Champaign County Genealogical Society Meeting - Tonight! (January 13)

Jan 13, 2015
The next general membership meeting of the Champaign County Genealogical Society is tonight, Tuesday, January 13.  The meeting starts at 7:00 pm in the Archives of The Urbana Free Library (2nd floor).  The meeting starts with CCGS business followed by a presentation. The January presentation topic is Photoshop which will cover digitally editing photos.  The meeting is free and open to the public. For more information on the Society, including its newsletter, research data and service, please visit: http://ilccgs.org/

 

Amelia Earhart in Urbana, 1935

Jan 3, 2015

 

Amelia Earhart (right) standing with University of Illinois President Arthur Willard during her 1935 trip to campus.

The William Rock House

Dec 23, 2014

William Rock arrived in Champaign County in 1835. His was the second family to arrive in the Sadorus area, settling 2 to 3 miles south of the original Henry Sadorus homestead on the east side of the Kaskaskia River. William and his family started out with 80 acres of land purchased from the federal government for $100 and a single room pole dwelling. [1]

Candlestick Lane

Dec 17, 2014

Whether you date the origin of Candlestick Lane from 1960 and the 10 families that gathered together on the 700 block of Fairlawn Drive to display oversized Yule cards or the neighbors on Grant Place who competed in an Illinois Power contest for the best holiday lights in 1964 it is evident that this corner of Urbana is flush with a holiday spirit that spans generations.

Champaign County Winter Wonderland

Dec 10, 2014

Stop by the Champaign County Historical Archives (on the second floor of The UFL) and view our new exhibit, “Champaign County Winter Wonderland.” We have winter themed photographs and newspaper advertisements from 1890-1980, World War I correspondence from Army nurse Nettie Irle Mills describing Christmas in a French Red Cross facility, and other artifacts from our Local History and Genealogy collections.  

Kids building snow fort, 1985. 

 

Thanksgiving Greetings

Nov 26, 2014

The staff at the Champaign County Historical Archives wishes everyone a safe and cozy Thanksgiving.  

Weather got you sticking close to home and hearth these days?

Nov 20, 2014

Fear not we have the perfect balm for your cloistered soul – peanut butter fudge.

Today is Peanut Butter Fudge day! To help you with your preparations here are some local recipes from our community cookbook collection.  

First up is Ruth Sharpton’s recipe in Bone Appetit! Favorite Recipes compiled by the Champaign County Humane Society. These recipes are guaranteed to be doggone easy & purrfectly delicious.

Winter is Coming

Nov 12, 2014

Champaign County residents at the turn of the twentieth century knew how to travel through the Midwest snow and ice in style. Pictured here is a horse-drawn sleigh outside of the William Redhed residence in Tolono, circa 1890.     

Source: "William Redhed House, Tolono, and unidentified women in a horse-drawn

New Digital Collections in the Archives

Nov 10, 2014

We’ve added 3 new albums to our digital collections. They feature the Illinois Central Railroad, African American Community leaders, and churches throughout Champaign County.  

Illinois Central Railroad

 

The Illinois Central Railroad Company, incorporated in 1851, took advantage of an 1850 charter that allowed using public land for railroads. Its first railroad would run diagonally northwest with a branch to Chicago. In Champaign, a Power House was built on Wabash with barns for housing and repairing trains nearby, the freight house was located off Neil, the tower was put east of the freight house and along the Belt Line and the station was on University St.  In Urbana, the depot was on Broadway with its powerhouse off Main.

 

A Look Back at October in Pictures

Nov 3, 2014

Thanks everyone for making Archives Month such a success. We enjoyed seeing you all over the last month. Remember to be kept up-to-date on all the events and workshops hosted by the Archives you can sign up for email notifications to be sent to your inbox. Just make sure to check Local History and Genealogy in the selection list.  

    

This Week at the Archives

Oct 21, 2014

We are closing out American Archives Month  with a bang as we prep for 3 events this week. Whether you are interested in the discoveries made by local authors during the research process, kid-friendly genealogy activities, or oral history there is an event for you.  We hope to see you as we finsh up celebrating Archives Month. 

      

Champaign County on Film

Oct 14, 2014

 

“Saving our film heritage should not be limited only to commercially produced films. Home movies do not just capture the important private moments of our family’s lives, but they are historical and cultural documents as well.”– Martin Scorsese

On Wednesday, October 15, 2014, the Champaign County Historical Archives and Student Life and Culture Archives will present a mashup of archival films from the mid-1920s through the 21st century including aerials of Champaign-Urbana, college life, Orpheum Theatre, agricultural technology, the Flat Iron fire of the late 1940s, African-American CU Day Reunion, and the changing nature of transportation that includes trains, buses, and cars.  

October is American Archives Month.

Oct 9, 2014

Archival Crush. It’s a real thing, look it up.

Actually, never mind, Google won’t return a hit, but all archivists have one. Society of American Archivists president Kathleen Roe talks about her crush (although she calls her an archival neighbor), Genevieve Hankins-Hawke, an African-American nurse, widow and mother during World War II, whose papers she processed more than 25 years ago but whose story still remains with her.