Music & Singing

Articles

13 items

Bloomington home to world champion singing mouse

“The voice that spanned continents and oceans to win international acclaim is forever stilled,”...

Article

This rare albeit grainy photograph shows both the 1873 Heyworth Christian Church building (on the right) and the 1906 church building (left). The old church is no longer standing and the 1906 building now serves as a handsome family residence. The current Heyworth Christian Church building, dedicated in 1962, is located about six blocks northwest of this site.

Church organ sparked conflict in Heyworth church

“The devil was completely knocked out at Heyworth this morning at 2 o’clock,” declared The Dail...

Article

Colonial Theatre once Colfax mainstay

As with most small town movie houses, the Colonial Theatre in Colfax offered area residents mor...

Article

Community Christmas ‘sing’ once annual event

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the cancellation of countless holiday gatherings, school pagea...

Article

A light-skinned woman with blonde hair holds a young child. The woman has a big smile on her face and is looking straight at the camera. She is inside a home. The baby has a head full of hair and has his mouth open.

Cousin Emmy had deep ties to Bloomington

Cousin Emmy, a pioneering female country music artist affectionately known as “the first hillbi...

Article

Dance marathons, walkathons once talk of the town

Although born out of the Roaring Twenties, dance marathons and walkathons peaked in popularity ...

Article

Duke Ellington big draw in Twin Cities

Someone once said, presumably half in earnest and half in jest, that American contributions to ...

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

Mandolin enjoyed ‘golden age’ in late 19th century

“The members of the Lotus Club last evening entertained their lady friends at their rooms on No...

Article

May Christian, forever her own woman

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

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

This woodcut, appearing in an April 1869 advertisement, represents the only known interior image of Frederick Niergarth’s Academy of Music.

Short-lived performance hall once city’s finest

For a few years after the end of the Civil War, the Academy of Music was Bloomington’s most ele...

Article

‘Welby and Pearl,’ minstrel act with local roots

For the better part of four decades, friends Jacob Welby Bucher and Charles Carroll Fell of Blo...

Article

Biographies

9 items

Biggs, Llora Withers

Llora Withers Biggs is a McLean County girl who became a renowned soprano singer and theater st...

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

Howard, Emily

At the turn of the twentieth century, when the public reception of visual arts in Bloomington, ...

Biography

Kessler, Frances

Frances Kessler had a passion for music and education. Music had always been an interest in her...

Biography

Litta, Marie

Marie (pronounced Maria) Litta, born Marie Eugenia von Elsner, was born in Bloomington, IL on J...

Biography

Porter, Ida

Ida Porter was born on September 19, 1863 in Normal, Illinois. She was the daughter of Solomon...

Biography

Saltzman-Stevens, Minnie

The story of Minnie Saltzman-Stevens is a Cinderella story of the musical arts. She rose from a...

Biography

Schroeder, Dr. Herman

Much of what we know about Herman Schroeder comes from his own accounts. Some of this informat...

Biography

Wagner, Grace B.

Grace B. Wagner was born on May 1, 1890 to Henry and Nellie Spafford Wagner. The family resided...

Biography

Blog

14 items

Aaron Copland at IWU February 1958

Composer Aaron Copland was the featured guest for Illinois Wesleyan University's Seventh A...

Blog Post

An Old Master returns home ‘Doc’ Bradshaw, July 19, 1962

Kenneth “Doc” Bradshaw, one of the more accomplished pianists to come out of the Twin Cities, r...

Blog Post

Big Dance in Colfax—100 years ago!

Museum volunteer Amy Miller recently donated a sizable collection of dance cards and other loca...

Blog Post

Happy New Year! Dale Miller’s Orchestra, mid-1930s

Beginning in Roaring Twenties, area ballrooms, dance halls and clubs featured tuxedo-clad bands...

Blog Post

Illinois Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home Home Band, 1930

The Sunday April 3, 2016 Pantagraph recounted the story of the Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home Band, or...

Blog Post

Kickapoo Creek Rock Festival Lunch & Learn Talk Today, 12:10 to 12:40 p.m.

On Thursday April 14, 2016 Illinois State University Professor Emeritus Robert Bradley gave a t...

Blog Post

McHistory: Life, literature and children

Blog Post

October Means ‘Rocktober’ The Defenbaughs Meets Elvis, 1957

Back in the spring of 1957, Bloomington teenagers Nancy Defenbaugh and her older brother Jim we...

Blog Post

October Means ‘Rocktober’ Kickapoo Creek Rock Festival Aerials, May 31, 1970

The Kickapoo Creek Rock Festival was held outside of the McLean County community of Heyworth on...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 118: Acid Flashback! Local Rock Festival Held 45 Years Ago

This weekend marks the 45th anniversary of the Kickapoo Creek Rock Festival held outside of the...

Blog Post

Photo of the week, 79: And a one, and a two, and a three …

In late July 1935, a large crowd gathered at the Miller Park bandstand to listen to the Pumpern...

Blog Post

The Duke in Pontiac June 11, 1957

This is a photo of one of Duke Ellington’s many visits to this stretch of Central Illinois. Ell...

