Space, time, rest, and the human connection: The Jane Addams Hull-House Museum Bedroom Project

“Jane Addams is smiling somewhere from above,” wrote Liesl Olson, Director of the Hull-House Museum and Honors College Faculty Fellow. This past fall semester, the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum ran the Bedroom Project, where students could set up an appointment and take one hour to rest in the bedroom of Chicago’s most famous social reformer.

Before the University of Illinois Chicago overlooked Halsted Street, there was the Hull-House Settlement. Run by Jane Addams, the first settlement house in Chicago operated as a center for improving social conditions. Alongside that, she also advocated for better worker’s rights, including shorter workdays. The importance of rest was not lost on Jane Addams; that is especially true for students here and now. As the school year goes on, many students may experience burnout. Many Honors College students, especially those working on their Capstone projects, might find themselves rushed or overwhelmed, and they may find a particular benefit to programs like the Bedroom Project. When you feel so stressed about anything and everything, that is when it is most important to take a moment to rest and recuperate.

Liesl Olson, who oversaw this project, felt that this project was incredibly important for students. It was clear that students found value in this project, as they had a moment to reflect on their experiences. Not only was it beneficial to students, but Olson and the other museum workers did also appreciate the reflections: “The students who have come to rest, and who have never before been inside the museum—they are the best part of the project. What an incredible way to first experience the legacy of Jane Addams! The notes that students have left in the Bedroom Project’s journal have been truly moving, and attest to the value of finding time and rest for oneself.”

If there was one thing that Olson wanted students to take away from their experience, it was for the students to be able to, “leave with a deeper sense of the historical connections between their struggles (for space, time, rest, and human connection) and the work of Jane Addams…This project is definitely about the primacy of sensory experience as a way of entering into conversations about history.”

As the fall semester of 2023 comes to an end, so too will the Bedroom Project. Though currently there are no plans to continue this project, Olson is open to the possibility. Even if you cannot sleep in Addams’s bedroom, that should not stop you from finding your own place to rest in the world. Sometimes a moment of rest allows you to see things in a different light.

“Sometimes historical connections can be felt before they can be fully understood…”