The fairly simple sport of soccer, known internationally as football, is the world’s most popular ball game in numbers of participants and spectators. With the 2022 Men’s FIFA World Cup currently in play, the IDHH would like to highlight the sport of soccer and its rise in popularity in the United States. Soccer was brought to North America by European immigrants in the 1860s, with informal matches being contested by Canadian and American teams by the mid-1880s. Already a pastime with a devoted audience and professional associations in Britain, soccer was not immediately popular in Canada or the United States, as ice hockey and gridiron football (American football) were becoming more prominent respectively.
However, American cities with large immigrant populations, such as Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York City, saw the sport played widely, and led to the official formation of the United States Soccer Federation in 1913. Over the first half of the 20th century, soccer’s popularity in the United States would steadily rise without ever truly finding a regular fan base. The sport’s fortunes would shift in the 1960s and ‘70s, though, as American teams began signing international players, such as the Brazilian athlete Pelé, and the passage of Title IX in 1972 further encouraged the participation of female players. Viewed as less violent and more socially inclusive than American football, soccer benefited from an influx of younger soccer players in the 1980s and ‘90s. The United States would host the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup, setting an all-time attendance record as the U.S. women’s team led by Mia Hamm clinched the Cup. In the last two decades, soccer has solidified itself as a significant sport in the United States, with the creation of various national soccer associations and leagues, and a devoted following of American teams on the international stage.
Here are a few of our favorite soccer items:
Illinois State Normal University Women’s Sports Day, Normal, IL, 1935. October 12, 1935. Photographed by Frank Bill. McLean County Museum of History. Pantagraph Negatives Collection, 1930 – 1939. Courtesy of the McLean County Museum of History.Soccer football 1906-1907. 1906. Photographed by Allen Ayrault Green. Knox College. Allen Ayrault Green Photograph Collection. Courtesy of Knox College.Women’s soccer. 1992. Knox College. The Way to Knox. Courtesy of Knox College.Women’s Athletic Association – Soccer. 1937. Millikin University. Big Blue Photograph Collection. Courtesy of Millikin University.Soccer – Men’s – Players – Kroening. [n.d.] Millikin University. Big Blue Photograph Collection. Courtesy of Millikin University.Congressman Frank Annunzio and the Polish soccer team. 1976. Photographed by Copelin Commercial Photographers. University of Illinois Chicago. Congressman Frank Annunzio Photo Collection. Courtesy of the University of Illinois Chicago.
Cooler weather. Baking spices. Warm cider. These things might conjure up a variety of associations and feelings, but for those of us living in the northern United States, they herald the beginning of the autumn or fall season. With the start of November, the IDHH would like to highlight that time of year when the daylight hours wane and sweater weather is in vogue. In the Northern Hemisphere, autumn is usually recognized as the time between the autumnal equinox toward the end of September and the winter solstice toward the end of December. This time of the year has held various significance across cultures and periods, but early associations in the Northern Hemisphere centered around the passing of the year and the importance of the harvest season in areas across medieval Europe.
While this connection to harvesting continues to be paramount for those working in agriculture, the environmental changes during the fall season have also become a key aspect of tourism for certain areas of the world. In the United States, portions of northern New England, Appalachia, and the upper Midwest offer prime views of leaves changing from their usual green color to vivid hues of orange, red, and yellow in the autumn months. Millions of visitors pour into these areas of the country to witness this stunning natural display – an act referred to as ‘leaf peeping’ in some circles. A phrase used colloquially in the United States since only the 1960s, leaf peeping is an autumn activity enjoyed internationally in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec in Canada, as well as in various parts of Japan.
