The IDHH rings in the season of Summer featuring a remarkable Illinois outdoor attraction, courtesy of the Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County.
Being a landlocked state, Illinois is not known for seaside attractions. Illinois is, however, home to one of the largest bodies of water in North America, Lake Michigan, along which sits the Illinois Beach State Park and the Illinois Beach and North Dunes Nature Preserves. Pictured below are images provided courtesy of the Dunn Museum’s Lake County History in Postcards. The location is just an hour’s drive north of Chicago.
Illinois Beach State Park, Zion, Illinois. 1950. Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County (IL). Illinois History in Postcards. Permission to display was given by Bess Bower Dunn Museum.
Illinois Beach State Park. 1960. Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County (IL). Illinois History in Postcards. Permission to display was given by Bess Bower Dunn Museum.
Illinois Beach Lodge, Illinois Beach State Park, Zion, Illinois. 1962. Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County (IL). Illinois History in Postcards. Permission to display was given by Bess Bower Dunn Museum.
The IDHH celebrates Father’s Day by highlighting families of performers from Illinois State University’s Passion for Circus collection. Captured by photographer, Sverre “Bex” Braathen, the photographs are from a collection of nearly 10,000 that includes thousands of black and white photographs from the 1930s and thousands more color photos from the 1940s and 1950s from circuses all around the United States.
Below is a selection of several father-daughter and father-son acts, Alfred, Sr. and Alfred, Jr. Burton from the Ringling Barnum Circus, the Naitto family, Ala and his daughters, Nio and Margie, also of Ringling, and Ernest and Ernestine Clarke of the Tom Mix Circus. The Burtons performed balancing acts on high pedestals. The Naittos were high wire and tightrope performers. The Clarkes performed floor routines. Ernest was famous as a somersaulting leaper in his own Clarkonian Flying act of the Ringling Brothers circus.
Father and Son Performers. July 1955. Illinois State University. Passion for Circus. Permission to display was given by Illinois State University.
Naittos Tight Wire Performers. September 1942. Illinois State University. Passion for Circus. Permission to display was given by Illinois State University.
Father and Daughter Performers in Wardrobe. July 1938. Illinois State University. Passion for Circus. Permission to display was given by Illinois State University.
Finally, several images capture Astrid and Ernst “Franklin” Schlichting of the Ringling Barnum Circus. Astrid, thirteen years old, performs hand balancing routines with her father, acts that require tremendous strength and concentration.
Father and Daughter Performers. July 1950. Illinois State University. Passion for Circus. Permission to display was given by Illinois State University.
Hand Balancers in Action. July 1950. Illinois State University. Passion for Circus. Permission to display was given by Illinois State University.
Hand Balancers in Action. July 1950. Illinois State University. Passion for Circus. Permission to display was given by Illinois State University.