World War One Wwi

Resources are listed in alphabetical order. More information can always be found by using our website search bar, or contacting a member of our staff.

A Community in Conflict

Digital Exhibit

1 item

1918

When the U.S. entered World War I, anti-German sentiment began to grow across the nation. At the time German immigrants represented about three percent of McLean County’s population.

Digital Exhibit

Articles

A small selection of Pages from our Past articles written by Bill Kemp

9 items

Bloomington’s oldest park turns 165 this week

“How pleasant it is, immediately after the noontide hour of a hot summer’s day,” mused The Pant...

Article

Four Burger brothers served in World War I

This past week marked the 100th anniversary of the American entry into World War I, though for ...

Article

Julia Vrooman brought jazz to WW I doughboys

“Julia Scott Vrooman has always been in the news,” noted The Pantagraph in early October 1976. ...

Article

Memorial tablet honors ‘Great War’ dead

One hundred years ago today, November 11, 1918, the guns in Europe fell silent after more than ...

Article

New Year’s Eve 1919 meant hope for better times

One hundred years ago, New Year’s Eve 1919 brought hope for better days to come. After all, the...

Article

Turner Hall lost monument to German pride

More than a century ago, Turner Hall was the cultural hub of Bloomington’s large and influentia...

Article

WW I freighter ‘Evergreen City’ named for Bloomington

At the end of World War I, Bloomington citizens were given the honor of having a freighter name...

Article

WW I home front featured French-Belgian relief

The War to End All Wars, as the First World War was once called, brought out the best and the w...

Article

‘Black Devils’ earned fame in WW I

During World War I, several dozen Bloomington-Normal residents fought in an African-American re...

Article

Biographies

16 items

Bynum, Edward

True and literal meaning is leant to the phrase “brothers in arms” by and his younger brother L...

Biography

Bynum, Lincoln

True and literal meaning is leant to the phrase “brothers in arms” by Lincoln Bynum and his old...

Biography

Calimese, Napoleon

Napoleon J. Calimese (pronounced Calimeez) was born February 18, 1890 in Irvine, Kentucky. He w...

Biography

Christian, Annie May

Annie May Christian (who went by May for most of her life) was born on November 28, 1866 to Mat...

Biography

Davis, Elmer

Elmer Ray Davis was born in Bement, Piatt County, Illinois, on October 6, 1888. He was the elde...

Biography

Funk, Florence Mae Risser

Florence Mae Risser Funk (1871-1923) was one of McLean County’s most renowned suffragists and s...

Biography

Geneva, Carolyn Schertz

Carolyn Schertz Geneva was born on October 13, 1892 in Hudson. Illinois. She was the daughter o...

Biography

Hanson, Ethel Hamilton

Ethel Hamilton Hanson was a popular member of society circles and active in educational, politi...

Biography

Holder, Julia

Julia Montrose Holder was on born December 24, 1884 in Bloomington, Illinois to Dan and Kate (S...

Biography

Livingston, Hilda

Sigmund Livingston was born on December 27, 1872 in Giessen, Germany. He was one of eight child...

Biography

Rayburn, Jennie

Jane “Jennie” Buttolph Rayburn was born May 11, 1858 in Middlebury, Vermont a daughter of Willi...

Biography

Read, Roland

Roland Spencer Read was born in Bloomington, Illinois, on May 26, 1895. He was one of three son...

Biography

Smith, Alice Orme

Alice Orme Smith served as a nurse with the American, British, and French forces during World W...

Biography

Stearles, Willis

Much of what we know today about Willis Stearles comes from oral history, members of the commun...

Biography

Vrooman, Carl

Carl was born in Macon County, Missouri on October 25, 1872. He was the son of Judge Hiram Perk...

Biography

Williams, Private Gus

Augustus “Gus” Williams was born in Jacksonville, Illinois on September 22, 1892. He was the so...

Biography

Blog

2 items

Collection Highlight: Trench Art

The Museum owns two unique and personal pieces of history that provide a glimpse of how individ...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 119: ‘Tanks’ a lot Legionnaires! WW I relic arrives in Bloomington, 1939

Several pieces of military hardware can be found at Bloomington’s Miller Park, including this W...

Blog Post

Farming in the Great Corn Belt

Digital Exhibit

2 items

1900 to 1945

Labor shortages during WWI and II, the Great Depression, improved equipment, and the shift of m...

Digital Exhibit

Farm Improvements

Farm improvements, such as fences, barns, sheds, and grain storage were expensive additions. Bu...

Digital Exhibit

Finding Aids

9 items

Bloomington Business and Professional Women’s Club Collection

During World War I, Secretary of War Newton D. Baker sent out an urgent call to make women more...

Finding Aid

Hoppe, Jim

Jim Hoppe is an avid lover of history and McLean County. He has written manuscripts about vario...

Finding Aid

Ladies Auxiliary of WWI Veterans

This collection includes a selection of materials preserved by Jennie Mae Taylor of Bloomington...

Finding Aid

Lillard Collection

This collection contains genealogical research materials for the Lillard family and a World War...

Finding Aid

Morrissey, John O.

John O’Connell Morrissey was born April 13, 1896. He was educated in Bloomington schools, and ...

Finding Aid

O’Hara, William J.

William J. O’Hara (1896-1986) was born in the Hudson area, the son of Owen and Johanna O’Neil O...

Finding Aid

Veterans of World War 1 Barracks

The Veterans of World War 1 organization was created in 1949, first in Ohio, and then, in 1954,...

Finding Aid

World War I Collection

The World War I Collection is divided into five sections, organized from general to specific as...

Finding Aid

Zobrist, Charles J.

This collection contains material relating to the life and career of World War I veteran Charle...

Finding Aid

Oral Histories

1 item

Claude Hursey

Claude Hursey was born in Mississippi, the son of a Greek father and an African-American mother...

Oral History

Publications

1 item

McLean County, Illinois, in the World War, 1917-1918

Publication

Speakers Bureau

1 item

The 1918-1919 Flu Pandemic in McLean County

Speakers Bureau