Here are a few of our favorite items featuring vibrant fall foliage:
Fall color. Circa 1990s. Knox College. Green Oaks Biological Field Station. Courtesy of Knox College.Brothers Walter and Edward Mann raking fall leaves, Bloomington, IL 1947. October 9, 1947. Photographed by Wilma Tolley. McLean County Museum of History. Pantagraph Negative Collection, 1946 – 1949. Courtesy of the McLean County Museum of History.Pere Marquette Park and Lodge, on the Great River Road (IL 100) facing the Illinois River. [n.d.] Photographed by Art Grossmann. Eastern Illinois University. Booth Library Postcard Collection. Courtesy of Eastern Illinois University.Autumn view of maples, Oji, Tokyo. Circa 1880s. Created by Kinbē Kusakabe. Dominican University. Japanese Lantern Slides. Courtesy of Dominican University.Autumn street. October 1978. Photographed by Henry X. Arenberg. Highland Park Historical Society. Highland Park History. Courtesy of the Highland Park Historical Society.
For the ancient Romans, the Ides functioned as one of three fixed points occurring each month that helped them keep track of the current date in the Roman calendar. The Ides landed around the 13th day in most months, but took place on the 15th day in a few months of the year such as March. The Ides of March is particularly infamous due to its association with the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE by Roman senators. Marking the end of the Roman Republic, Caesar’s downfall during the Ides of March would be chronicled by Greek-Roman writer Plutarch in his work Parallel Lives, eventually inspiring a number of adaptations and artworks over the centuries depicting this historical event.
One of the more well-known adaptations of Plutarch’s writing on Julius Caesar is William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar. First produced in 1599, perhaps for the opening of the Globe Theatre that same year, Shakespeare dramatizes the events surrounding Caesar’s assassination to pose questions about authority, political power, and fate. The tragedy play has had a varied production history over the last 423 years, as political regimes and movements have found the work’s themes sympathetic or contrary to their cause. Illinois theatres have hosted a number of historic productions of the piece, including a three-week run in 1888 at the Chicago Opera House featuring in the lead role of Brutus the actor Edwin Booth, brother of actor John Wilkes Booth infamous for assassinating Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Though during his attack John Wilkes Booth credits himself as shouting “Sic semper tyrannis!” — a phrase which his brother Edwin would cry in his role as Brutus — it is the words the soothsayer character uses to warn Caesar that we repeat today: “Beware the Ides of March.”
Below are a few of our favorite items featuring Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar:
Chicago Opera House, Julius Caesar (September 24, 1888). September 24, 1888. Chicago Public Library. Chicago Theater Collection-Historic Programs. Courtesy of the Chicago Public Library.Grand Opera House, Julius Caesar (February 28, 1892). February 28, 1892. Chicago Public Library. Chicago Theater Collection-Historic Programs. Courtesy of the Chicago Public Library.Scene from ‘Julius Caesar’. March 18, 1937. Photographed by Harold E. Way. Knox College. Harold Way Photograph Collection. Courtesy of Knox College.James Prescott Warde as Brutus in a scene from “Julius Caesar”. n.d. Engraved by [George Henry] Adcock. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library. Portraits of Actors, 1720-1920. Courtesy of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library.Robert Downing as Marc Antony in “Julius Caesar”. 1889. Created by Gebbie & Husson. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library. Portraits of Actors, 1720-1920. Courtesy of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library.Caesar. n.d. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library. Motley Collection of Theatre and Costume Design. Courtesy of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Murder of Caesar. n.d. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library. Motley Collection of Theatre and Costume Design. Courtesy of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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As a native Texan, I have always regarded winter sports with a healthy amount of both respect and fear. However, an exception to this innate mindset was made every four years with the performance of the Winter Olympics. For those few weeks, I was awed by the grace of the figure skaters, the fearlessness of the luge racers, and the gravity-defying feats of snowboarders in the half-pipe. With the winter season in full swing here in Illinois, and the 2022 Winter Olympics just around the corner, the IDHH would like to feature a staple winter sport: ice skating.
