This new temporary exhibit (2024-2027) explores the history of the Union Asbestos and Rubber Company (UNARCO) manufacturing plant on Bloomington’s westside, which operated from 1951-1972. It uncovers the workers’ experience, their fight for better working conditions, and the litigation that followed.
However, this exhibit also tells a story larger than just McLean County. It is a universal story of people being sacrificed, forced to endure toxic conditions and environmental hazards all in the pursuit of profit. It illustrates a national tragedy on a local scale, all the while educating the public about the dangers of asbestos and honoring our neighbors who lost their lives.
A Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McLean County is on display in the Museum’s third floor Bender Gallery until the summer of 2027.
Financial support for this exhibit was provided by LiUNA! Midwest Region Laborer's International Union of North America.
Upcoming events related to the Asbestos exhibit:
Tuesday, March 4 at 7:00pm
Dirty Laundry: Film Screening & Panel Discussion, at Normal Theater
The Museum, in partnership with Illinois State University Office of Sustainability, Environmental Health and Safety, and Department of Health Sciences, will host a FREE viewing of the documentary Dirty Laundry at the Normal Theater on Tuesday, March 4 at 7:00 p.m.
Immediately following the film will be a panel discussion focusing on the impact chemicals and hazardous substances (such as asbestos) have on people and our environment.
Dirty Laundry follows two cousins across the United States as they search for answers about how their 90-year-old grandmother and housewife died from a rare form of cancer whose only cause is exposure to asbestos. The answer: asbestos dust on the clothes of her husband, who worked at Shell Oil’s Wood Reiver Refinery in Roxana, Illinois. Through interviews and research, they uncover a trail of corporate disinterest and broken families, bound together by a common thread—asbestos exposure and the death sentence of mesothelioma.
Tuesday, April 29 at 6:30pm
The Silent Killer: Dangers of Asbestos in the Workplace Panel Discussion, at the the Museum
Join us in gathering to remember those who have fallen on the job due to accidents and occupational exposure, plus call for safety adherence.
This year, Workers’ Memorial Day will be marked with a panel discussion at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 29, at the McLean County Museum of History. The observance is tied to the Museum’s newest temporary exhibit, A Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McLean County.
The panel discussion will focus on the impact the asbestos industry had on our community, and the dangers people continue to face when exposed to asbestos.
Tuesday, May 6 at 7:00pm
History Reads Book Club: Living Downstream, at Bloomington Public Library
All are welcome to join the Museum and Bloomington Public Library on Tuesday, May 6 at 7:00 p.m. for the second History Reads Book Club for 2025, in person at Bloomington Public Library or online via Zoom. For registration info please click the link above.
The second book to be discussed this year will be Living Downstream: An Ecologist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment by Sandra Steingraber. Sandra Steingraber, biologist, poet, and survivor of cancer in her twenties, brings all three perspectives to bear on the most important health and human rights issue of our time: the growing body of evidence linking cancer to environmental contaminations. Her scrupulously researched scientific analysis ranges from the alarming worldwide patterns of cancer incidence to the sabotage wrought by cancer-promoting substances on the intricate workings of human cells. In a gripping personal narrative, she travels from hospital waiting rooms to hazardous waste sites and from farmhouse kitchens to incinerator hearings, bringing to life stories of communities in her hometown and around the country as they confront decades of industrial and agricultural recklessness.