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Finding Aids

Detailed inventories of archival collections in the Museum, organized alphabetically and able to be filtered by topic, from the 1820s to the present.

Show all 674 items

Packard Duck Pin Bowling Alley
W.C. Packard originally entered the tenpin business in Ohio and later moved to Evanston, I...
Packard Family Collection
The Packard family was from Bolton in Quebec, Canada. Brothers Charles (MD), Walter, Jesse...
Paddock, Joseph William
Joseph Paddock was born in Pana, Illinois, the family moved to Evanston where Joseph went ...
Pantagraph
The first newspaper in the area was the weekly Bloomington Observer and McLean County Advo...
Pantagraph Comics
The Pantagraph added a locally developed "Wilson and Phyllis" cartoon to their S...
Pantagraph Printing
The Pantagraph Printing and Stationery Company originated as the printing department of th...
Parker Bros. Coal Co.
Founded in Bloomington in 1868, Parker Brothers continued under Parker family ownership fo...
ParkLands Foundation
ParkLands Foundation was chartered in 1967 as a private, non-profit corporation under Illi...
Patrinmar Bridge Club
The Patrinmar Bridge Club was a club for Catholic women, established in 1928 by the Rev. S...
Patton Cabin
The Patton Cabin was built by John Patton in 1829, making it the oldest extant building in...
People’s Bank
The Peoples Bank was first incorporated in March 22, 1869, with George W. Parks as Preside...
Perkins-Martin Family
Catherine Anne Perkins Martin (1900-1885) was born in Stanstead, Canada October 15, 1800 a...
Phoenix Family and Nursery
Materials in the Phoenix collection cover the history of the Phoenix family and its nurser...
Phonograph and Audio
The history of McLean County has been recorded and captured on vinyl covering a variety of...
Pierson, A.V.
Arthur Van Dyke (A. V.) Pierson was born in Ohio in 1849 and his family traveled by wagon ...
Pistole, Richard
Richard “Dick” Pistole was born in Heyworth, IL. After graduating from Heyworth High Schoo...
Political Ephemera
This collection includes an array of ballots, flyers, pamphlets, and correspondences regar...
Portable Elevator
The company was started in 1898, located at the corner of Grove and McClun streets in Bloo...
Porter, Ida
Ida Porter was a soprano who could sing in English, German, French, and Italian; both clas...
Pratt, Awadagin
Awadagin Pratt was born in Pittsburgh in 1966.  He began studying piano at the age of six....
Price School Social Club, 1946-1973 (Bloomington Township)
The Price School Social Club was a group of women associated with Price School, which was ...
Purnell, Paul
This collection contains documents, newspaper clippings, and other two-dimensional objects...
Putman, Dale and Ruth of Pleasant Hill
Pleasant Hill was founded in the 1840s by Isaac Smalley.  He held aspirations that Pleasan...
Quill Club
A local literary organization affiliated with the State and National American Pen Women’s ...
Quinn, Jean Family
Jean Quinn was born Shirley Jean Quinn on November 3, 1927, the only child of Forrest and ...
Quinton
The J. R. Quinton Collection consists of one box with thirty-eight folders. It primarily c...
Railroad Books—Miscellaneous
The collection includes assorted books of labor agreements, wage schedules, rules books, m...
Railroad Fatalities
The collection includes copies of newspaper articles and obituaries of individuals killed ...
Railroad Time Books
Railroad foremen used time books to record workers’ names, hours, wages and specifics of p...
Ramsey
Although the collection donated to the Museum provides limited information, the Ramsey fam...
Red Cross
This collection holds the educational materials used by Stella Bennett, a certified Red Cr...
Reeder, Ida
Most of this collection consists of loose items from a travel scrapbook from Ida Reeder, a...
Reiner - Bennett
Bloomington-born William C. Reiner (1882-1945) worked as an upholsterer for the Alton Rail...
Reis, Evelyn
Evelyn Reis, also known as Evy, was born on September 17, 1918 in Chenoa, Illinois.  She i...
Reitan, Carol
This collection includes a selection of materials donated by Carol A. Reitan largely invol...
Restaurant Menu
This collection includes menus, placemats, and materials relating to the history of many c...
Reuben Moore Benjamin Collection
Reuben Moore Benjamin was born in June of 1833 in Columbia County, New York. Benjamin grad...
Rhymer, Paul
Vic and Sade was a radio show (1932 – 1945) and short lived television show (1957) created...
Rice, Charles Edward
Charles Edward Rice (October 5, 1949-October 17, 2008) was an Army veteran of the Vietnam ...
Ringo Family
Claude Ringo (1911-2005) was born in Saybrook, IL, to Atlee and Belva Pearle Swaim Ringo. ...