From Jamie’s Archive: History & Legacy Programs

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In Good Company. From the program archive. From My Mother to You, Chicago Cultural Center Women’s History Program in 1996. Jamie hosted a family concert, 100 years of musical theater, honoring her mother, singer/director Winifred O’Reilly. (Win’s work is also featured in this circular with Primus Theater. Poet Gwendolyn Brooks is seen at the top of the page.) In 1993 Jamie was the featured performer for the centenary of the World Columbian Exposition of 1893. Both program’s drew capacity crowds in the magnificent Preston Bradley Hall. Jamie was Vice President of the Friends of the Chicago Cultural Center for five years from its inception in 1991.

Chicago Cultural Center staircase

The landmark building opened in 1897 as the city’s central library, and Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) meeting hall and memorial.

Listen to the O’Reilly family sing I See the Moon, Bridget O’Reilly’s poems opens the song.

Jamie’s Chicago History Programs, sample list: Voices of Old Chicago Project, In Old Chicago: Songs and Stories of a Beloved City, Irish Music in America Cultural Forum, Irish Vaudeville Concert, Songs in The Parlor 1890-1930, Chicago ‘93: Centenary of The Columbian Exposition, Prairie Passage: Illinois Michigan Canal Sesquicentennial, Facing History: The Irish & the Famine

Chicago Reader archive article: Chi LIves:
https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/chi-lives-life-of-oreilly/