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Shirley

A Community in Conflict

1 item

1921
During the early 1920s, McLean County experienced an intense period of Ku Klux Klan (KKK) recruiting, meetings, and public gatherings.

Digital Exhibit

Blog

3 items

Elizabeth Paullin Funk Undated
This circa early 1930s portrait of Elizabeth Paullin Funk was taken by Clara Brian, longtime Mc...

Blog Post

Shirley by Horseback March 5, 1942
Earlier this week, we ran a photograph illustrating the severe WWII rubber shortage and its imp...

Blog Post

WW II Rubber Shortage Shirley Farm, March 1942
Arnold Beatty (left) and Colman Hicks, at the O.V. Douglass farm outside of Shirley, demonstrat...

Blog Post

Farming in the Great Corn Belt

4 items

1946 to 2000: Corn and Soybean Crops
After WWII many McLean County farmers reduced or totally eliminated livestock production in ord...

Digital Exhibit

Farm Improvements
Farm improvements, such as fences, barns, sheds, and grain storage were expensive additions. Bu...

Digital Exhibit

Marketing Our Crops
Illinois farm leaders looked to Europe and other parts of the world after WWII in order to expa...

Digital Exhibit

Social Groups, Organized Groups, and Associations
Farmers looked to each other. They formed social groups, organized clubs, and created associati...

Digital Exhibit

Finding Aids

3 items

Quinn, Jean Family
Jean Quinn was born Shirley Jean Quinn on November 3, 1927, the only child of Forrest and Ruth ...

Finding Aid

Runge
The Runge Collection consists both of public and private materials primarily from the 1930s and...

Finding Aid

Wilson, Edward M.
Edward Mayne Wilson was born August 16, 1866, in Dale Township, McLean County. His parents were...

Finding Aid