This collection consists of photographs, primarily portraits, that appeared in the Champaign-Urbana Courier (1877-1979) during its last 20 years of operation. The collection includes about 550 photographs, a small subset of those that would have been published during this time period, as well as a limited number of related newspaper clippings. The Champaign-Urbana Courier was a daily newspaper that served Champaign County, Illinois.

The Champaign-Urbana Courier was founded as the Champaign County Herald in 1877 by S.C. Harris. The Courier was published from 1877 until its closure in 1979. The newspaper underwent various name changes, its most notable being when the Champaign County Herald merged with the Urbana Courier in 1906 to become the Urbana Courier-Herald. In 1946, the name was changed to the Champaign-Urbana Courier. In 1979, the Courier's owner, Lindsay-Schaub Newspapers, was unable to find a buyer, and the newspaper's last edition was published on March 31, 1979.

This collection contains a subset of the photographs that appeared in the Champaign-Urbana Courier during its last 20 years of operations. The collection includes approximately 550 photographs in several formats including photographic prints and photographic plates. Photographs are arranged in two series alphabetically by name as listed in the finding aid for the collection. Series I contains 193 photographic prints, mainly of Illinois political figures such as Alan J. Dixon, Neil Hartigan, Otto Kerner, Richard Ogilvie, Charles Percy, Paul Simon, Adlai Stevenson III, and James R. Thompson, but also including Robert M. Hutchins and John Philip Sousa. Series II consists of 349 photographic plates. These plates include members of the members of the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) community, Illinois politicians, and Illinois police officers. Some other people photographed included actress Rosemary Printz, author Freda Kehm, author John Gunther, and Nobel prize winner Dr. Donald A. Glaser. Series I and II both also contain newspaper clippings along with many of the photographs.

The Champaign County Historical Archives of the Urbana Free Library donated the collection to the Illinois Historical Survey in 1987 and 1999.

Champaign-Urbana Courier. Photographs and Clippings, 1930, 1956-1978

Collection Overview

Scope and Contents of the Materials

Subject/Index Terms