Exhibit on Chicago's Polish immigrant history set to open May 20
CHICAGO (CBS) – You've probably heard people say that Chicago is the second-biggest city for the Polish community outside Warsaw, Poland.
Pulaski Day is a city holiday after all. CBS 2's Lauren Victory took us behind the scenes of a new opportunity to learn some Chicago immigration history.
The Back Home: Polish Chicago Exhibit is coming so soon, only a few tricky tasks remain, like getting the lights just right.
Measurements are needed to preserve historical artifacts like a wedding dress from 1947. It's made from U.S. Army surplus parachutes. The Polish bride and groom met at a Nazi labor camp.
Curator Peter Alter told CBS 2 that planning for this Chicago History Museum exhibit began in 2015.
Victory: "What's your favorite part about this room?"
Alter: "I really like this trunk here."
Research teams spent years gathering oral histories from Polish immigrants.
"People who have experienced the struggles of adapting to a new country, finding a new job, learning a new language," Alter said.
Interviews helped shape the entire display, with 150 years of immigration hardships and victories represented.
"There were even moments in doing this work where I was like, 'Oh I understand what my parents went through,'" said Joanna Bak.
Bak, a Polish-American, works as a curatorial assistant on the project and now, she'll lead tours pointing out tiny details in the huge pieces created by local Polish artists.
"All of the wonderful references to the Polish community and little Easter eggs that they put in there," Bak said.
But also don't miss what didn't make it inside, like a plaque.
"We discovered that it was too big to fit in the exhibition, so we put it on the outside wall, but to put it on the outside wall, that wall had to be reinforced," Alter said.
Installation alone has taken 18 months. The hard work - to show the hard work of Chicago's Polish community, will finish soon.
Opening day is May 20.
