Organizations

Articles

5 items

A scale birds-eye illustration of the Baby fold buildings. There are two large buildings connected in a T shape in the foreground, with three smaller identical buildings on the left, and one other building in the lower right.

Baby Fold donation shines spotlight on architect

One of the primary missions of the McLean County Museum of History is to acquire objects and pa...

Article

Museum collections window to East Bay’s early years

The COVID-19 crisis has taken many things from us—above all, the lives of 125,000 Americans. We...

Article

Railroaders’ library once west side hub

Many longtime Twin City residents will remember long-gone Withers Library, located at the corne...

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

13 children and young adults sit on a long bench at a table. The table has a white table cloth and place settings for each person. One man is at the head of the table, wearing a bow tie. A woman stands behind the table in a dress. They are all looking at the camera, many of the children are smiling. All of the people in the photograph are African American. The walls appear to be lightly-painted brick.

Washington Home couple worked ‘through the heart’

“Cooks and counselors, painters and referees, they are also mom and pop to up to twenty childre...

Article

Biographies

3 items

King, Mary Reed

Mary (Reed) King (1842-1928) and Samuel Noble (1834-1913) were a force in the advancement of ag...

Biography

Moratz, Palma

Palma Moratz was born on April 6, 1879 in Bloomington, IL to German-born parents, Hermann and E...

Biography

Stevenson, Letitia Green

Letitia Barbour Green Stevenson was born in Alleghany City in Western Pennsylvania on January 8...

Biography

Blog

12 items

4-H Gathering Undated

These patient 4-H members are waiting for something to wrap up before they can enjoy their meal...

Blog Post

Christmas Seals, 1937

Richard Young, a Bloomington High School student, is seen here showing an enlarged reproduction...

Blog Post

Home Sweet Home Mission, 1923 1006 W. Washington St., Bloomington

Home Sweet Home City Rescue Mission (now known as Home Sweet Home Ministries) has provided “foo...

Blog Post

Illinois Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs Annual Convention, Bloomington 1918

The Illinois Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs held its nineteenth convention in Bloomington ...

Blog Post

Knights of Columbus’ New Home 1206 N. Main St., Bloomington December 1927

Corn Belt Bank executive J. Thornton Snell had this magnificent Queen Anne-style home built in ...

Blog Post

Memorial Day 1936 Downtown Bloomington

The McLean County Legion Drum Corps, debuting their new uniforms, march south down Main Street ...

Blog Post

Moose Hunters Bag Rabbits January 23, 1947

Members of the Bloomington Loyal Order of the Moose staged a rabbit hunt in south-central Illin...

Blog Post

Normal Sanitary Dairy baseball uniform donated to Museum

The Museum recently received a Normal Sanitary Dairy baseball uniform worn during the late 1930...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 53: Bloomington-Normal Branch of the NAACP, 1944

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the nation's forem...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 99: Calling All Cars! Normal Police Department, 1938

Seen here is Normal Police Chief James Clarence Land in mid-January 1938 with the department�...

Blog Post

Redd-Williams Legion Post January 1942

For much of the 20th century the Twin Cities had segregated American Legion posts. Seen here ar...

Blog Post

The Local Road to ADA Accessibility

Blog Post

Finding Aids

106 items

4-H Federation / McLean County Fair Collection

The 4-H Federation is an aggregate of 4-H members from clubs in McLean County, grouped into one...

Finding Aid

Alton Railroad Community Band

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

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Amateur Musical Club

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

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American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

Founded in 1926, the American Civil Liberties Union is the largest national voluntary organizat...

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American Legion

This collection includes various Legion programs and publications, plus newspaper articles and ...

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Arthur Drake School Band of America Collection

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

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Baby Fold

Nancy and Allen Mason were pioneers in Normal– moving here just after the Civil War. Nancy Maso...

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Barbershoppers

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

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Barn Keepers

Barns are the most important structure on a farmstead. The earliest barns in Central Illinois w...

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Baseball Collection

View the finding aid for our archival baseball collection...

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Beyond Normal Films

The collection includes some newspaper clippings from 1996 through 2018 about the organization,...

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Blooming Grove Ladies Aid

Founded on Jan. 17, 1916, at the Blooming Grove Christian Church, the Blooming Grove Ladies Aid...

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Bloomington Band Association

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

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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...

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Bloomington Cemetery Association

The Bloomington Cemetery Association (BCA) was a private stock corporation that operated the Bl...

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Bloomington Chapter Sweet Adelines

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

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Bloomington Education Association Collection

The Bloomington Education Association was organized in June 1967 with nearly half of District 8...

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Bloomington Gold (Corvette Show)

In 1973, the first Bloomington Corvette Corral event took place. By 1977, the Bloomington Corv...

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Bloomington Rotary Club

The Bloomington Rotary Club was organized in 1915. From the beginning, the Rotary Club members...

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Bloomington School District 87

Bloomington School District began on February 17, 1857, with “An Act to Establish and Regulate ...

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Bloomington Trades and Labor Assembly

Bloomington labor unions banded together on October 18, 1891, to establish the Bloomington Trad...

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Bloomington-Normal Black History Project

Finding aid for the 6-box archival collection ...

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Bloomington-Normal Symphony

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

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Bloomington-Normal Women’s Golf Association

After a hiatus from 1968 to 1974, the Bloomington-Normal Women’s Golf Association returned to p...

