Category: Topic Highlights

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Celebrating Black History

The IDHH celebrates Black History Month with collections remembering African American cultural heritage,communities, and Black-owned businesses in Illinois. We highlight two collections, the McLean County Historical Society’s Bloomington-Normal Black History Project and Elgin Community College’s Elgin Community College History collection.
The Elgin Community College History collection includes images from Elgin-area Black History Month celebrations often involving prominent figures in African American history and culture. In particular, Tuskegee Airman Andrew Lane met with Larkin High School students for Black History Month in 1994.

The McLean County Historical Society’s collection chronicles African American communities and notable residents as well as Black-owned businesses in the Bloomington-Normal area from the turn of the 20th century through the 1990s. Featured below are, clockwise, beginning in the top right, photos of Ike and Lue Anna Brown Sanders’ Working Men’s Club, Harry Bell’s Tailor Shop, Robert Gaston’s Upper Cut Barbershop and Richard Bell’s amusement park.

See all items in the IDHH relating to Black History Month.

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Remembering the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the activism for justice and equality that his work is a part of and continues to be exigent to this day. The IDHH highlights collections from the Chicago History Museum that include photographs by DC-area journalist, Declan Haun, as well as an interview with an activist who participated in protests in Chicago in response to King’s assassination in 1968.
The Chicago History Museum’s Prints and Photographs Collection includes photographs from King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech on August 28,1963 (the first image below on the left), his involvement in the March 1965 protests against police brutality in Montgomery, Alabama (top right), and images from King’s Chicago Freedom Movement, including a march in 1966 (bottom right). King was a powerful voice in Civil Rights and inspired many others to stand up for equality for African Americans and all People of Color.

The Chicago History Museum’s Oral History Collection includes transcripts and audio from interviews conducted by the Museum’s Studs Terkel Center for Oral History. Hear from Marilyn Katz who was involved in protests in Chicago in the wake of King’s assassination. Dr. Martin Luther King’s words, ideas, and the people he inspires live on to work toward social justice.
Several IDHH Institutions have put together exhibits in honor of Dr. King, including the Chicago History Museum’s Remembering Dr. King, which focuses on King’s work in Chicago. Some of the exhibit’s images are online in the Chicago History Museum’s Digital Library and in the DPLA. See all of the Chicago History Museum’s materials relating to Dr. King. See all of the Illinois Digital Heritage hub’s items on Dr. King.

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Season’s Greetings from the IDHH

The Illinois Digital Heritage Hub celebrates December by highlighting items that symbolize three of the month’s holidays as well as the winter solstice. Best wishes to everyone this holiday season.

“Happy Kwanzaa” is shared with permission from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Library. See all items contributed by the UIUC Library to the IDHH. The item is from a collection of materials created by artist and teacher Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. that speak to issues of equality, freedom, race, and African American and Pan-African history and culture.

“Chanukah” is shared with permission from the Illinois State University Milner Library. See all of Illinois State University’s items in the IDHH. Browse all items in the International Collection of Child Art, of which Chanukah is an item.

“Christmas Lights on the Tower” is provided with permission from the Bess Bower Museum of Lake County. See all their items in the IDHH. The item is from the Fort Sheridan collection, which documents the history of a former U.S. Army post in Lake County north of Chicago.

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Winter in Illinois

December marks the beginning of the meteorological Winter; however, in Illinois, the cold weather and snow that are part and parcel with the Winter months often get underway as early as October. Now, the winter is just properly starting, with December being the first of the three coldest and usually snowiest months of the year.

Black and white photo of a person standing in front of a frozen waterfall
Winter at Homan Falls. Circa 1916. Quincy Public Library. Permission to display was given by Quincy Public Library.

As cold as temperatures can be during recent seasons, historical records, including data and photographs, demonstrate that winters in Illinois and across the country were colder and often snowier in the not-so-distant past. The Quincy Public Library’s Quincy Area Historic Photo Collection includes many photos that help provide historical records of winters past as well as capture the sublime beauty of some of Illinois’ harshest weather.

Bkack and white photograph of a snowy street next to multi-story houses
West side of 6th street North of Elm. Late 1800s. Quincy Public Library. Permission to display was given by Quincy Public Library.

Far beyond its impressive set of winter and weather-related images, the Quincy Area Historic Photo Collection shows the history of a remarkable town, with records dating back to the 1830s, just a decade after the town’s founding. Quincy is a significant location in the history of the Mormon faith as well as being the site of one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

Two-story brick home with snow-covered yard in trees in the foreground
Orville H. Browning Family Home. Date unknown. Quincy Public Library. Permission to display was given by Quincy Public Library.

