Smithsonian is making it easy for you to be a Local Tourist. Museum Day Live! returns with free admission at museums all over the country. Smithsonian magazine has partnered with Microsoft to bring you a day of education, learning, and fun, for free!
There are more than 1200 museums participating in this free day.
You need a ticket to take advantage of the free admission, and that ticket is good for you and a guest. Make note: there can be only one. You can’t just download tickets willy-nilly. The rules state one ticket per email address, and once you select that museum, you can’t change it.
There are many participating museums in Chicago, including the Adler Planetarium. After you’ve gazed at the stars you can dive into the sea at their neighbor, the Shedd Aquarium. That lovely institution is free September 4- 30, no ticket required.
You could also take a day trip, with a quick jaunt to Galena and the U.S. Grant Museum, or see how 1920s Chicago high society lived at the Lake of the Red Cedars Museum in Cedar Lake, Indiana.
Below are the participating museums in Chicago and the surrounding area. Pick one, or go with a friend and you can each pick your favorite!
American Writers Museum
Aurora Regional Fire Museum, Aurora
Barrington History Museum, Barrington
Brauer Museum of Art, Valparaiso, IN
DuSable Museum of African American History
Geneva History Museum, Geneva
Hoosier Grove Museum, Streamwood
Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art
Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art, Elmhurst
Mayslake Peabody Estate, Oak Brook
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
National A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum
National Hellenic Museum
National Museum of the American Sailor, Great Lakes
SciTech Hands On Museum, Aurora
Smart Museum of Art (free every day)
Stacy’s Tavern Museum, Glen Ellyn
Swedish American Museum
The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
Willowbrook Wildlife Center, Glen Ellyn