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 revisit previous years’ posts, which feature people like Mayor Harold Washington and Timuel D. Black, Jr., events like the Million Man March, and communities such as Maxwell Street Market and the African American student population at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
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.
A few months ago, we highlighted Mother Jones at Mount Olive collection. That look at coal mining was just a crack into the history of coal in Illinois.
Two Coal Miners working in a Glen Carbon Mine. C 1930. Glen Carbon Heritage Museum via Madison Historical –Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Glen Carbon Heritage Museum Photograph Collection. Permission to display given by Madison Historical.
Coal mines and mining, since the 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster, have been progressively more regulated. Regulation, often brought forth from union organizing, has decreased the number of deaths while increasing the standard of living for miners and their families. The history of mining and miners’ unionization and regulation are intimately tied to the labor and workers’ rights movements. But what are the other lenses with which to look at mining, miners, and mining safety with? Or how can we open the borders of Illinois history and discover its connections across the region, to create a deeper history of mining communities and miners lives? If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that Glen Carbon Heritage Museum Photograph Collection at the Madison Historical from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville may be a good place to start.
Outside View of Coal Mine #2 in Glen Carbon Illinois. C. 1930. Glen Carbon Heritage Museum via Madison Historical –Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Glen Carbon Heritage Museum Photograph Collection. Permission to display given by Madison Historical.
In 1911, the first Mine Rescue and First Aid Contest was held in Pittsburgh. Four Mine Rescue Teams from around the nation competed. Eight years later, again in Pittsburgh, 24 mine rescue teams and 83 first aid teams competed against one another in a series of tests and emergency situations, judged, and scored as first responders. Coal mining rescue was already developing its own scientific discourse, with manuals and books such as “Mine Fires: A Preliminary Study” and “Outline of Mine Rescue Maneuvers”, published by the United States Bureau of Mines as early as 1912. In 1910, the Illinois Mine Rescue Station Commission was at work establishing three permanent mine rescue stations in Springfield, Benton, and LaSalle, meanwhile testing U.S.-made “oxygen helmets” which were new in the Americas but were already being used and manufactured in Europe. Standards for mine rescue were published by the U.S. Bureau of Mines in 1920 that describes different procedures for entering mines, for evaluating conditions, and for testing rescue tools including their portable oxygen breathing apparatuses.
In 1930, a mine rescue team from Glen Carbon, Illinois traveled to Lexington, Kentucky to compete in the Nation Mine Rescue Competition, and did quite well, collecting accolades in mine rescue and first aid –including winning the Highest Honor in the Combination-Mine Rescue and First Aid category.
Coal Miners Rescue Squad 1930 Louisville, KY competition Winners. 1930. Glen Carbon Heritage Museum via Madison Historical –Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Glen Carbon Heritage Museum Photograph Collection. Permission to display given by Madison Historical.Glen Carbon Coal Miners Rescue Awards. 1930.Glen Carbon Heritage Museum via Madison Historical –Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Glen Carbon Heritage Museum Photograph Collection. Permission to display given by Madison Historical.
Glen Carbon was developed by the Madison Coal Company with the intention of turning it into a company town similar to Pullman or Granite City. Madison Coal operated four mines that remained resilient at the outbreak of the Great Depression, but struggled and gradually closed their mines as the Depression progressed. In 1932, as the demand for coal shrank to what it was at its peak– a mere 320 tons, as compared to 680 in 1918 –Mine #2, Glen Carbon’s most productive mine was closed. Perhaps because of the depression, 1930 was the last year of Coal Miners Rescue and First Aid Competition until it resumed a decade later.
These images of the Glen Carbon Mine Rescue and First Aid teams, especially in their rescue uniforms, depict a change in mining that was fueled by advances made in rescue technology– particularly the “breathing apparatus”. The safety and safety training publications by the U.S. Bureau of Mines, created guidelines for miners and mining rescue that established a baseline notion of safety and rescue procedures relying heavily on the use of portable oxygen even before the breathing masks were widely used in the United States.
Coal Miners Rescue Squad. 1930. Glen Carbon Heritage Museum via Madison Historical –Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Glen Carbon Heritage Museum Photograph Collection. Permission to display given by Madison Historical.Coal Miners Rescue Squad. 1930. Glen Carbon Heritage Museum via Madison Historical –Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Glen Carbon Heritage Museum Photograph Collection. Permission to display given by Madison Historical.
