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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 714 items

Phoenix Family and Nursery
Materials in the Phoenix collection cover the history of the Phoenix family and its nurser...
Phonograph and Audio
This collection includes audio recordings of speeches, meetings, and music on cassettes, r...
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...
Planned Parenthood
The collection contains Kay Wilson’s “History of Planned Parenthood of McLean County” scra...
Ploense, Gary
Gary Ploense served two tours in the Marine Corps in Vietnam, 1967-1968. In 1988, he organ...
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...
Prairie Pride Coalition
The Advocacy Council for Human Rights was formed in 1995 from a community meeting at The B...
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. ...
Rock of Praisers
Michael Louanna Casey-Beich organized the Rock of Praisers in 1990 from her home at 1107 E...
Rolley, Elias W.
Elias William Rolley was drafted into the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps (CAC), became a ...
Ronald Bogart – Adlai Stevenson I
This collection contains autographs of members of the Stevenson family, a biography of Adl...
Ropp, Gordon L. State Representative
Gordon L. Ropp was born in Normal on April 5, 1933. He served as State Representative from...
Ross, David C.
David Claypool Ross (1851-1938) was a teacher, lawyer, lecturer and businessman, living in...
Route 66
Originally called Highway 4, Route 66 was one of the first roads in the nation’s numbered ...
Rowlands Family
Howell Rowlands was born on April 15, 1847, in Llanbrynmair, North Wales, and immigrated t...
Runge
The Runge Collection consists both of public and private materials primarily from the 1930...
Rutledge School (Downs Township)
Rutledge School District was laid out in 1862, but not organized until 1867. The school wa...