Ice skating is believed to have developed in Scandinavia as early as 1000 BCE, using skates initially made from the bones of elk, oxen, reindeer, and other animals. While it is not exactly known when metal blades were introduced in the construction of ice skates , Dutch paintings from the 17th century clearly depict skaters gliding along on metal blades. Gaining in popularity as a recreational pastime in the 1800s, the activity eventually reached North America and a number of skating clubs were established in major cities in the Northern Hemisphere. Toward the end of the century, the sport would be indelibly changed in 1876 with the creation of the first rink using artificially frozen ice – the Glaciarium in London. The artificial ice rink in Madison Square Gardens opened soon after in 1879 and the innovation of creating artificial rinks led to the rise of various skating sports and a desire for ice shows as popular entertainment. Eventually, ice skating would make its debut in the 1908 Summer Olympics, with speed skating to follow as an event at the first official winter games in 1924.
Whether a newcomer to skating or a veteran of the ice, please enjoy a few of our favorite ice skating items from the collection:
Ice skating rink. 1960. Knox College. The Way to Knox. Courtesy of Knox College.Al Sherer, ice skating, Bloomington-Normal, IL, 1944. February 17, 1944. Photographed by Gladys Mittelbrusher. McLean County Museum of History. Pantagraph Negative Collection, 1940-1945. Courtesy of the McLean County Museum of History. Flooding skating rink, 1946. December 17, 1946. Photographed by Phyllis Lathrop. McLean County Museum of History. Pantagraph Negative Collection, 1946 – 1949. Courtesy of the McLean County Museum of History. Ice-Skating Line – 1937. 1937. University of St. Francis. Sharing Our Past, A Visual History. Courtesy of University of St. Francis. Slough. 1920. Benedictine University. John Jochman Album. Courtesy of Benedictine University.
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“As American as apple pie.” While the first recorded recipe for apple pie was written in England in 1381, this quotation has become synonymous with Americana and speaks to a country’s love of the versatile baked dish. Centuries before this catchy phrase was featured in advertisements of the Roaring Twenties, colonists of the fledgling United States found their wheat from England unsuited to North American soil and instead channeled their small amount of grain for use in pies rather than bread. With their flourishing New England apple orchards, this environment sowed the seeds for a nation’s embrace of the pie as a culinary favorite and cultural signifier.
From springtime fairs to end-of-the-year holidays and festivals, it’s difficult to think of an event or season in which some kind of pie would not be welcome. The dessert is so ubiquitous that ten U.S. states claim a pie as their “official” state dessert, state treat, or state pie. Maine even lists two iconic pies for the state, claiming blueberry pie as the state dessert and whoopie pie as the state treat (though the whoopie pie is not quite a pie and more a type of soft cookie). The IDHH’s own state of Illinois proudly lists the pumpkin pie as the state pie and today produces the most pumpkins used for processed pie filling.
While eating pies may be the more traditional way to enjoy the classic American dessert, some of our favorite items from the collection below show more inventive uses of the dish, from thrown projectile to animal treat:
Campus Photograph Collection: Campus Life. circa 1972-1976. University of Illinois Springfield. Campus Archival Documents. Courtesy of the University of Illinois Springfield.Student Life. 1978. Illinois Wesleyan University. IWU Historical Collections. Courtesy of Illinois Wesleyan University.Hog gets pie, 1947. January 22, 1947. Photograph by Frank Bill. McLean County Museum of History. Pantagraph Negative Collection, 1946 – 1949. Courtesy of the McLean County Museum of History.Eureka Pumpkin Festival Queen Serves Pie to Attendants, 1955. September 15, 1955. Eureka Public Library District. Pumpkins, Parades and Pies- Eureka’s Pumpkin Festival Past, 1939-1961. Courtesy of the Eureka Public Library District.Flunk Day pie. circa 1980’s. Knox College. The Way to Knox. Courtesy of Knox College.
As students return to campus and the Fall academic semester begins, the IDHH is featuring The Way to Knox, a collection of images representing the history of Knox College, a four-year private liberal arts college that is home to over 1,200 students and 120 faculty of the Prairie Fire. Located in Galesburg, Illinois, the history of Knox College and its hometown is inextricably entwined. Presbyterian minister George Washington Gale moved from New York to Illinois to found a manual labor college, a college where students performed a few daily hours of manual labor in exchange for rescinding tuition and room/board. Gale’s 1836 “Circular and Plan” documented his intentions for a Prairie College in the west, and in 1836 Galesburg, Illinois was founded by the first settlers. Knox Manual Labor College was founded in 1837, and in 1857 was renamed Knox College.
