Skip to content

Illinois State University Isu

A Community in Conflict

4 items

1926
In the 1920s the discrimination of female teachers was still prevalent, both locally and across the United States. Unequal pay and rules that focused on ensuring their moral behavior (both inside and outside the classroom), rather than standards of teaching, were still in place.

Digital Exhibit

1939
Black students could attend Illinois State Normal University as early as the 1870s. But if they could not find off-campus housing in Bloomington or Normal, that opportunity disappeared.

Digital Exhibit

1969
Local residents held diverse views on whether American military forces should be involved in the Vietnam War. As the war progressed and it became more evident that victory would not be easily achieved, tensions rose.

Digital Exhibit

1984
Members of McLean County’s gay and lesbian community faced discrimination, hateful rhetoric, and physical harm long before the Town of Normal or the City of Bloomington began to consider adding sexual orientation to their discrimination ordinances.

Digital Exhibit

Articles

10 items

Duke Ellington big draw in Twin Cities
Someone once said, presumably half in earnest and half in jest, that American contributions to ...

Article

Halloween 1945 followed world war’s end
World War II still loomed large over American life during the Halloween season of 1945. The sur...

Article

ISNU welcomed veterans after WWII
After World War II, Illinois State Normal University put out the welcome mat for returning sold...

Article

ISU held racially segregated spring dances in the 1930s and ’40s
The racial climate throughout the United States deteriorated steadily in the first quarter of t...

Article

Kent State shootings spark month of campus unrest
The Vietnam War, it’s been said, was fought on two fronts—in Southeast Asia and back home, espe...

Article

May Christian, forever her own woman
“I was always too independent,” Bloomington resident Annie May Christian confided in a remarkab...

Article

McLean County’s first corn farmers also mound builders
It’s been nearly 200 years since the first Euro-Americans began settling would become McLean Co...

Article

Normal’s rich past dealt blow with razing of Fell house in 1980
Beginning in the 1960s, many fine, sturdy single-family homes dating from the 19th and early 20...

Article

One of June Rose Colby’s most beloved possessions was a rose jar or vase (to the left of the framed photo on the table). It was her longstanding custom to place a petal in it after some wonderful experience or happy occasion.

Prof. June Rose Colby lived ‘life of the mind’
“Miss Colby was a most unusual person,” noted Helen Marshall in her centennial history of Illin...

Article

‘Pop’ Horton organized campus circus fraternity in 1929
Today marks the 38th anniversary of the death of Dr. Clifford E. Horton, one of the titans of I...

Article

Blog

13 items

Fall Means College Football ISNU ‘Teachers,’ 1907
Back in 1907, the Illinois State Normal University Teachers (the nickname would be changed to “...

Blog Post

Illinois State Normal University Junior-Senior Prom, 1949
Several ISNU coeds show off their gowns for the June 10, 1949 junior-senior prom. Louise Claymo...

Blog Post

Labor Secretary Visits Bloomington October 17, 1935
Department of Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet, s...

Blog Post

McHistory: Voices Of The Past Come Alive
Listen to the audio on WGLT's website hereMcHistory goes back in time to explore big momen...

Blog Post

Old Main Comes Down September 9, 1958
On September 9, 1958, a one-ton wrecking ball made quick work of Illinois State University’s fi...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 116: We Shall Overcome, October 1965
On Sunday, October 24, 1965, demonstrators from Illinois State University marched along Main St...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 122: Watterson Towers, October 1967 -- Twenty-One Stories to Go!
Watterson Towers, a 28-story residence hall complex located on the Illinois State University ca...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 124: ‘Swing Time’ at Victory Hall October 1935
Opened in 1919 and located at 904 Hovey Ave. in Normal, Victory Hall was a safe place for boys ...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 41: We’re Number One!
Museum to Sell Replica Redbird Cap from 1969 Championship Season On June 6, 1969, Illinois St...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 64: Redbirds Crowned National Champs in 1969
Get Your Replica Cap Today! Illinois State University's baseball team captured the NCAA C...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 83: Swiped Bell Returned to Redbird Roost, September 20, 1967
Back in the 1960s when Illinois State University and Illinois Wesleyan University still played ...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 86: Thirty Year Anniversary of ISU Beer Riot 'Brouhaha'
On October 3, 1984, Illinois State University students protested new Town of Normal liquor ordi...

Blog Post

The Times They Have Changed! Town of Normal, 1966
This view of the Town of Normal and Illinois State University, taken in 1966 from either Hewett...

Blog Post

Farming in the Great Corn Belt

1 item

Nature's Forces
The McLean County farmers’ ability to make good choices drove their success or failure. But wit...

Digital Exhibit

Finding Aids

18 items

Barton House Archaeology and Family History
Milton Barton worked for Jesse Fell (founder and developer of Normal) and reportedly planted ma...

Finding Aid

Chesebrough, David B.
David B. Chesebrough was born March 14, 1932 and died April 29, 2004.  Chesebrough was a pastor...

Finding Aid

Historical Geography Class Papers
Papers written for Historical Geography classes and Independent Studies by students of William ...

Finding Aid

ISU Athletics
The collection includes Illinois State University football guides, basketball guides, football ...

Finding Aid

Illinois State Normal University Centennial
Founded in 1857 as Illinois’ first public university, Illinois State Normal University (today k...

Finding Aid

Kinser, Betty
Betty Marshall Kinser was born on November 15, 1941 in Bloomington, IN. In her youth she was kn...

Finding Aid

LaBounty, William P.
William P. LaBounty was born September 1, 1930, educated in Bloomington schools, and IWU, enlis...

Finding Aid

McLean County Ethnographies
Illinois State University anthropology professor Dr. Rob Dirks collected essays from his studen...

Finding Aid

Pratt, Awadagin
Awadagin Pratt was born in Pittsburgh in 1966.  He began studying piano at the age of six.  Whe...

Finding Aid

Purnell, Paul
This collection contains documents, newspaper clippings, and other two-dimensional objects that...

Finding Aid

Siebert, Dorothy Softball
Dorothy Anna Siebert was born October 6, 1933, in Congerville to Henry and Louise McBurney Sieb...

Finding Aid

Streid, Robert
Robert Eugene Streid, born July 28, 1916, was a lifetime Chenoa resident farmer educated in the...

Finding Aid

Sublett, Michael D.
Michael D. Sublett, born 1943 in Kansas City, Missouri, received his Bachelor’s Degree from the...

Finding Aid

University High School
This collection covers the lab school beginning as part of ISNU through its success today as pa...

Finding Aid

University High School Reunions
Illinois State Normal University was established in 1857. In 1862 grade school and high school ...

Finding Aid

William D. Walters, Jr.
Professor Emeritus of Geography, Walters taught at Illinois State University for many years. Hi...

Finding Aid

Wilson, Harrold B. Collection
Harrold Braden Wilson was born June 13, 1904, in Weldon, Illinois, and died June 3, 1991, in Bl...

Finding Aid

World War II Interview Papers Collection
World War II erupted in September 1939 with the German invasion of Poland and ended with Japan’...

Finding Aid

Oral Histories

5 items

Beth Echeverria

Oral History

Lue Anna Clark
Father was enslaved, WWI era restaurant business, boarding of ISNU students...

Oral History

Manuel Cordero

Oral History

Sonny Garcia

Oral History

Wilbur Barton
Early Normal family, ISNU grad & athlete, WWII veteran, teacher/principal....

Oral History

Research

1 item

Post Amerikan
Held by the MCMH and digitized by Eastern Illinois University. The Post Amerikan began publicat...

Article