Author: Megan Pearson

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Celebrating Women’s History in IDHH Collections

The IDHH contains some content that may be harmful or difficult to view. Our cultural heritage partners collect materials from history, as well as artifacts from many cultures and time periods, to preserve and make available the historical record. Please view the Digital Public Library of America’s (DPLA) Statement on Potentially Harmful Content for further information.

In recognition of Women’s History Month, the IDHH would like to highlight several collections from our contributors and curated searches of IDHH items that tell different stories about the history of women in Illinois:

    • Jane Addams: explore photographs and documents related to Jane Addams, social reformer, and settlement and women’s suffrage activist, who co-founded Chicago-settlement Hull House in 1889 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.
    • Gwendolyn Brooks: explore photographs related to Gwendolyn Brooks, Poet Laureate of Illinois and the first African American poet to win the Pulitzer Prize.
    • The Creative Woman (Governors State University): a collection containing issues of GSU’s quarterly feminist journal The Creative Woman,  which featured articles, essays, and creative writings on the lives and experiences of women.
    • The Woman’s Study Club of Joliet (Lewis University): a collection containing documents and records of the Women’s Study Club of Joliet, a club with the goal of educating women members which grew from the Columbian Clubs and The Woman’s Building organized by Bertha Palmer for the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition.

You can also visit the IDHH’s Digital Exhibits to learn about the life and career of two turn-of-the-twentieth-century Illinois women: Rachel Crothers, a playwright from Bloomington, Illinois, and Fanny Butcher,  Literary Editor at the Chicago Tribune.

You can also view the IDHH’s previous posts with topics related to Women’s History Month:

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Celebrating Black History in IDHH Collections

The IDHH contains some content that may be harmful or difficult to view. Our cultural heritage partners collect materials from history, as well as artifacts from many cultures and time periods, to preserve and make available the historical record. Please view the Digital Public Library of America’s (DPLA) Statement on Potentially Harmful Content for further information.

In recognition of Black History Month, the IDHH would like to highlight several collections from our contributors and curated searches of IDHH items that tell different stories about the history of Black people in Illinois:

    • Gwendolyn Brooks: explore photographs related to Gwendolyn Brooks, Poet Laureate of Illinois and the first African American poet to win the Pulitzer Prize.
    • EBR African American Cultural Life (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville): a collection containing photographs, posters, and pamphlets centered around Eugene B. Redmond, Poet Laureate of East St. Louis whose work is connected to the Black Arts Movement and Professor Emeritus at SIUE.
    • EBR Million Man March (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville): a collection containing photographs about the Million Man March, a demonstration by Black men marching to Washington on October 16, 1995,  and its second Anniversary celebration.
    • Timuel D. Black, Jr., Digital Collection (Chicago Public Library): a collection containing handwritten and typed letters and speeches by Timuel D. Black, Jr., civil rights activist, educator, and historian of Black life and politics in Chicago.

You can also learn more about Mayor Harold Washington, the first Black Mayor of Chicago, through the IDHH’s Digital Exhibit on Mayor Washington and Primary Source Set on Mayor Washington.

You can also view the IDHH’s previous Black History Month posts:

 

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IDHH Welcomes New Contributor, Chicago Theological Seminary!

With our most recent harvest, the IDHH welcomes a new contributor, Chicago Theological Seminary! Established in 1855, Chicago Theological Seminary is a multi-faith seminary affiliated with the United Church of Christ and committed to “racial and social justice, to gender equality and LGBTQ rights, and to deep interreligious engagement.”¹ This new contributor shares with the IDHH two new collections: Triennial Conventions and Challenge and Response.

Triennial Conventions features the minutes and proceedings of the Triennial Conventions, a convention of the Ministers and Delegates of the Congregational Churches in the Midwest held every three years in association with the Chicago Theological Seminary. The collection contains the Triennial Conventions from 1858 through 1930.

Title page of the proceedings of the 1st Triennial Convention in October 1858
1st Triennial Convention, October 1858 [page 2]. 1858. Chicago Theological Seminary. Triennial Conventions. Courtesy of Chicago Theological Seminary.
Minutes page of the proceedings of the 1st Triennial Convention in October 1858
1st Triennial Convention, October 1858 [page 4]. 1858. Chicago Theological Seminary. Triennial Conventions. Courtesy of Chicago Theological Seminary.
Challenge and Response features the flagship magazine, Challenge & Response, published by the CTS Office of Advancement beginning in 2012. The magazine publishes news from the seminary faculty and staff, as well as students and alums.

Cover of Chicago Theological Seminary's Challenge & Response Fall 2012 magazine
Challenge & Response Fall 2012 [page 1]. 2012. Chicago Theological Seminary. Challenge and Response. Courtesy of Chicago Theological Seminary.
¹ From Chicago Theological Seminary’s Statement of Mission & Commitments.

