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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

Central Social Club (Randolph Township)
The Central Social Club, originally known as the Diamond Grove Club, was a women’s club or...
Century of Progress Collection
A Century of Progress International Exposition, also known as The Chicago World's Fai...
Charles (“Old Hoss”) Radbourn
Charles (“Old Hoss”) Radbourn was born in Rochester N.Y. December 11, 1854. In 1855, the R...
Chesebrough, David B.
David B. Chesebrough was born March 14, 1932 and died April 29, 2004.  Chesebrough was a p...
Chicago & Alton Railroad Miscellaneous
The coming of the Illinois Central and the Chicago and Alton Railroads in the 1850s change...
Childers, James Railroad
James H. Childers (1903-65) was born in Tennessee and according to the census achieved a f...
Children and Elders Forest
Children and Elders Forest was formed in 2005 in Bloomington-Normal for charitable and edu...
Children’s Theater Association of Bloomington-Normal
The Children’s Theatre was the brainchild of Martha Mary Vybiral to promote children’s the...
Christmas
Christmas is an annual winter festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed p...
Church Records
This collection contains record books, meeting minutes, financial information, membership ...
Church Women United
From 1941 to today women of the Church Women United Movement have held a vision of Christi...
Circus
Circuses had been visiting the area for many years when around 1875 a small wagon circus c...
Civil War
When war was declared in April 1861, Richard Yates, Governor of the State of Illinois and ...
Civil War Era Correspondence
This collection contains hundreds of letters written during the Civil War by many people i...
Clarke, Marguerite E.
Marguerite E. (Dobson) Clarke (1916-2007) was a lifelong resident of Bloomington. She rece...
Clio Club Collection
In 1895, the idea for a literary club took root at the home of Nannie Orme Dyson. Nannie ...
Cold War
The Cold War was an ongoing political rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Uni...
Community Players
In 1923 a women's club met in Bloomington and discussed creating a group to perform s...
Constitution Trail
Constitution Trail is a “linear park” that provides more than 37 miles of trails for bikin...
Corn Belt Bank
The Corn Belt Bank was organized December 2, 1891 by General John McNulta, J.T. Snell, and...
Corn Belt Philatelic Society
This collection includes Corn Belt Philatelic Society Chatter Newsletters for Dec 1965 thr...
Corn Bowl
A true “Middle West” tradition: college football on Thanksgiving Day. The Corn Bowl was sp...
Corn Items Collectors Association Collection
Founded in 1981 as the Corn Husking Hook and Peg Collection Association, the group soon re...
Corn on the Curb 2000
Corn-on-the-Curb, inspired by Chicago’s “Cows on Parade” in 1999, was conceived by Mayor J...
CornBelters
The Normal CornBelters are a professional baseball team. They began play in May 2010 as a ...
Cornell School (Arrowsmith Township)
Cornell School (No. 113) was originally built in the 1860s.  Its location was moved and a ...
Cornett, Roseanna Eureka Williams
The Eureka Vacuum Cleaner Company was started in 1909 by John Wardell and located in Detro...
Countering Domestic Violence
In February 1977, several women in Bloomington-Normal saw the need to assist domestic abus...
COVID-19 Collection
On January 21, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the fi...
Craig Family
This collection covers day-to-day events in Warren F. Craig’s life starting in the late 19...
Crissey, A Elwell
Arthur “Elwell” Crissey, sometimes called “Cris,” was born February 1, 1899, in Windsor, M...
Crothers, Rachel
Rachel Crothers (1870/78 - 1958) was born in Bloomington to Drs. Eli Kirk Crothers and Mar...
Cumpston, Robert
Robert D. “Bob” Cumpston (1930-2018) was born, lived and died on his family’s farm near Co...
Custer, Milo
Milo Custer was born in 1879 to Samuel and Lucinda Parker Custer. Before settling in Bloom...
Dairies Collection
Bloomington-Normal has been home to family dairies that delivered milk to customers since ...
Dallinger-Rayfield Commitment Ceremony
The collection includes a wedding planner book complete with notes, orders and receipts, e...
Dance Card
Dance cards usually listed the specific dances to be performed and provided lines for ladi...
Daughters of the American Revolution
In the Fall of 1893, Letitia Green Stevenson, wife of the U.S. Vice President Adlai Steven...
David Davis Mansion
This collection includes the materials relating to the David Davis Mansion State Historic ...
Davis Correspondence
This collection contains photocopies of correspondence from / to David and Sarah Davis fro...