Museum in Oak Lawn has big plans to expand and will occupy approximately 11,000 square feet of space on the second floor of a new train station development.

What's nearby: If the kids aren't sufficiently tuckered out, Westfield Mall in Chicago Ridge, 444 Chicago Ridge Mall, is about a five-minute drive away.

Free days besides Museum Day

It used to be that the major museums offered one free day per week, but now it's 52 random free days per year. So, as you'll see, it can be the whole month of September and then a free admission day on Halloween. They don't make it easy, but we've sorted it out for you for the remainder of 2008.

Here are the days at major Chicago museums:

• Shedd Aquarium, 1200 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago; (312) 939-2439; sheddaquarium.org

Shedd Aquarium re-opened on Sept. 5 with a grand celebration to commemorate five years of the award-winning Wild Reef. See the new narrated dive in the exhibit that highlights life on a Philippines coral shelf from a diver's perspective.

On Community Discount Days, general admission is free and packages including Wild Reef are available at a discounted rate. Those days are Mondays and Tuesdays in October, and Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays in November.

• Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago; (312) 642-4600; www.chicagohs.org

See the new "Chic Chicago" exhibit of extraordinary garments dating from 1861 to 2004.

The museum is free on Mondays.

• Adler Planetarium, 1300 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago; (312) 922-7827; adlerplanetarium.org

Catch up with the newest permanent exhibit, "Shoot for the Moon," which highlights the excitement of space exploration and America's bold plans to return to the moon. Lots of fun interactives make it good for kids and teens, too.

Museum admission is free on Mondays and Tuesdays in October and November, but you still have to pay an additional fee for shows.

• The Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago; (312) 443-3600; artic.edu

The Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Poetry Foundation and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs launch "360 Degrees: Art Beyond Borders," a yearlong celebration of cultural, social, and political life around the world.

To celebrate opening day, both the Art Institute and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, in its annual Macy's Day of Music, will offer free admission on Saturday, Sept. 27.

The Art Institute offers free general admission Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m.

• Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago; (312)280-2660; mcachicago.org

Don't miss temporary showings of Alexander Calder in Focus and Jeff Koons and his experience of Chicago (until Sunday, Oct. 26).

MCA offers free admission on Tuesdays.

• Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago; (312) 922-9410; fieldmuseum.org

Plan now to see the upcoming exhibit "The Aztec World," exploring the grandeur and complexity of one of the world's great civilizations Sunday, Oct. 26, through Sunday, April 19, 2009.

For the remainder of 2008, the museum offers free admission and free tickets to shows on the second Monday of the month (Oct. 13, Nov. 10 and Dec. 8) and there are free general admission weeks (one ends Friday, Sept. 26, and the other runs Sunday, Oct. 26, through Friday, Oct. 31).

• Chicago Children's Museum, Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Ave., Chicago; (312) 527-1000; chicagochildrensmuseum.org

What makes a circle the best shape for pizza and car wheels? Why are bubbles, the sun and the iris of your eye all circles? Get the answers at the temporary exhibit "Secrets of Circles."

The museum offers free admission Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m.

• Museum of Science and Industry, 57th and Lake Shore Drive, Chicago; (773) 684-1414; msichicago.org

No matter how old you get, you can't beat the hatching chicks and the U-505 submarine.

Enjoy free admission every weekday remaining in September plus Friday, Oct. 31; Thursday, Nov. 27, Wednesday, Dec. 24, and Wednesday, Dec. 31.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=235938">More suburban museum freebies <span class="date">[09/23/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>