Past Events

  • Veterans and Their Families: Mental Health Matters

    The Pritzker Military Museum and Library honors the service and sacrifice of our veterans and their families with Mental Health Matters-a special day focused on resources for mental health and wellness with family activities including art therapy, pet therapy, yoga therapy, and more. Be sure to bring your children to enjoy a reading of Mathius Carter’s book, Instead of Sheep, A Soldier’s Way of Explaining PTSD to His Son and refreshments at 11:30 am. The day concludes with a panel discussion around the history of PTSD in the US military with mental health experts and veterans at 2:30 pm.

  • Commemorating the Yom Kippur War and US Israel Relations

    Join the Pritzker Military Museum and Library to discuss the impact and significance of the Yom Kippur War after 50 years from the modernization of warfare to current US-Israel Relations. The Yom Kippur War is still taught in US Army training today and influenced the adoption of the AirLand Battle Doctrine. The panel includes U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, April Jenkins, Major General Nadav Padan, 34-year veteran of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and Yinam Cohen, Consul General of Israel to the Midwest. Moderating this accomplished panel is Arthur Cyr, author, professor and former vice president of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations.

    *Livestream option available

  • Violins of Hope

    Join the us for this special one-day-only exhibit and programs with the JCC Chicago’s Violins of Hope to explore the stories of Jewish musicians and their violins, violas, and cellos from before and during World War II. Musicians of any age can sign up to play these historic instruments throughout the afternoon. Visitors can explore a temporary exhibition of historical instruments, join a lunchtime discussion with Pastor Chris Edmonds, attend an evening reception with a live performance, and partake in an intimate conversation with Avshi Weinstein, co-founder of Violins of Hope.

  • Our Promise: 100 Years of the American Battle Monuments Commission

    5:00 PM CST: Reception

    6:00 PM CST: Premiere and Discussion

    Join the PMML and ABMC for the Midwest premiere of documentary, Our Promise: 100 Years of the American Battle Monuments Commission. The reception beings at 5:00 pm and the film followed by moderated discussion and audience Q&A begins at 6:00 pm in-person and livestreamed. Our Promise shares the story of ABMC in a powerful history that captures the beauty and the breadth of this essential work. The American Battle Monuments Commission, a Federal agency serves as guardian of America's military cemeteries and memorials in 17 countries, upholding nation's promise to forever honor all those who served.

    Introductions: PMML President, Dr. Krewasky Salter​ & ABMC Commissioner Amy Looney Heffernan​

    Moderator: Mike Knapp 

    Panelists: Commissioner Amy Looney Heffernan, Superintendent Carly Mathieu, Gretchen Wronka (NOK)​

  • Honor Memorial Day at PMML

    10:00 AM - 4:00 PM - Free Admission & Programs

    10:15 AM - 12:15 PM - Caricaturist

    10:30 AM - Medal for My Hero Family Workshop (in-person, registration required)

    2:30 PM - Global Strategy Briefing with US. Army Colonel Timothy J. MacDonald (hybrid program: in-person and virtual options available, registration required)

    Join us Saturday May 27th from 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM for a special Memorial Day celebration: explore our new exhibit, Tet and the Battle of Hue, try your hand at our family craft activities, step into the Story Station to record your Memorial Day message, or take a selfie with Rosie the Riveter and watch the award-winning virtual tour of, Drawn to Combat: Bill Mauldin and the Art of War! At 10:30 AM, make a medal for someone special in your life at our family workshop and at 2:30 PM meet U.S. Army Col. Timothy J. MacDonald for a briefing on the U.S. military strategy for rising concerns with Russia and China in Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific, and Africa. 

    A great line up for all ages to honor our fallen servicemen and women.

  • Member Event for State of the Museum

    MEMBERS ONLY EVENT: As members of the Pritzker Military Museum & Library, we want to keep you up-to-date on the happenings of the Museum & Library. This special member event (which can be attended in-person or via livestream) is for YOU to hear directly from our President, Dr. Krewasky A. Salter, on the future of the PMML as we move into our 20th year and beyond.

