Museum Exhibits

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.

Blog

2 items

Asbestos Exhibit Receives National Award of Excellence from AASLH

Blog Post

The Tilbury Flash on display at Central Illinois Regional Airport

The McLean County Museum of History’s largest artifact, the Tilbury Flash racing plane, has off...

Blog Post

Events

Events the Museum has hosted

1 item

SOLD OUT- Downtown Bloomington Architecture Tour with Candace Summers

Many of the buildings in downtown Bloomington are 100-plus years old, and each has a story to t...

Event

Finding Aids

Archival collection finding aids (full contents of collections available on site)

16 items

Evergreen Cemetery Walk – Miller

In the 1990s, Amy Miller was a member of the Bloomington-Normal Junior Women’s Club, a service ...

Finding Aid

Exhibit: "A Matter of Life and Death"

This collection of Medical oral histories was gathered by the McLean County Historical Society ...

Finding Aid

Exhibit: 9-11: McLean County Responds

Staff prepared these materials for the short-term 2002 exhibit “9-11: McLean County Responds.” ...

Finding Aid

Exhibit: A Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McLean County

Finding Aid

Exhibit: A Turbulent Time: Perspectives of the Vietnam War

Guest curator Ross Kennedy and staff member Susan Hartzold prepared these materials for the 200...

Finding Aid

Exhibit: Come & Get It! The Way We Ate 1830-2008

This collection contains research compiled by Dr. Robert Dirks, guest curator and professor eme...

Finding Aid

Exhibit: Greening of the Prairie: Irish Settlement in McLean County

Staff, interns, and volunteers researched and prepared the temporary exhibit “The Greening of t...

Finding Aid

Exhibit: Growing up in the Fifties

The McLean County Museum of History presented this exhibit in 2001. This collection contains tr...

Finding Aid

Exhibit: Journey through the Great Depression

Staff worked with guest curator Illinois State University professor Sandra D. Harmon to create ...

Finding Aid

Exhibit: Just Corn: The 'Amaizing' Story

The Museum exhibit, “Just Corn: The ‘Amaizing’ Story,” opened in 1997. It was curated by then-M...

Finding Aid

Exhibit: Made in McLean County

The McLean County Museum of History presented this exhibit in 1999. This collection contains th...

Finding Aid

Exhibits: Miscellaneous

This collection contains outlines for temporary exhibits featured at the McLean County Museum o...

Finding Aid

Gray, Vern

Vern Gray (December 19, 1897- June 28, 1972) was a former curator of the McLean County Historic...

Finding Aid

Koos, Greg Collection

The Greg Koos collection contains published and unpublished works by Greg Koos, former executiv...

Finding Aid

McLean County Museum of History Asian Indian History Project

The McLean County Asian Indian History Project was begun in the early 2000s to research and doc...

Finding Aid

Tilbury Flash

The Tilbury Flash is a single-seat American racing monoplane designed and built in the 1930s by...

Finding Aid

Publications

Digitized books and pamphlets. To see all books in our collection, search our library catalog.

7 items

Come And Get It: McDonaldization and the Disappearance of Local Food from a Central Illinois Community

At one time the residents of McLean County produced and processed most of their own food and dr...

Publication

Gifts to the Prairie: The Work of Pioneer Nurserymen and the Art of the Prestele Family

The Bloomington Nursery was owned and operated by Franklin Kelsey Phoenix. In 1867, it was know...

Publication

Journey Through the Great Depression

For those who lived through it, the Great Depression of the 1930s was unforgettable. Faced with...

Publication

Presence, Pride, and Passion: A History of African Americans in McLean County

Despite Illinois laws that were not friendly to Blacks, African Americans chose to make McLean ...

Publication

Rituals and Passages: 75 Years of The American Passion Play

Since time immemorial, humans have demonstrated devotion to their God or gods through many medi...

Publication

The Heart of the Cornbelt: An Illustrated History of Corn Farming in McLean County

An illustrated history of corn farming in McLean County....

Publication

To Sustain The Union

This book examines the Civil War through the points of view of local citizens, their opinions, ...

Publication

Videos

Livestreamed and recorded presentations by staff, experts, and community members.

8 items

A Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McLean County

Video

AMM BB Award Edit

Video

Exhibit Opening - More Than a Game: A Community History of Baseball & Softball

Video

Growing up Gen X

Video

Lunch & Learn: Introducing the 2023 Evergreen Cemetery Walk

Video

Sally Rudolph--2025 History Maker

Video

University of Evansville Archaeology and Art History Alumni Lecture Series

Video

We all Played Together: A Historical Account of African- American Musicians

Video