Vice President for Interpretation & Education
EXPERTISE: John Russick’s area of expertise includes but is not limited to the following Chicago topics: Architecture; crime; sports; Prohibition; The Great Chicago Fire; music.
EXPERIENCE: Chicago History Museum (VP for Interpretation & Education 2015-present, Director of Curatorial Affairs, 2011-2015, Senior Curator, 2008-2010, Curator, 2003-2008, Exhibit Developer, 1998-2003); Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara, Turkey (Exhibit Developer and Designer); Texas Memorial Museum (Exhibit Developer); Texas State Preservation Board (Exhibits Coordinator); National Museum of American History (Exhibits Coordinator); Field Museum of Natural History (Exhibition Specialist).
EDUCATION: M.S., Architectural Studies, University of Texas at Austin, 1996, Specialization: Historic Preservation; B.A., History; Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, 1987.
John Russick directs the development of interpreted experiences for the Museum. Since arriving in 1998, Russick has developed a host of exhibitions including, The Secret Lives of Objects (2015), Magic (2012), My Chinatown (2009); Mapping Chicago: The Past and the Possible (2007); The Museum’s children’s gallery, Sensing Chicago, which received an honorable mention in the 2007 Association of American Museums’ exhibition competition (2006); Imagining Chicago, The Dioramas (2006); Leopold and Loeb: The “Perfect” Crime (2004); Fashion, Flappers ‘n All That Jazz (2001); Out of the Loop: Neighborhood Voices (2001); and That’s Good News! Chicago and the Birth of Gospel Music (1999).
His most recent publication, A Place For Everything, was released on Medium in 2014, https://medium.com/@johnrussick64/a-place-for-everything-6bb881c2cbe3 as part of the CODE-WORDS project. Other recent publications include Connecting Kids to History with Museum Exhibitions (Left Coast Press), released in February 2010, a chapter in Sports in Chicago, University of Illinois Press, edited by Elliott Gorn (2008), and Historic Photos of Chicago Crime: The Capone Era, Turner Publishing (2007), which features nearly 200 images from the Chicago History Museum’s photography collection.
