Adlai Stevenson Lecture Series 1965-1981

Adlai E. Stevenson, former Illinois Governor and two-time presidential candidate, grew up in Bloomington and is buried at Evergreen Mem...

Adult Education

The Adult Education program in Bloomington-Normal had its origins in 1935 and the New Deal WPA, though federal support for the program ...

Armstrong, Bea

Born in Hudson to William Campbell and Alma Belle Cope Blagg, Beatrice “Bea” Armstrong (1915-1993) grew up in Cooksville. She earned a ...

Arthur Drake School Band of America Collection

The School Band of America – School Chorus of America was founded July 1, 1959 and established itself as an integral part of the Americ...

Baby Fold

Nancy and Allen Mason were pioneers in Normal–moving here just after the Civil War. Nancy Mason opened her home to be used by the a...

Bent, Horatio C.

Horatio C. Bent was born June 24, 1881 to Horatio G. and Adah Crist Bent. Bent Elementary school in Bloomington was named for his fathe...

Bloomingdale School (Randolph Township)

Bloomingdale School began in 1856 when a roughly built house was located at the southwest corner of Section 17. This building was moved...

Bloomington Education Association Collection

The Bloomington Education Association was organized in June 1967 with nearly half of District 87’s 400 teachers joining at its onset.  ...

Bloomington High School

This collection contains ephemera, newspaper clippings, course guides, handbooks, and programs from dances, theatrical performances, co...

Bloomington High School Class Reunion

This collection contains reunion programs and alumni lists for classes of 1930, 1936, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1951, 1954, 1...

Bloomington Public Schools

The collection includes sorority histories, anniversary programs, bylaws, membership booklets, convention booklets, minutes, etc....

Bloomington School District 87

Bloomington School District began on February 17, 1857, with “An Act to Establish and Regulate a System of Public Schools in the City o...

Bloomington-Normal Adult Education

The Adult Education program in Bloomington-Normal had its origins in 1935 and the New Deal WPA, though federal support for the program ...

Blue Mound School

What first began in 1858 as a class being held in a private residence, expanded into a school house with a mass of students and teacher...

Boysen-Presit, Gail

Gail Boysen-Presit and her family moved from Rochester, Minnesota, to Bloomington, Illinois, where they lived during her elementary sch...

Brokaw Hospital Nursing Alumni Association

This collection contains alumni association directories, newsletters, meeting programs, and information about alumni service in the mil...

Brown’s Business College

Brown’s Business College (1893-1972) offered training for young men and women entering the workforce. This chain of schools, establishe...

Carlock Schools

This collection of school records documents the activities of a rural school district. These records were donated by the FDIC upon the ...

Center School (Allin Township) Collection

“Center School (9) No. 69 This small district, consisting of about two and one-half sections, was organized in 1878 from territo...

Center School (Randolph Township)

The first school in this district was conducted in 1840 at the Stewart home by V. Fell.  John Moore, later lieutenant governor of Illin...

Chesebrough, David B.

David B. Chesebrough was born March 14, 1932 and died April 29, 2004.  Chesebrough was a pastor in the American Baptist Church for 25 y...

Cornell School (Arrowsmith Township)

Cornell School (No. 113) was originally built in the 1860s.  Its location was moved and a new building was erected in 1873 which was re...

Denman School (White Oak Township) Mother's Club

The Denman School Club began in 1921 as a means of communication among teachers, students, and parents. Through the years, the club aid...

Detloff

School documents, records, and textbooks belonging to Elmer Detloff...

District 87 Unit 5 Consolidation Campaign

In 1992 an ad hoc committee requested a study of the future of education in Bloomington-Normal, beginning what would become a campaign ...

Douglass, Emmett

Emmett Douglass was a country school teacher in Lexington around 1900 who later farmed.  His wife was Ammy Rockel.The collection...

Engle Family Papers

The Engle Family Papers Collection consists of 2 boxes. It contains mostly school notebooks compiled by the sisters presumably at a col...

Gathman Collection

Mildred Scholl Gathman (1918-2001) was born in rural Arrowsmith and lived there much of her life. She graduated Illinois State Normal ...

Gladys Washburn Mennonite School of Nursing

Born in 1904 to Sarah Myers and George A. Washburn, Gladys moved with her family from the Heyworth area to the Padua area when she was ...

Hibarger, Bessie Family

This collection includes:Over 600 letters, mostly personal and handwritten among family members but also some business correspon...

Historical Geography Class Papers

Papers written for Historical Geography classes and Independent Studies by students of William D. Walters at Illinois State University ...

Hodge-Read Family

Most of this collection is correspondence between the Hodges (1830-1880), land and estate documents (1815-1890), and receipts.  There i...

Holy Trinity Church and Schools

The first time the name "Holy Trinity" appears in the directories for Bloomington was 1880-81, but under the full name of &qu...
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Houghton School

Houghton School received its name because it was situated on the Stephen Houghton farm.  A frame house built one and one quarter miles ...

Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's School (ISSCS)

The Illinois Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s School Collection is organized into six boxes containing materials dating from 1865 to 2...

Illinois State Normal University Centennial

Founded in 1857 as Illinois’ first public university, Illinois State Normal University (today known as Illinois State University) celeb...

Illinois Wesleyan University

Illinois Wesleyan University was founded in 1850, with its first building erected in its current campus only a few years later. Startin...

Intercity High School Tournament

An Intercity High School basketball competition was begun in Bloomington and Normal in 1968. In 1972 football competition was added. Gi...

ISU Athletics

The collection includes Illinois State University football guides, basketball guides, football programs, basketball programs, and misce...

