Welcome to HPNL! 

In this blog we are excited to talk to Michelle Self-Ballard, HPNL’s newest staff member! Michelle started working for the unit as a Senior Library Specialist at the end of December, keeping the circulation desk running smoothly, managing our newspaper collections, supervising student assistants and helping patrons with the unit’s collections. She comes to us after many years of library experience including working at the Champaign Public Library, Grainger Engineering Library, Undergraduate Library, and the Scholarly Commons. We’re very pleased to have Michelle as part of the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library!   

  Continue reading “Welcome to HPNL! “

Zion, IL: Utopia on the Prairie

In researching context for newspapers in the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collection I came across the fascinating history of Zion, IL, formerly Zion City, which was created as a utopian community in 1901 by an evangelical and early Pentecostal faith healer named John Alexander Dowie. In its early years the city did not allow drinking, dancing, smoking, card playing, theater, or even driving more than 10 miles an hour. Zion is a small town south of Kenosha and north of Waukegan in Lake County, Illinois. It is currently home to a nuclear power plant but boasts a rich history in American religious movements and utopian city planning.  Continue reading “Zion, IL: Utopia on the Prairie”