Blog Post

The Great Levant, February 1950 Pianist performs in Bloomington

Oscar Levant (right), the famed American pianist, composer, and actor, performed with the Bloom...

Blog Post

The Shattertones June 1966

Timothy P. Irvin (left, kneeling in front of the guitar) formed The Shattertones in 1960 as a h...

Blog Post

Events

1 item

Old Time Music (Jam Session)

Join the Old Time Music group every Tuesday from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. at the Museum. A lai...

Event

Finding Aids

31 items

Alton Railroad Community Band

The Alton Railroad Community Band was established to boost ticket sales during the Great Depres...

Finding Aid

Amateur Musical Club

This collection contains programs (1897-1993), yearbooks (1893-1993), financial records, annual...

Finding Aid

Arthur Drake School Band of America Collection

The School Band of America – School Chorus of America was founded July 1, 1959 and established ...

Finding Aid

Barbershoppers

The Bloomington Chapter of the SPEBSQSA was originally named the Bloomington Harmony Club. The...

Finding Aid

Barth, Pat

Pat Barth donated this collection which contains materials from her early school days and other...

Finding Aid

Behr, Lincoln A. Theater Program

Lincoln A. Behr was born in Bloomington June 18, 1896. Behr enjoyed going to the theater as a ...

Finding Aid

Bloomington Band Association

This collection contains correspondence, meeting minutes, membership lists, and legal documents...

Finding Aid

Bloomington Chapter Sweet Adelines

The Bloomington Chapter of Sweet Adelines joined Sweet Adelines International in 1952 and were ...

Finding Aid

Bloomington-Normal Symphony

The Bloomington-Normal Symphony Orchestra collection consists of six boxes. The material dates...

Finding Aid

Burleigh, Cecil

Cecil Burleigh was born April 17, 1885 in Wyoming, New York. The family moved to Omaha, Nebrask...

Finding Aid

Dance Card

Dance cards usually listed the specific dances to be performed and provided lines for ladies to...

Finding Aid

Dietrich, George

George Dietrich (1816-1900) was born in Bevidere, New Jersey, to Pennsylvania parents of German...

Finding Aid

Dowell, Joe

Joseph Harry Dowell (1940-2016) was born January 23, 1940 in Bloomington, Indiana. Joe began w...

Finding Aid

Goforth

Jonathan (J. C.) Goforth moved his family from Canton, Illinois to Bloomington, Illinois in 190...

Finding Aid

Grand Opera House

The Grand Opera House was built 1890-1891 and stood at 106-110 E. Market Street in Bloomington ...

Finding Aid

Harvey Family

This small collection along with a large collection of photographs was found in the attic of a ...

Finding Aid

Kickapoo Creek Rock Festival

On Memorial Day weekend in 1970 an estimated 60,000 people, mostly hippies and college-age stud...

Finding Aid

Litta, Marie

The Marie Litta Collection consists of materials relating to the life, career, and death of the...

Finding Aid

May Christian Collection

Annie May Christian (she went by May for most of her life) was born in Decatur, Illinois, in 18...

Finding Aid

Normal Summer Theatre

The High School Summer Theatre Program—now sponsored by the Town of Normal’s Department of Cult...

Finding Aid

Phonograph and Audio

This collection includes audio recordings of speeches, meetings, and music on cassettes, reels,...

Finding Aid

Porter, Ida

Ida Porter was a soprano who could sing in English, German, French, and Italian; both classical...

Finding Aid

Pratt, Awadagin

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

Finding Aid

Reis, Evelyn

Evelyn Reis, also known as Evy, was born on September 17, 1918 in Chenoa, Illinois. She is a w...

Finding Aid

Selk, Mary

Born in Peoria, Mary Ellen Selk (1921-2023) graduated El Paso High in 1939, attended Illinois W...

Finding Aid

Sheet Music

This collection includes approximately 750 individual pieces of sheet music, booklets and books...

Finding Aid

Stevens, Saltzman Minnie

The Minnie Saltzman Stevens Papers consists of personal and legal papers belonging to the noted...

Finding Aid

Vanderwater, Leon Musical Program

Leon “Vandy” Vanderwater (1898-1998) was raised in Kankakee, IL and moved to Bloomington, IL in...

Finding Aid

Vera Pearl Kemp Scrapbooks Collection

Vera Pearl Kemp was born December 19, 1895 at London, Kentucky, daughter of James and Cora Pear...

Finding Aid

WLS Barn Dance

WLS Radio’s National Barn Dance was one of the most popular and longest running programs on rad...

Finding Aid

Waddell, Jack

Collection contains newspaper clippings, performance programs, photos, and ephemera tracing Jac...

Finding Aid

Videos

3 items

Lunch & Learn: Relocating the Nativity in Song and Celebration with Adriana Ponce

Video

Seasonal Choral Music with the Illinois Wesleyan University Collegiate Choir

Video

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

Video

Working for a Living

1 item

McLean County Vocalists

Talented McLean County vocalists have entertained locally and regionally. A few have found them...

Digital Exhibit