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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

Blue Mound School
What first began in 1858 as a class being held in a private residence, expanded into a sch...
Bogart, Ron and Doris (Stevenson Items)
The items in this collection were presented by Ron and Doris Bogart to the McLean County H...
Booker T. Washington Home
The Booker T. Washington Home was founded in 1918 by Mr. and Mrs. Alex Barker.  They house...
Boysen-Presit, Gail
Gail Boysen-Presit and her family moved from Rochester, Minnesota, to Bloomington, Illinoi...
Bracken Family
William Kerrick Bracken (1865-1947) was a Bloomington lawyer and Lincoln historian. At his...
Breen, Rev. Frank L.
Rev. Frank L. Breen (1886- 1967) was a prominent local Protestant minister in Bloomington....
Bridgestone Firestone
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company became Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire in 1995...
Brigham, William B.
William Brigham was born in 1874 near Cooksville, IL. He married Emma Wissmiller in 1902, ...
Brokaw Hospital
In 1894 five physicians made pledges of $500 each toward the creation of a hospital that w...
Brokaw Hospital Newsletter
The establishment of Brokaw Hospital in Normal, IL dates to 1896. In 1981, Brokaw Hospital...
Brokaw Hospital Nursing Alumni Association
This collection contains alumni association directories, newsletters, meeting programs, an...
Brokaw Service League Follies
The Brokaw Hospital Service League was organized in 1925. It was one of the oldest Hospita...
Brokaw/Mennonite/BroMenn Hospitals
This collection includes written materials concerning three interrelated Bloomington-Norma...
Brown, Fred S.
The Brown family lived near Yuton Station, in section 14 of Dry Grove Township. S.H. Brown...
Brown, George W.
The George W. Brown collection is a compilation of personal documents of the Brown family ...
Brown, James Proctor
James Proctor Brown was born in 1911 in Morristown, Hamblen County, TN, and died in Bloomi...
Brown’s Business College
Brown’s Business College (1893-1972) offered training for young men and women entering the...
Building a Home 505 Bowles
The house at 505 Bowles, Normal, IL was built from 1951 to 1953 by Raymond W. and Evelyn P...
Burleigh, Cecil
Cecil Burleigh was born April 17, 1885 in Wyoming, New York. The family moved to Omaha, Ne...
Bus Transit
The Bloomington-Normal public transit system opened in 1938 under the name “Bloomington-No...
Butler, Edward
Edward C Butler was born on January 1, 1867, the son of Preston and Elizabeth Cavanaugh Bu...
Butler, Harry Collection
Harry Butler (1868-1931) lived his life in Bloomington. He attended Bloomington schools th...
Calendar Collection
This collection includes calendars from 1888 to present, most with connections to McLean C...
Camelback Bridge
The Camelback Bridge is located in the northeast quarter of Section 33, Township 24 North,...
Capen Insurance / Capen Family
The Capen family emigrated from Dorchester, Dorset, England in 1630 and settled in New Eng...
Carius, Larry
Washington, IL, native, Larry Carius worked for the McLean County Health Department (MCHD)...
Carlock Public Library
Opening in 1979, the Carlock Public Library, formerly known as the Carey E. Burdette Memor...
Carlock Schools
This collection of school records documents the activities of a rural school district. The...
Carlock, W. B.
William B. Carlock was a prominent Bloomington attorney, member of the Free Masons and mem...
Carlock/Denman/Irvin/Porter
The Carlock/Denman/Irvin/Porter Collection contains chiefly personal correspondence, but a...
Carlton Collection
Box 1 includes items from family members including newspaper articles, a Civil War muster ...
Carpenter, Ruth
Ruth Talbott was born on August 9, 1909 in the small community of Potomac, Illinois. She w...
Castalian Club
Twelve members of the Travel Club resigned and formed the Castalian Club at the home of Sa...
Castle Theater
The Castle Theater opened on Nov. 21st, 1904 in Bloomington, Illinois. During its initial ...
Castle, Drew/E. M. Pike
This collection relates to Drew W. Castle (1895-1978) and Edward M. Pike (1838-1924). Pike...
Cemeteries in McLean County Collection
The collection includes a listing of cemeteries in McLean County, as well as specific info...
Centenarians
This is a collection of newspaper articles documenting McLean County residents who lived t...
Center School (Allin Township) Collection
“Center School (9) No. 69 This small district, consisting of about two and one-half sectio...
Center School (Randolph Township)
The first school in this district was conducted in 1840 at the Stewart home by V. Fell.  J...
Central Illinois Art Exposition, Scottish Rite Temple, March 19 – April 8, 1939
The Central Illinois Art Exposition was possibly the most successful diversion in McLean C...