Want to see more?

Visit the IDHH to view all items from Chicago Theological Seminary.

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New IDHH Collections from Des Plaines Public Library

With our most recent harvest, the IDHH has added nine new collections! Today we’re highlighting two collections from the Des Plaines Public Library: City of Destiny and Greetings from Des Plaines.

City of Destiny features items that tell the story of Des Plaines’s governmental growth from a nineteenth-century village to a modern city. These items include governmental and public buildings, portraits of elected officials, newspaper clippings, events such as planting trees for Arbor Day, and even sheet music with fifty reasons that “You Will Like Des Plaines!”

Printed title page of the Revised Ordinances of the Village of Des Plaines that were passed on December 7, 1885.
Revised Ordinances of the Village of Des Plaines [page 2]. 1886. Des Plaines Public Library. City of Destiny. Courtesy of the Des Plaines Public Library.
Second page of sheet music for the song You Will Like Des Plaines that includes a list of 50 reason why people like Des Plaines.
You Will Like Des Plaines, Sheet Music [page 2]. 1924. Des Plaines Public Library. City of Destiny. Courtesy of the Des Plaines Public Library.
Greetings from Des Plaines is a collection of postcards, featuring buildings and scenic views in Des Plaines as well as Chicago. Though some postcards are unsent and blank, many are postmarked with stories of the people who sent and received them.

Postcard image of storefronts on historic Main Street in Des Plaines, Illinois.
Main Street W. from Pearson Street. c. 1900. Des Plaines Public Library. Greetings from Des Plaines. Courtesy of the Des Plaines Public Library.

Postcard image of the Des Plaines Public Library in 1916.
Des Plaines Public Library, 1916 [front]. March 31, 1916. Des Plaines Public Library. Greetings from Des Plaines. Courtesy of the Des Plaines Public Library.
Postmarked postcard with handwritten note.
Des Plaines Public Library, 1916 [back]. March 31, 1916. Des Plaines Public Library. Greetings from Des Plaines. Courtesy of the Des Plaines Public Library. The postcard sender hopes to see the recipient soon, to share some “pretty useful” crochet patterns.

Want to see more?

Visit the IDHH to view more postcards from the Greetings from Des Plaines collection, or to browse all items from Des Plaines Public Library.

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New IDHH Collections on Enslavement Documents and Yearbooks

The IDHH contains some content that may be harmful or difficult to view. Our cultural heritage partners collect materials from history, as well as artifacts from many cultures and time periods, to preserve and make available the historical record. Please view the Digital Public Library of America’s (DPLA) Statement on Potentially Harmful Content for further information.

With our most recent harvest, the IDHH has added nine new collections! Today we’re highlighting two of them: North American Enslavement Documents from the Chicago History Museum and Yearbooks from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

The Chicago History Museum’s North American Enslavement Documents collection contains late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century items related to enslavement in primarily the United States. These include bills of sale for enslaved people and letters between slave owners as well as deeds of emancipation and letters regarding the activities of antislavery groups and underground railways.

Interested in transcribing? The Chicago History Museum, in partnership with the Smithsonian’s Robert Frederick Smith internship program, are working to transcribe materials relating primarily to chattel slavery in the United States. You can visit their transcription site to help transcribe these documents.

Deed of emancipation by William Garnett freeing his eight slaves due to his belief that slavery is wrong in principle and practice.
William Garnett deed of emancipation, 1845 October 17. October 17, 1845. Chicago Historical Society. North American Enslavement Documents. Courtesy of the Chicago History Museum.

Letter from John M. Roberts to Zebina Eastman accounting the activities of the anti-slavery group, formation of the society, and underground railway established from St. Louis, circa 1842.
Underground Railway letter, circa 1842 [page 1]. c. 1842. Chicago Historical Society. North American Enslavement Documents. Courtesy of the Chicago History Museum.
The Illinois Institute of Technology’s Yearbooks collection features yearbooks of the Armour Institute of Technology (AIT) published from 1898 until 1940, when AIT merged with the Lewis Institute to form the Illinois Institute of Technology. These yearbooks document the academic and social life of AIT and offers a view into the history of AIT and its founder as well as academic institutions during times of national hardship and war.

The Yearbooks collection complements the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Lewis Annual collection, which features the yearbooks of the Lewis Institute published between 1903 and 1940.