From its beginning, Knox College has been firm in supporting the marginalized. Galesburg was home to the first anti-slavery society in Illinois and a stop on the Underground Railroad, as many of the Galesburg residents and founders of Knox College supported the abolitionist movement. In fact, one of the first black men to receive a college degree in Illinois was Barnabas Root, Class of 1870. Furthermore, Gale’s “Circular and Plan” for the Prairie College included educating women, and in 1844 the college opened a Female Seminary. The Way to Knox reflects the growth of the Knox Manual Labor college into the four-year Knox College, with over 500 items that include student organizations and activities, campus buildings, protests and marches, and research and scholarship over the last 150 years.
Here are a few of our favorite items from the collection:
Library circulation desk. circa 1950s. Knox College. The Way to Knox. Courtesy of Knox College. Move in day. 1970. Knox College. The Way to Knox. Courtesy of Knox College. Anti-Columbus Day march. 1992. Knox College. The Way to Knox. Courtesy of Knox College.Women’s archery. 1957. Knox College. The Way to Knox. Courtesy of Knox College.Homecoming football catch. 2009. Knox College. The Way to Knox. Courtesy of Knox College. Preparing for the Knox centennial. June 1937. Knox College. The Way to Knox. Courtesy of Knox College. Commencement processional, 1919. 1919. Knox College. The Way to Knox. Courtesy of Knox College.
While perhaps now best known as an international distress signal, May Day’s origins as a festival to celebrate the coming of spring date back to as early as the 2nd century AD. From the Roman festival Floralia to the Germanic festival of Walpurgis Night to the Celtic festival of Beltane, elements of modern-day May Day can be seen in the feasts, celebrations, and use of flowers as decorations and gifts that originated in those festivals. May Day is currently recognized as an official holiday in 66 countries, and has also been known as International Workers Day since the 19th century as a way of recognizing the 19th century labor movement for workers’ rights.
The most well-known May Day traditions, as observed in Europe and North America and featured in the third book of Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy Tacy series, are the crowning of the May Queen, the giving of May baskets, and the dance around the maypole. May Day traditions have fallen out of fashions in the recent decades, but here at the IDHH, we’ve chosen to highlight some of these past May Day celebrations from Western Illinois University, Knox College, the North Suburban Library District, the Towanda District Library, and the University of St. Francis to show how May Day traditions used to be celebrated.
May Day Celebration WIU May 1907. circa 1910-1912. WIU Libraries Archives & Special Collections. Digital Image Collection. Courtesy of Western Illinois University.May Day celebration. 1920. Knox College Special Collections and Archives. Harold Way Photograph Collection. Courtesy of Knox College.Harlem Consolidated School May Festival dance, 1922. 1922. North Suburban Library District. North Suburban Library District Local History Collection. Courtesy of North Suburban Library District.Photograph of May Day Festival at Towanda School around 1939. circa 1939. Towanda District Library & Towanda Area Historical Society. Towanda District Library – Towanda Area Historical Collection. Courtesy of Towanda District Library & Towanda Area Historical Society.May Day at St. Francis – 1952. 1952. University of St. Francis. Sharing Our Past, A Visual History. Courtesy of University of St. Francis.
Jazz is a uniquely American music genre that originated in New Orleans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Jazz music has roots in blues and ragtime, and has undergone many evolutions over the years, from New Orleans jazz in the 1910s, to big band swing in the 1930s and 1940s, to jazz-rock fusion in the 1960s and 1970s, to smooth jazz in the 1980s. One of the key characteristics of jazz music is improvisation, and jazz music places importance on the collaboration of the performers, with no song being played exactly the same way twice.
