City of Elmhurst

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Museum Collections

The Elmhurst Historical Museum collections are a variety of materials divided into two categories: Artifacts and Archives. Archives are biographical, archival, and photographic holdings that are detailed under our manuscript and research collections. Artifacts are three-dimensional materials including furniture, textiles, souvenirs, decorative arts, household goods, paintings, drawings, prints and other materials from the everyday life of Elmhurst residents. Both categories have information and materials to see and enjoy. The Feature Artifact highlights a new item or group of items in the Artifact collection. The Historic Highlight gives historic backgrounds, images and documents relating to archival materials in the collection.

Artifacts from "Mansion to Museum"

EHM Research Room

Collecting Objects/Donations

The Elmhurst Historical Museum cannot collect everything ever made or used in Elmhurst. But we do want to have the best representation of the various time periods of our town. To accomplish this a formal Collection Policy states how we evaluate what to collect and a Collection Manual documents how to care for objects. Each suggested donation is carefully reviewed. We consider not only if there is room to store it, but also our ability to care for it and protect it for use by future generations. We are especially interested in collecting items from the 1950s to 1990s. This was a time of great growth in Elmhurst with new subdivisions, changes in the density of the population, and the addition of new immigrant groups to the community.

If you have items which you feel the museum would be interested in receiving, please contact the curator or archivist. You can do so via e-mail or call (630) 833-1457.

If you have questions about the Artifact Collection of the Elmhurst Historical Museum, contact:

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