Collections
Now Available Online…Historic Champaign County: Neighborhoods and Homes
Champaign County possesses an unusually rich historical documentation, with a number of institutions dedicated to the collection and preservation of our community’s history. This fall, we are fortunate to see the release of Historic Champaign County: Neighborhoods and Homes, a project that serves as the first phase of a portal to digital content about Champaign County.
Developed by staff at the Champaign County Historical Archives at The Urbana Free Library and hosted at the Illinois Digital Archives, Historic Champaign County: Neighborhoods and Homes provides digital access to an extensive collection of unique photographs and architectural surveys. The collection also offers, for the first time, access to valuable material of regional appeal for those who may be interested in historic preservation and architectural history.
Unique content selected for the collection includes:
- Historic building surveys conducted by students in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois, currently housed with the City of Urbana.
- Searchable access to the newsletter of the Preservation and Conservation Association (PACA), 1981-2007, which provides informative articles on Champaign County’s history and architecture.
- PACA’s detailed building-by-building architectural surveys. Conducted in the 1980s, the surveys include homes in the downtown radius of Champaign and homes in West Urbana built prior to 1945.
- Approximately 800 photographs from the extensive image collection of the Champaign County Historical Archives, which focus on homes, public buildings, and neighborhoods that are representative of the architectural history of the community over the last century.
Funding for Historic Champaign County: Neighborhoods and Homes comes from a grant awarded by the Illinois State Library, a Department of the Office of the Secretary of State, using funds provided by the U.S. Institute of Museum of Library Services, under the federal Library Services and Technology Act.
You can access the collection by visiting the Historic Champaign County: Neighborhoods and Homes. For help using the search functions of the collection, click here. For further information or assistance, please contact the Champaign County Historical Archives at 217-367-4025 or archives@tufl.info.