Here the champions are in their day clothes:
Coal Miners Rescue Squad from coal mine #2 out of uniform. 1930. Glen Carbon Heritage Museum via Madison Historical –Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Glen Carbon Heritage Museum Photograph Collection. Permission to display given by Madison Historical.
The IDHH has an abundance of images of mining and mining communities in Illinois, spanning the late 19th century to the 1980’s. The number of materials on mining in Illinois also shows a broad range of issues that surrounded mining including the fight for the power of the union, and other advances in mining. For more on mining from Glen Carbon and Madison Historical visit the IDHH, and to see the entire Glen Carbon Heritage Museum Photograph Collection visit Madison Historical’s website.
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.
This post was co-written by Ben Ostermeier, developer for Madison Historical.
The IDHH thanks Madison Historical, a collaboration of Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, and 26 local Madison County institutions, for sharing their collections with the IDHH. Madison County, home to Edwardsville, Granite City, Alton, and Madison, was the place of residence of abolitionist, Elijah Lovejoy, whose murder by pro-slavery sympathizers in 1837 inspired anti-slavery activists and militants, including John Brown. Historically, Madison county was a much larger and once occupied land from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the northern two thirds of Illinois.
Madison County is well known as a seat of industry in the state of Illinois. One of the oldest and longest enduring is agriculture, including wheat, corn, soy, and horseradish. Pictured below are some early tractors from the turn of the 20th century, often assisted by horses.
Herman Schunke’s Thresher and Crew. 1900-1910. Madison Historical – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Permission to display was given by Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
Horse Drawn Tractor. Date unknown. Madison Historical – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Permission to display was given by Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
Side View of Anna and Emil Brockmeir with Herb Maack on tractor. 1920s. Madison Historical – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Permission to display was given by Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
Madison County was also home to the Illinois Glass Company, based in Alton. The company merged with the Owens Bottle Machine Company in 1923 to become the Owens-Illinois Glass Company and the largest glass bottle producer in the world. Their largest factory was in Alton until it closed in 1983.
“Diamond I” Products Catalog for the Illinois Glass Company. 1900-1929. Madison Historical – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Permission to display was given by Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
Aerial View of Owens-Illinois Glass Factory, Alton, and Mississippi River. 1973-04-06. Madison Historical – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Permission to display was given by Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
Worker at Owens-Illinois Glass Factory in 1973. 1973-06-25. Madison Historical – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Permission to display was given by Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
Coal mining was another leading industry through the mid-20th century, though mines are now abandoned. Below are pictures of the people and equipment that made Madison County one of the leading coal-producing regions in the country.
1918 Liberty Bond Drive Outside of Coal Mine #2 in Glen Carbon, Illinois. 1918. Madison Historical – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Permission to display was given by Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
3 men inside coal mine #2 sitting on coal carts. 1910. Madison Historical – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Permission to display was given by Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
Coal Miners in front of railroad car filled with coal. Date unknown. Madison Historical – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Permission to display was given by Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
A major industry still active in Madison County is oil refining, with John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil establishing a refinery in 1908 in Wood River, and Shell Oil establishing another in Roxana in 1918. The Shell Oil refinery is now operated by Phillips 66.
Trumble 2 Fractionator System view from the South during the 1917-1918 Construction of the Wood River Refinery. Madison Historical – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Permission to display was given by Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
Oil Tank at the Standard Oil Refinery in Wood River. 1970s. Madison Historical – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Permission to display was given by Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
1954 Aerial Photograph of Refinery Tanks. 1954-03. Madison Historical – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Permission to display was given by Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
Finally, the railroad industry played a huge role in the development of Madison County, tying into both agriculture, mining, as well as petroleum. Trains made commerce across Illinois and throughout the country more efficient, transporting Madison County’s products throughout the U.S.
Steam Train No. 1522. Date unknown. Madison Historical – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Permission to display was given by Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
Illinois Central Railroad Freight Train Pulled by Engine No. 408. Date unknown. Madison Historical – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Permission to display was given by Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
Illinois Terminal Railroad Company Steam Engine No. 20. Date unknown. Madison Historical – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Permission to display was given by Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
Another collection belonging to Madison Historical are a series of high school newspapers from Granite City High School from the 1930s to the 1950s. Spanning the Great Depression, World War II, and the early years of the Cold War, the newspapers offer fascinating insight into adolescent reactions to major world events of the 20th century.
“Granite High World” School Newspapers for the 1945-46 School Year. 1945-10-04. Madison Historical – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Permission to display was given by Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