Jazz as a genre was pioneered by musicians like Scott Joplin, Bessie Smith, and Jelly Roll Morton. Performers like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington helped to solidify the sound of big band swing. The evolution of Jazz-rock fusion was led by artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, and Frank Zappa. Smooth jazz slowed the genre down, and featured artists such as Sade, Anita Baker, Al Jarreau, and Grover Washington, Jr.
Here at the IDHH, we recognize the month of April as Jazz Appreciation Month. To celebrate the genre, we are featuring collections from Illinois Wesleyan University, the Chicago History Museum, Knox College, Western Illinois University, and Benedictine University. These collections highlight jazz performers and performances from Illinois. Here are a few of our favorite images from the collections:
School of Music, Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Marathon. ca. March 1980. Illinois Wesleyan University. IWU Historical Collections. Courtesy of Illinois Wesleyan University.Jazz with junk. 1959. Photograph by Clarence W. Hines. Chicago History Museum. Photographs and Prints Collection. Courtesy of Chicago History Museum.Jazz Band. [n. d.] Knox College Special Collections and Archives. Struggle and Progress-African Americans in Knox County, Illinois. Courtesy of Knox College.002827.JPG Jazz Band. [n. d.] Western Illinois University. Digital Image Collection. Courtesy of Western Illinois University.4th Hi Jazz Band, ‘21. 1921. Benedictine University. John Jochman Album. Courtesy of Benedictine University.
Happy Black History Month. As I’ve written before, so much of the work we do at the IDHH is focused on how people document history. For Black History Month, we’ve been thinking of ways that the community members can engage in the conversation of Black history, and the African American experience by visiting museums in Illinois and exploring digital resources. We’ll have another post coming later this month that highlights a collection, but for the meantime here are a few notable collections relevant to Black history and culture available at the IDHH as well as some resources that we hope will help build context with our collections when thinking about the African American experience.
Galesburg, the largest city in Knox County Illinois, was the first city in the nation settled as an anti-slavery society. Founded in 1837, and a known site on the underground railroad, Galesburg hosted the fifth Lincoln-Douglas Debates (written about previously here). Even though Galesburg welcomed African Americans as early as the 1840s the struggle for equal rights played out in the city just as it did in other communities across the nation. Struggle and Progress- African Americans in Knox County, Illinois from Knox College brings together photographs, documents, manuscripts, and newspaper clippings to document the struggle for civil rights in Knox County while illustrating the culture and everyday life of African Americans in Knox County. The Amos Kennedy Collection at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Library contains work from the printmaker, paper maker, teacher, and book artist based in York, Alabama. His books, postcards, posters, and paper-based sculpture address race freedom, equality and violence. His work often includes proverbs from people of Africa alongside images, and poetry from African American poets. The University of Illinois at Chicago’s Chicago Urban League Photos gathers over 20 years of the social service, research, and advocacy organization’s history. Founded in 1910, the Chicago Urban League’s focus has evolved from social services to speaking up for the need for employment, Black owned business, and affordable housing and equitable education. CUL’s relationship with UIC’s School of Sociology brought community studies and statistical tools to the front of the conversation in shaping public policy.
The career of Eugene B. Redmond, the Poet Laureate of East St. Louis, started in East Saint Louis at the birth of the Black Arts Movement. As it developed over the next 30 years into a critical and poetic voice responding to life in the U.S., Redmond carefully documented and collected artifacts relating to the movement. The EBR African American Cultural Life digital collection is a selection of the 10,000 photographs, posters, and pamphlets from the Eugene B. Redmond Collection at Southern Illinois University- Edwardsville’s Lovejoy Library. The digital collection includes photographs of poetry readings, conversation with Black poets, events, and art.
Our contributors’ collections are gems in their own right. There are so many other collections though that interrogate and contextualize Black History, that give even more life to what we have on the IDHH. Here are a few more: TheVoices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories project at the Library of Congress. In twenty-three interviews, recorded between 1932 and 1975, former slaves recount their stories as slaves and then as three people. They have much to say about their experience living as African Americans well into the 20th century. Similar to Born Into Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writer’s Project, 1936-1938, a large collection of more than 2,300 first person accounts of slavery collected as part of the Federal Writers’ Project, Voices Remember Slavery is unique and notable for the songs interviewees sang.