IWU Marketing Class Papers

Associate Professor of Business Administration Fred Hoyt has long asked his students to each study the marketing of a local business. E...

Klein, Lois Welsh School Textbooks

This is a collection of Lois Welsh’s (now Klein) books from a one room school in Gridley Township and later a consolidated grade school...

Knight, Robert N.

Robert N. Knight, also known as “Mr. Junior High School,” was a much loved and admired prin-cipal at Bloomington Junior High School for...

LaBounty, William P.

William P. LaBounty was born September 1, 1930, educated in Bloomington schools, and IWU, enlisted in the Air Force in 1953 spending mu...

Lanz, Laura

This collection contains essays by Laura from high school, her high school report cards, biographical information written by Dorothy Be...
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Lincoln School

This collection consists of a series of albums and notebooks relating to Abraham Lincoln Elementary School in Bloomington. There are al...

McLean County Association for Home and Community Education

This collection includes newspaper articles referencing the various HCE/HEA members and the projects they are involved in, letters from...

McLean County Ethnographies

Illinois State University anthropology professor Dr. Rob Dirks collected essays from his students on an array of ethnographic topics....

McLean County Schools

This collection contains school directories, exams, and other miscellaneous documents from various time periods, subjects, and schools...

McLean School (Mount Hope Township)

The village of McLean, IL was platted in 1856.  School District No. 5 was laid out and organized in 1858.  The present site for the sch...

Mennonite Hospital Nursing

The Mennonite School of Nursing was established as the Mennonite Sanitarium Training School in 1919, with the first commencement in 192...

Money Creek Township Schools Collection

Schools and their districts in Money Creek Township included:Bishop District 3 then 203Frog Alley Di...

Mount Prospect School (Old Town Township)

The Mount Prospect School started as a small frame house built around 1855.  The School was situated to be convenient for the pupils, h...

Nancy J. Peairs Ramos Scrapbook Collection

Nancy Jane Peairs documented her years at Unit 5 in two scrapbooks. They mainly included Junior High and Senior High school. There was ...

Normal Community High School

This collection contains course catalogs, PTA booklets, school publications, programs from plays and concerts, commencement programs, a...

Orendorff Family Collection

The Orendorff family was among the first settlers in McLean County, when brothers William and Thomas Orendorff traveled to Blooming Gro...

Phonograph and Audio

The history of McLean County has been recorded and captured on vinyl covering a variety of subjects in a variety of ways. From the spee...

Price School Social Club, 1946-1973 (Bloomington Township)

The Price School Social Club was a group of women associated with Price School, which was located on Old Ireland Grove Road in Blooming...

Rutledge School (Downs Township)

Rutledge School District was laid out in 1862, but not organized until 1867. The school was named after Charles Rutledge, who had donat...

School Books Collection

The collection includes published textbooks. ...

School District Consolidation Campaign 1992-96

In 1992 an ad hoc committee requested a study of the future of education in Bloomington-Normal, beginning what would become a campaign ...

School Notebooks Collection

Books prepared by students....

School Records

Documents include monthly common school schedules, daily teacher's registers, reports to and from township treasurers, district re...

Shirley Schools (Dale Township)

Shirley Schools (No. 73) and its district was organized in 1854 with John Foster, Hiram Quinn, and James Boulware as directors. Cordon ...

Simmons School (Dale Township)

Simmons was built in 1856 when Joel Simmons sold the district the site at the southeast corner of the N.W. ¼ of Section 8 for $20.  It ...

St. Joseph’s School of Nursing

St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing was a Catholic institution conducted by the Sisters of The Third Order of St. Francis, under the ...

St. Mary’s of Bloomington Church and School

St. Mary’s Catholic Church also known as the German Catholic Church was founded in 1867 by the German Catholics of Bloomington, Illinoi...

Steele, Ruth Teaching

The Ruth Steele Teaching Collection includes the patterns for various holiday displays and posters: Easter, Christmas, Valentine, Presi...

Sublett, Michael D.

Michael D. Sublett, born 1943 in Kansas City, Missouri, received his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Missouri in 1966.  He wen...

Suggs, Frank

A professor of music at Illinois State University starting in 1969, Frank Suggs promoted African American music both on campus and in t...

Union School (Allin Township)

Originally laid out with three sections in this county and about the same number in Tazewell County, this district, composed entirely o...

Unit 5 Schools

On May 8, 1948, voters approved the formation of a school district that is today legally known as Community Unit School District No. 5,...

University High School

This collection covers the lab school beginning as part of ISNU through its success today as part of ISU. The twenty-one folders contai...

University High School Athletics

This collection includes fall, winter, and spring programs, as well as individual programs for football, volleyball, boys’ and girls’ b...

Walker School (Bloomington Township)

Located in Blooming Grove (Bloomington Township section 22), Walker School is generally recognized as the first school in McLean County...

Wantling, William

This four-box collection contains correspondence, professional work, academic work, and notes of William Wantling as well as material c...

Wheeler Family

The Wheeler family papers were given to the McLean County Historical Society by Harriet W. Hoffman of Pontiac, Illinois. The documents ...

William D. Walters, Jr.

Professor Emeritus of Geography, Walters taught at Illinois State University for many years. His research explores diverse aspects of C...

World War II Home Front Oral Histories

The Interviewers were senior students of W. Michael Weis, Ph.D., Professor of History at Illinois Wesleyan University.  Interviewees ha...

World War II Interview Papers Collection

World War II erupted in September 1939 with the German invasion of Poland and ended with Japan’s surrender in September 1945. The US, s...