Archives Bazaar: All Aboard the Preservation Train

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Preserving Railroad History: An Invitation

Since 2017, The Urbana Free Library has hosted an event called the Archives Bazaar, where cultural heritage organizations from the Champaign-Urbana area—including special collections libraries, historical societies, archives, museums, and independent collectors—congregate to exhibit materials found in their collections. Archives bazaars exist to promote the preservation of our cultural heritage and to promote the use of archival collections by highlighting popular, “hidden,” or interesting collections within an institution. Bazaars are a chance for organizations and repositories to leave the stacks and connect with people in the community (not just the scholarly researchers one may think of when one thinks of archives!). It’s a way for us to say, enthusiastically, “Isn’t preserving history neat?” and “Please come use our collections!”

This year, The Urbana Free Library’s Archives Bazaar has a central theme on the history of the Illinois Central Railroad. 2024 marks the 100-year anniversary of the Illinois Central depot in Champaign, Illinois. The Illinois Newspaper Project, jointly administered by HPNL and the University Library’s Preservation Services Unit, will table at the Bazaar to showcase the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections (IDNC) and to promote our newly-published (and very first!) research guide featuring articles about the Illinois Central Railroad found in the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections. Continue reading “Archives Bazaar: All Aboard the Preservation Train” →

Asking Abby: A Brief Exploration of Advice Columns

Posted on by Jena Vallina

One of the many benefits of working at a newspaper library is the ability to acquaint myself with the tremendous archive of historical newspapers available on both microfilm and online databases. These newspapers, ranging from local papers to underground zines to major titles like the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, offer valuable insight into the cultural climate of their time period. For me, the most fascinating section of the paper is not always found under the front page headline. Often, it is situated far from the land of hard-hitting journalism, politics, and foreign affairs, somewhere closer to the crossword puzzle and the funnies. I speak, of course, of the advice column.

Continue reading “Asking Abby: A Brief Exploration of Advice Columns” →

The United States of Paranoia

Posted on by Kimberly Lerch

 

“There is nothing new under the sun.”  — Ecclesiastes 1:9

An attempt has been made on the President’s life, but the would-be assassin doesn’t complete his task. Soon after the incident, it is reported to the public that he’s just a crazy lone gunman. Murmurs. It is said that the gunman was in cahoots with the President’s political opponents, so an investigation is initiated. The President himself asserts that the shooter was probably hired by one or more members of the other party. The opposition counters by announcing that the shooting was staged to garner public sympathy for the President. Others blame the opposing party’s inflammatory comments made prior to the act for inciting it. Continue reading “The United States of Paranoia” →

A bit of and a bite at “The Boston Evening Transcript”

Posted on by Geoffrey Ross
The readers of the Boston Evening Transcript / Sway in the wind like a field of ripe corn.
From: T.S. Eliot, “The Boston Evening Transcript,” Poetry 7, no. 1 (October 1915): 21.

I like these first two lines from T.S. Eliot’s poem, “The Boston Evening Transcript.” I’ve clipped them (sort of) from the issue of Poetry magazine in which the poem first was published. Probably it’s a little strange that I should like them, because I don’t think he meant them to be lovely. Continue reading “A bit of and a bite at “The Boston Evening Transcript”” →

Call for Applications: 2024-2025 Research Travel Grant

Posted on by Celestina Savonius-Wroth

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Library and the Department of History are pleased to announce the 2024-2025 Research Travel Grant to support scholars conducting research in any of the Library’s collections.

The University Library is one of the largest research libraries in the U.S., holding more than 14 million volumes and 24 million other items and materials in all formats, languages, and subjects. Special collections include the papers of literary figures such as Marcel Proust, H.G. Wells, Carl Sandburg and Gwendolyn Brooks, extensive collections of Slavic and East European materials and of materials documenting the history of science, technology, international agricultural programs, and librarianship, the premier collection on international amateur sports and the Olympics, and a unique collection of sub-Saharan African research materials. Travel grant recipients will also have access to the Library’s digital collections (including journal subscriptions and licensed databases) during their stay.

For more information about the Library’s collections, see: https://www.library.illinois.edu/collections/special-collections

Travel grant awards typically range from $1,000 to $2,500 per recipient. Funds may be applied toward round-trip travel, and accommodations and expenses in Urbana-Champaign, IL.

Continue reading “Call for Applications: 2024-2025 Research Travel Grant” →

The Newspaper and Its Disjecta Membra

Posted on by Geoffrey Ross

 

“If scrapbooks can be distilled to one overarching interpretive theme, it is that of rupture.”

“What could be more emblematic of the fractured narratives of modernity than scrapbooks?”

“[An] excess of fragments that burst the bindings and bulge the pages.”

“How then do we read these fragments as cultural artifacts?”1

Newspaper clippings were frequently pasted into scrapbooks, and sometimes, as in the case of the scrapbook shown here, compose the entirety of the scrapbook’s contents: Continue reading “The Newspaper and Its Disjecta Membra” →

Taxing Times: The Trials and Tribulations of Tax Resistance

Posted on by Rebecca Stover

Greetings on Tax Day, whether you’ve filed early or are digging up your W2 form this morning. In homage to one of life’s certainties, let’s delve into the history of tax resistance and rebellion through resources available at the University of Illinois Library, focusing on materials from HPNL.

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Oppenheimer: Igniting Interest in History

Posted on by Michelle Self-Ballard

I was late to the Oppenheimer bandwagon. I did not get the chance to see the movie until it was available for streaming. I admit, it would have been amazing to see the film on the big screen, but I was also glad to be able to split the long, 180-minute movie up in two days so that I could really enjoy and focus on the movie. I was happy that I watched the movie before the Academy Awards Ceremony. Continue reading “Oppenheimer: Igniting Interest in History” →