
Online Exhibits Guide
Use this list as a guide for your next adventure at local and world-class cultural institutions
Travel to different museums and visit exhibits from the comfort of your home. Try out interactive resources and online programming to stay connected with and expand your learning communities. This list is compiled by Programs & Exhibits staff and covers resources for children, caregivers and adults.
For information about the library exhibits, visit Exhibits.
Museum and Cultural Institutions (listed in alphabetical order)
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Online resources keep you connected with all things space!
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The Let's Do Science playlist and Celestial Story Time video from the Adler Planetarium's YouTube channel share more science and space-inspired learning opportunities.
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The Busy Beaver Button Museum's blog features compelling stories that reveal how people commemorated noteworthy times in their lives by creating and collecting wearable mementos.
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Virtual Hub includes all of their online offerings, from blogs to podcasts to virtual exhibits and more, celebrating American writing on the device of your choice.
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Peruse the Art Institute of Chicago’s digital collections.
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Virtual Visit provides a variety of multimedia resources, including videos and interactive features about works of art.
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JourneyMaker allows families to explore the collection together, create custom "journeys" through the collection and engage in activities inspired by works of art. It was designed for in-museum use but can be used at home for imagined adventures to the museum.
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Google Arts & Culture shows more than 500 digital images of the Art Institute of Chicago's most famous artworks.
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Bringing The Play Zoo To You! is a video series where young children can celebrate wildlife and nature even from home.
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CAC@Home is a mini magazine featuring archival video, reading material and fun for families. Visitors can also subscribe to receive upcoming issues.
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Check out Recipes for Play at Home to recreate the museum experience at home with activities such as chalk painting, muffin tin crayons and shadow puppets.
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Parenting Playbook is a blog filled with more at-home ideas for young children.
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Chicago History at Home is a blog that makes learning about history family-friendly through a variety of activities.
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Google Arts & Culture includes 11 online exhibits with topics such as Chicago: Law and Disorder, Chicago and the Great War, Ride Around Chicago: A City in Transition and more.
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From scholarly podcasts to Shakespeare-inspired playlists to a web series featuring the ABLE Ensemble, SHAKES@HOME has the Shakespeare enthusiast covered at home.
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CSO Sounds & Stories Archives brings you nearly daily musical programs.
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Great Ideas of Humanity records great ideas since 1975.
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View the museum’s current exhibit, Eternal Light: The Sacred Stained-Glass Windows of Louis Comfort Tiffany.
DuSable Museum of African American History
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The Google Arts & Culture page includes the Freedom, Resistance and the Journey Toward Equality exhibit, which traces the legacy of black history in America through various artifacts and artworks on display within the museum.
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Learning Resources Hub features lesson plans, activities, games, and more and is divided by grade levels and topics.
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The Brain Scoop is an educational YouTube channel that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the Field’s collection presented by Curiosity Correspondent Emily Grasile.
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Meet Máximo the Titanosaur - virtually meet the largest dinosaur that ever lived and ask him questions.
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New digital tours are added regularly, with options for individual visitors and the whole family. Use your smartphone or tablet to navigate at your own pace.
Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center
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Virtual museum includes audio tours, a digital artifacts collection and documentaries.
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Several Facebook Live series happen throughout the week including Coffee with a Survivor and Stories with Susan.
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The Google Arts & Culture site includes two exhibits, Founding an American Bauhaus and 50 Years Bauhaus, 1969.
International Museum of Surgical Science
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Online exhibitions highlight the museum’s popular exhibitions.
Intuit: The Center for Intuitive & Outsider Art
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The Henry Darger Room Virtual Tour brings you to the creative work of Chicago’s most famous outsider artist Henry Darger and other related educational resources.
- Jane Addams Hull-House Museum has partnered with Gail Borden Public Library District, Schaumburg Township District Library, Aurora Public Library, Arlington Heights Memorial Library and Reaching Across Illinois Library System (RAILS) to pilot new Virtual Tours at Hull-House.
