Thanksgiving Greetings

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?

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

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

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

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

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

 

“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.

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. 

Town & Gown Speaker Series: World War I in Champaign County, September 18, 2014

The Champaign County Historical Archives is partnering with the Student Life and Culture Archives at the University of the Illinois to present a Town & Gown Speaker Series.  Our inaugural event takes place Thursday, September 18, 2014 and looks at the local impact of World War I.  Come join us for an evening of period music, poems from a native solider, local headlines, and letters from the front lines.

Wonderful Wednesdays

 

For weekly Wednesday Evening Hours in the Archives!

Starting now join us every Wednesday from 9:00am - 9:00pm for all your research needs. 

Coming Home: The J.O. Cunningham Journals Make Their Way Back to Urbana

You may have read the Tom Kacich article in the News-Gazette a few weeks ago about the miraculous discovery of early Urbana resident J.O. Cunningham’s journals in Kerrville, Texas. The journals describing Cunningham’s 1853 arrival in Urbana have now themselves returned to the community. The Champaign County Historical Archives is pleased to announce that The Board of Cunningham Children’s Home has approved a resolution to donate the journals to the Archives. 

Virginia Turns 100!

Happy Birthday, Virginia!

Archives volunteer and longtime Champaign County resident Virginia Lovingfoss will celebrate her 100th birthday today! Virginia was born and raised in Philo, Illinois and now lives in Urbana. At 100 years old Virginia volunteers at both the Champaign County Historical Archives and Carle Hospital.