Page from the 1898 Armour Institute of Technology yearbook describing the history of the institute
Integral, 1898 [page 32]. 1898. Illinois Institute of Technology. Yearbooks. Courtesy of the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Page from the 1918 Armour Institute of Technology yearbook describing the military drills students underwent during the First World War.
The Cycle, 1918 [page 117]. 1918. Illinois Institute of Technology. Yearbooks. Courtesy of the Illinois Institute of Technology.
A page from the Armour Institute of Technology 1909 yearbook with the librarian Mrs. Julia A Beveridge and students studying in the library at desks.
Integral, 1909 [page 29]. 1909. Illinois Institute of Technology. Yearbooks. Courtesy of the Illinois Institute of Technology.

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DPLA Launches The Banned Book Club

In response to book bans across the United States, the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) has launched The Banned Book Club. Through the Palace e-reader app, The Banned Book Club uses GPS-based geo-targeting to make available free e-book versions of banned books to readers in US locations where the titles have been banned.

To download the app, follow these instructions from the DPLA News release:

To access The Banned Book Club now, download the Palace app and choose “Banned Book Club” as your library, then follow the prompts to sign up for a free virtual library card. For more specific instructions, click here.

For more information about The Banned Book Club, you can view the DPLA News Release or visit TheBannedBookClub.info.

Glass plate slide reads Books for Everybody: the Aim of the American Library Association
Books for Everybody. 1918. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library. McLean County Museum of History. American Library Association Archives Digital Collections. Courtesy of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library.

Glass plate slide reads "It is the responsibility of the American Library Association to encourage and promote the development of library services for every man, woman, and child in America."
Library Services for every Man, Woman and Child. 1918. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library. McLean County Museum of History. American Library Association Archives Digital Collections. Courtesy of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library.

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Happy New Year and Welcome Back!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Over the break, the IDHH Highlights moved to a new server.  Our new URL is https://www.library.illinois.edu/idhh-highlights/

If you forget to update your bookmarks or old relinks, don’t worry! The old URL redirects, so you can still find the IDHH Highlights blog and learn about our collections and items that are relevant to Illinois and national history, world events, and interesting topics.

Interested in other ways to explore the collections and items in the IDHH? You can:

  • Visit the IDHH Exhibits site to see digital exhibits curated from items in the IDHH and covering topics important to Illinois History and relevant to current and historical events
  • Browse our IDHH Primary Source Sets for primary source collections curated from items in the IDHH, which cover topics relevant to Illinois educational standard and include teaching guides for in-class use
  • Visit the IDHH site to search or browse all items in the IDHH, or click on one of the curated searches on the home page for examples of the breadth of items within the IDHH
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Continued Growth: the IDHH Passes Half a Million Items!

With our latest harvest, the IDHH now has 510,614 items from 548 collections. Thanks to our 150 Illinois partners and contributing institutions for making this possible!

Some of our newest collections and contributors include:

Keep checking back here at Illinois Highlights as we promote new collections, highlight older ones, and feature materials relevant to Illinois and national history.

Don’t forget to check out the IDHH Exhibits site as well!

Want to see more in the IDHH?

Browse the collections by select topics and people

Search all items or Browse by select facets

Browse by Contributing Partner

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Introducing the IDHH Exhibits Site

The Illinois Digital Heritage Hub is proud to announce the launch of a new Digital Exhibits site! Curated from items in the IDHH collections, these digital exhibits highlight and contextualize the unique collections in the IDHH and provide insight into topics relevant to Illinois and national history.

IDHH Exhibits Landing Page. Screen capture taken May 2022.

We invite viewers to explore these exhibits and learn more about the materials and topics in the IDHH collections. Viewers can use the navigation links at the bottom of the Exhibit pages to read through the narration, as well as click on the images within the Exhibits to see a larger version and learn more about the item.

IDHH Exhibits: Mayor Harold Washington Exhibit Landing Page. Screen capture taken May 2022.

Our current exhibits include Architecture in Chicago and Harold Washington, the First Black Mayor of Chicago; forthcoming exhibits will feature Rachel Crothers, Writers of Illinois and the Midwest, and the World’s Columbian Exposition, so check the IDHH Exhibits site regularly!

A special thanks to our providers, whose contributions make the IDHH possible; to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, for hosting the Omeka S platform for the Exhibits site; and to the IDHH Graduate Students Holly Peterson and Caleb Britton, whose work on the exhibits is fantastic and essential!

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Second-Quarter Growth: IDHH Passes 400,000 Items!

With our harvest earlier this month, the IDHH now has 417,946 items from 483 collections. Thanks to our 150 Illinois partners and contributing institutions for making this possible!

Keep checking back here at Illinois Highlights as we promote new collections, highlight older ones, and feature materials relevant to Illinois and national history.

Want to see more in the IDHH?

Browse the collections by select topics and people

Search all items or Browse by select facet

Browse by Contributing Partner