- Why Women Should Vote is a virtual exhibit that explores the widespread grassroots national movement organized by American women demanding the right to vote and to be recognized as full citizens in the United States.
- True Peace: The Presence of Justice spotlights the organizing legacy of women, women of color and queer communities of color featuring artist-activist Monica Trinidad and Sarah-Ji.
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With AnimeChicago and the Japanese Culture Center, the Japanese Arts Foundation invites you to explore Japanese art and pop culture at home through music, drawing and more with their Tokyo House Party.
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Kohl Kids Live! and other activities for kids are featured on YouTube.
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Lyric Lately is a blog where you can find enlightening articles, exclusive artist interviews, behind-the-scenes photos, engaging videos and more.
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Vanishing Acts: Trees Under Threat is a digital exhibit that includes downloadable interpretive panels and ready-to-use program ideas, with content that appeals to all ages.
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Learning resources are created by and for teachers, youth, families and other members of the MCA Learning Community.
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MCA Dialogue series features eminent speakers, panel discussions and open dialogue between arts professionals. Find recordings of all past events.
Museum of Contemporary Photography
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The museum’s Photos at Noon series has become Photos at Zoom, a weekly recorded Zoom series exploring topics related to photography.
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View the museum’s digital exhibitions.
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Science at Home includes a variety of science activities, videos and games inspired by the museum’s collections.
National Museum of Mexican Art
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At-home activities range from coloring sheets and word searches to DIY projects.
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Its Google Arts & Culture page includes seven online exhibits produced in Spanish.
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Newberry Transcribe allows you to transcribe letters and diaries for historical research.
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Curt Teich Postcard Archives Digital Collection is a trove of more than a half-million postcard pictures from around the world.
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Take a road trip across America or cheer up a friend with an eCard.
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The Oriental Institute's online resources feature at-home activities, virtual events and digital collections at the museum.
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This virtual scavenger hunt helps you learn about the history of wine within the ancient Middle East.
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Check out this list of board games - 10 contemporary games inspired by the ancient Middle East.
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Its Google Arts & Culture page includes six online exhibits on hieroglyphics, magic, doing business in the ancient world, Persepolis, the Book of the Dead and more.
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Wonder at Home archives emails with educational resources for parents and caregivers to fill their child’s day with nature and science activities.
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Biodiversity at Risk is an online exhibit in Google Arts & Culture that explores the human impact on biodiversity via photos of species that are either at risk of extinction or already extinct.
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Poems of Hope and Resilience includes dozens of poems by diverse poets.
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Rogers Park’s Mile of Murals is viewable online–take a tour of the neighborhood!
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Sea Curious is a YouTube series that features various questions kids ask about animals.
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Free audio guides share stories about some of the aquarium’s most memorable species.
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Smart at Home is a virtual version of the museum’s family days, offering videos of art-making ideas created by artist and educator Erik L. Peterson.
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Explore the archive by topic, people, date or keyword. Themes include architecture, rock music, poetry and the intricacies of the labor movement.
Google Arts and Culture Online Exhibits
Google’s incredible and expansive Arts and Culture tool will keep you busy for hours and days. This free and open-access platform offers high-quality online exhibits curated by leading experts in different subjects locally and internationally.
Want More?
Museum Computer Network (MCN)’s Ultimate Guide to Virtual Museum Resources, E-Learning, and Online Collections offers an extensive list of art, culture, and resources for history buffs. This comprehensive list includes open content of museum resources around the globe.
Travel and Leisure has a list of additional art museums around the world that you can access from home in the coming weeks.
#ColorOurCollections has hundreds of images from international museums that you can print and color at home.
Share With Us!
This guide will be reviewed and updated by library staff, though content and links maintained by the recommended museums and cultural institutions may occasionally become out of date. Please let us know if you find out-of-date content. Or, if you’d like to recommend a museum resource be considered as an addition to this guide, email programs@ahml.info.