As the weather starts to warm up and the school semester ends, we here at the IDHH are ready to celebrate summer and summer vacations! Whether you’re headed outside for some fun in the sun and sport, off to the beach for the sand and waves, or just remaining at home for a staycation, we hope you can take some time to rest and relax before the “Sirius-ly Scorching Dog Days of Summer” arrive.
Here are a few of our favorite items related to summer vacations:
Vacation Days, Lake Bluff, Ill. m86.1.1481. August 7, 1913. Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County. Lake County History in Postcards. Courtesy of Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County.High School kids on vacation, Bloomington-Normal, IL 1949. July 7, 1949. Created by Stanley Lantz. McLean County Museum of History. Pantagraph Negative Collection, 1946 – 1949. Courtesy of McLean County Museum of History.Vacation days, Chicago [front]. July 19, 1909. Imprint by V.O. Hammon (Chicago, Ill.). Eastern Illinois University. Booth Library Postcard Collection. Courtesy of Eastern Illinois University.High School kids on vacation, Bloomington-Normal, IL 1949. July 7, 1949. Created by Stanley Lantz. McLean County Museum of History. Pantagraph Negative Collection, 1946 – 1949. Courtesy of McLean County Museum of History.Me travel? …not this summer. Vacation at home. 1945. Created by Albert Dorne (1904-1965). Illinois State University. World War II-Era Posters and Propaganda. Courtesy of Illinois State University.Sublimating vacation; Pantagraph photostory; vacations during wartime, Bloomington, IL, 1944. July 19, 1944. Created by Gladys Mittelbrusher. McLean County Museum of History. Pantagraph Negative Collection, 1940-1944. Courtesy of McLean County Museum of History.
Tonight is Game Three of the World Series. To celebrate we’re highlighting a few pictures of baseball in Illinois. There is a rich debate about the origins of baseball, both in terms of its evolution- and place, but we know that by the mid-19th century, baseball was already ingrained into American life and community. Both Union and Confederate soldiers documented baseball games in their diaries, including games played as prisoners of war. After the war communities formed clubs of their own, making baseball one of the first instances of communities establishing their own identities. In Illinois, as early as 1869 the Cairo Bulletin was reporting on games in bordering Missouri. By 1870, the Cairo Deltas and Egyptians were playing in Missouri, Kentucky, and Illinois as clubs and regional leagues began to form across the state. Below are some of the greatest hits from Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County, Cherry Valley Historical Society, Chicago History Museum, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign showing how the game was played in our communities from the 1880’s onward, and became an international phenomenon in the early 20th century.
The Dunn Museum’s Fort Sheridan Collection includes several images of baseball as a part of life on the Fort.
Woman Playing shortstop, C.1945. Unknown Photographer. Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County (IL). Fort Sheridan collection. Permission to display was provided by the Bess Bower Dunn Museum.
Man in Army Uniform Shaking Hands, Exchanging Baseball Bat, C. 1920. Unknown Photographer. Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County (IL). Fort Sheridan. Permission to display was provided by the Bess Bower Dunn Museum.
The Cherry Valley Historical Society Cherry Valley Local History Collection includes team portraits of Cherry Valley Wildcats, and little leaguers from the first half of the century, showing what community sports looked like and how communities supported teams during baseball’s most nostalgic moment.
Cherry Valley Baseball Team, C. 1916. Unknown Photographer. Cherry Valley Historical Society. Cherry Valley Local History Collection. Permission to display was provided by the Cherry Valley Public Library District.
Cherry Valley Baseball Team, C. 1916. Unknown Photographer. Cherry Valley Historical Society. Cherry Valley Local History Collection. Meanwhile, the Chicago History Museum’s Museum Collection and Prints and Photographs Collection includes artifacts and photographs from Chicago’s MLB teams, the Cubs and the White Sox:
Chicago Cub Ron Santo catching a foul ball at Wrigley Field, 1969. Jack Lenahan, photographer, Chicago Daily News Inc. Chicago History Museum. Prints and Photographs Collection. Permission to display was provided by the Chicago History Museum.Wrigley Field from Sheffield and Waveland avenues, 1964. F.S. Dauwalter, Photographer. Chicago History Museum. Prints and Photographs Collection. Permission to display was provided by the Chicago History Museum.
And lastly, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Picture Chicago Collection includes this great picture of the Chicago White Sox and New York Giant’s in front of The Great Sphinx during their 1913-1914 world tour:
Chicago White Sox and New York Giants in front of the Sphinx during their World Tour 1913-1914, 1914. Unknown Photographer. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Picture Chicago.