See all of the Quincy Public Library’s items in the IDHH. See all of the items contributed by IDHH institutions that relate to winter or snow.

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Collections for Election Day

Election Day brings to mind the history of democracy in the state of Illinois. One of the richest sources of this legacy is the Chicago History Museum. Marking the week of Election Day, the Illinois Digital Heritage Hub features material from two of the Museum’s digital collections that are also available in the DPLA, the Museum Collection and the Prints and Photographs Collection.

The Chicago History Museum’s collections include some of the earliest campaign material in the state, including posters for Abraham Lincoln’s and Ulysses S. Grant’s election bids. The Museum exhibits technologies essential for the electoral process, such as a ballot box used to gather votes sometime between 1890 and 1932. Other materials chronicle the campaigns of more recent elected officials, such as former mayor, Harold Washington.

Banner featuring black-and-white etching of Abraham Lincoln with a red frame with white stars.
Abraham Lincoln’s election campaign banner. 1864. Chicago History Museum. Museum Collection. Permission to display was given by Chicago History Museum.
color photograph of a ballot box from circa 1890-1932.
Ballot Box. 1890-1932. Chicago History Museum. Museum Collection. Permission to display was given by Chicago History Museum.
black and white photo of former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington at a voting booth while photographers take photos in the background.
Harold Washington voting on election morning in Hyde Park. 1983. Chicago History Museum. Prints and Photographs Collection. Permission to display was given by the Chicago History Museum.

The IDHH features many of the Chicago History Museum’s digital items, including those featured here. See also the full range of IDHH institutions’ materials pertaining to elections or voting.

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Celebrating Halloween

The Illinois Digital Heritage Hub celebrates Halloween and the month of October with paintings from the International Collection of Child Art (ICCA) provided by one of our newest partners, Illinois State University. The ICCA features two-dimensional art in many different media created by children around the world. More information on the ICCA can be found on ISU’s ICCA website..

The images featured from this collection are from the 1960s but are so relatable that they could be contemporary and feature costumed kids trick-or-treating, a haunted house complete with ghosts, skeletons, and a graveyard, pumpkins, bats, and black cats, a costume party, and a witch on her broomstick.

As historical artifacts, the paintings demonstrate how old and enduring some of Halloween’s most iconic images and traditions are with perhaps only the hair and clothing styles of some of the children in the paintings hinting at the works’ ages. The artists range from ages 9 and 12 and would be in their 50s and 60s today.

Child's painting of a trick-or-treater dressed as a skeleton
Halloween Fun. 1960. Illinois State University. Permission to display was given by Milner Library, Illinois State University.
Child's painting of a haunted house with ghosts and walking skeletons
Halloween Ghosts. 1960. Illinois State University. Permission to display was given by Milner Library, Illinois State University.
Child's painting of a Halloween costume party
I Go to a Party. 1960. Illinois State University. Permission to display was given by Milner Library, Illinois State University.
Child's drawing featuring jack-o-lanterns and ghosts.
On Halloween Night. 1960. Illinois State University. Permission to display was given by Milner Library, Illinois State University.
Child's painting of a witch flying on a broomstick
The Mean Queen of Halloween. 1968. Illinois State University. Permission to display was given by Milner Library, Illinois State University.

The entire International Collection of Child Art can be found in the IDHH here. All of the Halloween-themed items contributed by Illinois Digital Heritage Hub institutions may be searched on the IDHH website.

 

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Celebrating Pumpkins at the Eureka Pumpkin Festival

Autumn is a beautiful time of year in Illinois when the leaves on the trees change from green to a wild display of colors, the crops in the fields are completing their lifecycle and are ready for harvest, and wildflowers such as goldenrod are putting out their final, golden blooms.
To celebrate this wonderful time of year,  in 1939, the Eureka Community Association, of Eureka, Illinois organized the first Eureka Pumpkin Festival. Originally billed as a way to boost the local economy after the Great Depression, the Eureka Pumpkin Festival was a successful community festival that celebrated pumpkins and the people of Eureka, IL, and lasted from that first festival in 1939 to 1961.
The Eureka Public Library District has nearly 300 photographs and scans of pamphlets and recipe books that document the festival over the years.

color card green ink on yellow paper stock advertising Dick's Kitchen brand canned custard pumpkin

Continue reading “Celebrating Pumpkins at the Eureka Pumpkin Festival”