Decatur’s The African-American Cultural and Genealogical Society of Illinois, is one of the only institutions in Illinois that specializes in African American Genealogy. A field typically challenged because of the institution of slavery and it’s violence in breaking families, which made record keeping nearly impossible. Here’s another article on African-American Genealogy from PBS.
July 21 marks the 120th birthday of Illinois-born, internationally-acclaimed author, Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961). To celebrate, the IDHH highlights collections that include materials on several Illinois literary giants, including Gwendolyn Brooks, Carl Sandburg, and Hemingway himself.
Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) is one of the most celebrated U.S. poets, poet laureate of Illinois, and longtime Chicago resident. In 1949, She became the first African American writer to win a Pulitzer Prize. Brooks has a deep connection to African American history and culture, public life, and academics in Illinois. Throughout her life, Brooks spoke at libraries and campuses throughout the state, as demonstrated below in the photographs from the Lake Forest Academy and Ferry Hall Archives collection and Elgin Community College’s campus history collection. Gwendolyn Brooks came to Ferry Hall in 1969 and Lake Forest Academy in May of 1994 to speak to classes and give a reading of her poems. She visited Elgin Community College in 1995 to speak to high school and college English students. Brooks has perhaps the strongest connection to Illinois Wesleyan University, visiting the campus five times from 1972-1999, receiving an honorary doctorate there in 1973. See materials from her visits to Wesleyan. See all of material in the IDHH on Brooks.
Gwendolyn Brooks at the Centennial Celebration, Ferry Hall. 1969. Lake Forest Academy. Lake Forest Academy and Ferry Hall Archives collection. Permission to display was given by Lake Forest Academy
Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks Participates in High School/College English Articulation Activity. 1995. Elgin Community College. Elgin Community College History collection. Permission to display was given by Elgin Community College
Coincidentally, July also marks the death of another of the most celebrated writers in the state and the U.S., Carl Sandburg (1878-1967). Though best known for his poetry, especially his breathtaking naturalist and modernist pieces on urban life in Chicago, he was also a musician, editor, and prose author. One of his three Pulitzers was awarded for a biography on Lincoln. Sandburg was an advocate for civil rights and received an award from the NAACP in 1965. In the photo below from the Chicago History Museum’s Prints and Photographs Collection, Sandburg sits with his biographer, Harry Golden. Sandburg lived most of his life outside of Illinois but occasionally returned to his home state, including a visit to Knox College in 1958. Search all of the materials in the IDHH relating to Sandburg.
Haun, Declan, 1937-1994 (photographer). Carl Sandburg and Harry Golden in Golden’s office. 1961. Chicago History Museum. Prints and Photographs Collection. Permission to display was given by Chicago History Museum.
Finally, the remarkable photographs below from the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, digitized by the Oak Park Library collection in the Illinois Digital Archive, showcase the early life of the author and his family in his hometown, a suburb of Chicago. Hemingway authored more than a dozen novels and short story collections throughout his life, receiving a Pulitzer for The Old Man and the Sea in 1953 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He is pictured below with his siblings, two of whom, Marcelline and Leicester, also became talented writers. Check out all of the IDHH materials on Hemingway.
Ernest Hemingway. May 1918. Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park in cooperation with the Oak Park Public Library. The Early Years –Ernest and Marcelline Hemingway in Oak Park collection. Permission to display was given by Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park and the Oak Park Public Library
Ursula, Madelaine, Marcelline, Ernest, Leicester, and Carol Hemingway in Walloon Lake. No date. Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park in cooperation with the Oak Park Public Library. The Early Years –Ernest and Marcelline Hemingway in Oak Park collection. Permission to display was given by Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park and the Oak Park Public Library.
Ernest and Marcelline Hemingway in winter attire holding hands. 1903. Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park in cooperation with the Oak Park Public Library. The Early Years –Ernest and Marcelline Hemingway in Oak Park collection. Permission to display was given by Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park and the Oak Park Public Library