    This event will take place from 12pm-1:30pm on May 15th, 2023. The presentation and lunch will be held in the 3rd Floor Gallery.

  • The U.S.-Saudi Relationship and Israel's Move to CENTCOM

    Join the Pritzker Military Museum and Library (PMML) and The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) for an evening reception and program featuring Vice Admiral Mark I. Fox, USN (ret.) discussing the benefits of Israel joining CENTCOM and his perspective on the U.S.-Saudi relationship from his participation in the JINSA fact finding trip to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

  • Tet and the Battle of Hue: Exhibit Preview and Reflecting on the Vietnam War 55 Years Later

    Join us on Monday, May 15th for an exclusive preview of our new temporary exhibit, Tet and the Battle of Hue displaying historic photographs captured by Stars and Stripes photographer John Olson and 3-D tactile models and audio describing the bloodiest battle of the Tet Offensive that changed the course of the Vietnam War.

    The event begins at 6:00 pm with a panel discussion and Q&A featuring John Olson and Battle of Hue veterans, Myron Harrington and A.B. Grantham, moderated by Max Lederer of the Stars and Stripes. After the program, mingle through the exhibit with the panelists to learn more from their recollections of the Vietnam War 55 years later.

  • Global Strategy Briefing with US. Army Colonel Timothy J. MacDonald

    Meet U.S. Army Col. Timothy J. MacDonald for a briefing on the U.S. military strategy for rising concerns with Russia and China in Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific, and Africa.

  • Colby Award Winner: Wesley Morgan

    The PMML is pleased to introduce Wesley Morgan, military affairs reporter, and Colby award-winning author to discuss his book: The Hardest Place: The American Military Adrift in Afghanistan's Pech Valley. Morgan unravels the history the U.S. troops didn’t know, captures the culture and reality of the war through both American and Afghan eyes, and reports on the snowballing American missteps that made each unit’s job harder than the last as storied outfits like Marines, paratroopers, Rangers, Green Berets, and SEALs all took their turn over nearly two decades.

  • Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour with Andre Frattino, Kate Kasenow, and Janice Chiang

    Tokyo Rose, the seductress of the airwaves, charming and demoralizing the Allies with every broadcast. Her sultry tones were the ultimate WWII propaganda weapon, but who was she really? Tokyo Rose - Zero Hour is a riveting graphic novel that tells the true story of this much maligned woman. Join us and the International Spy Museum for a conversation with the author Andre Frattino, the illustrator Kate Kasenow, and the letterer Janice Chiang.

  • PMML Book Club: The Russia House

    At a small British trade fair in Moscow, a message of global importance is made up of three very fragile human links: a Soviet physicist (code name Bluebird) burdened with a secret knowledge; a beautiful young Russian woman to whom the papers are entrusted; and Barley Blair, a bewildered English publisher pressed into service by British Intelligence to ferret out the source of the document. A magnificent story of love, betrayal, and courage. Join the PMML Book Club as we discuss John le Carré's The Russia House.

  • Propaganda Posters for the Modern Day: An Exhibition of Original Artwork by the Students at Columbia College

    Join us at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library on Thursday, March 23rd at 5:00 PM for a hour-long reception celebrating the opening of a temporary, juried art exhibition of propaganda posters designed by students at Columbia College’s Illustration Department. The exhibit features original artwork that address a variety of topics while capturing the attention-grabbing, emotion-stirring spirit that defines great military propaganda posters. Explore the exhibit and meet the artists and following the reception, at 6:00 PM, join us for a special moderated panel discussion with the creators of the top three submissions.

  • Persuasion on the Page: The Art of Propaganda Poetry

    Join us at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library on Saturday, March 18th from 1:00-3:00 pm for a poetry workshop, where three talented poets from the Chicago-based organization Poems While You Wait will demonstrate how to channel the persuasive power of WWI propaganda poetry into poems about any topic. Explore what made the propaganda poems of WWI so impactful, experience a performance of improvisational poetry, and craft a poem alongside professional poets Kathleen Rooney, Andrea Rehani, and Alex Berge.