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Booker T. Washington Home

The Booker T. Washington Home was founded in 1918 by Mr. and Mrs. Alex Barker. They housed six...

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Brokaw Hospital Nursing Alumni Association

This collection contains alumni association directories, newsletters, meeting programs, and inf...

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Brokaw Service League Follies

The Brokaw Hospital Service League was organized in 1925. It was one of the oldest Hospital org...

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Brokaw/Mennonite/BroMenn Hospitals

This collection includes written materials concerning three interrelated Bloomington-Normal hos...

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Brown’s Business College

Brown’s Business College (1893-1972) offered training for young men and women entering the work...

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Carlock Public Library

Opening in 1979, the Carlock Public Library, formerly known as the Carey E. Burdette Memorial L...

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Children and Elders Forest

Children and Elders Forest was formed in 2005 in Bloomington-Normal for charitable and educatio...

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Children’s Theater Association of Bloomington-Normal

The Children’s Theatre was the brainchild of Martha Mary Vybiral to promote children’s theatre ...

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Clio Club Collection

In 1895, the idea for a literary club took root at the home of Nannie Orme Dyson. Nannie was t...

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Corn Items Collectors Association Collection

Founded in 1981 as the Corn Husking Hook and Peg Collection Association, the group soon realize...

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CornBelters

The Normal CornBelters are a professional baseball team. They began play in May 2010 as a membe...

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Countering Domestic Violence

In February 1977, several women in Bloomington-Normal saw the need to assist domestic abuse vic...

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Custer, Milo

Milo Custer was born in 1879 to Samuel and Lucinda Parker Custer. Before settling in Bloomingto...

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Deffenbaugh (Kent) Jaycees Collection

Kent Deffenbaugh was the president of the Bloomington Normal Jaycees for the fiscal year 1969 –...

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Degree of Pocahontas Collection

Degree of Pocahontas is the ladies auxiliary of the Improved Order of Red Men. The Red Men is a...

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Delphi — Bloomington Chapter

Founded in 1930 as a business woman’s civic group, the Bloomington Chapter of Delphi was part o...

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Denman School (White Oak Township) Mother's Club

The Denman School Club began in 1921 as a means of communication among teachers, students, and ...

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Dimmitts Grove Neighborhood Association

Dimmitt’s Grove is one of Bloomington’s oldest neighborhoods. The Neighborhood Association, for...

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Downtown Bloomington Historical Survey

In 1984 Greg Koos and William Walters began the work of obtaining National Historic standing fo...

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Early Social Services Collection

Social services in Bloomington Normal were administered by volunteers, mostly women, who organi...

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Easter Seal Camp Heffernan

The East Bay Camp was formed in 1930, when its Director Reverend Breen, with the Kiwanis Club, ...

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Ecology Action Center

Established in the spring of 1995 as the education branch of Operation Recycle, the Ecology Act...

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Emerson Street Investment Club

The Unitarian Investment Club began in 1990 as managers of a fund of loans and gifts to the Uni...

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Equal Rights Amendment

In 1972, the U. S. Congress passed the proposed Constitutional Amendment granting women more ri...

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Euleo Puppets

Sisters Eunice Speer and Leona S. Pitzer organized a puppet theatre in the late 1960s and named...

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Family and Consumer Sciences Professionals of McLean County

The organization began in 1961 as the McLean County Home Economists in Homemaking. They became ...

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Farmers Grain Dealers Association of Illinois Collection

In February 1903, seventeen farmers’ cooperative grain elevator companies met to form the Farme...

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Finley, Ada Collection

Ada was born in Hudson, Illinois, to George and Josie Lentz on July 19, 1898. She married Steph...

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Gold Star Mothers

The Evergreen Chapter, National Gold Star Mothers, was incorporated on October 14, 1950, by the...

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Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)

The Grand Army of the Republic was founded by Benjamin Franklin Stephenson of Springfield, Illi...

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Grand Prairie Bird Alliance Collection

The first Audubon Society in McLean County was called the Cardinal Audubon Club, organized in 1...

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Highland Park Women’s 18 Hole League

The Highland Park Women’s 18 Hole League was started in July of 1932 at the Highland Park Munic...

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Home Sweet Home Mission

Billy Shelper founded the Home Sweet Home City Rescue Mission in 1917 after attending a Billy S...

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Illinois Air Force Mothers

The Illinois Air Force Mothers Club began in 1970 to support Air Force personnel at bases and h...

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Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's School (ISSCS)

The Illinois Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s School Collection is organized into six boxes co...

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Independent order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) Cornerstones (1886 & 1900)

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is a fraternal, service-based organization that had its be...

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Johnston, George W. and Alice M. Collection

George W. (1901-1988) and Alice M. (1905-1991) Johnston were both active in the American Legion...

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Knife & Fork Club

Knife and Fork Club International is a social dinner club with chapters in cities across the Un...

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Ladies Auxiliary of WWI Veterans

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

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Lake Bloomington Association

The Lake Bloomington Association formed to improve the Lake Bloomington Area and the surroundin...

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Loyal Star—Prairie State Lodge 45

Loyal Star of America is a women’s auxiliary to the Brotherhood Railway Carmen of America. Thei...

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McLean County Arts Center

This collection includes exhibition catalogs and promotional materials, a coloring and activity...

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McLean County Arts Council

The McLean County Arts Council was incorporated in 1972 and served as a funding organization to...

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McLean County Arts Council Bicentennial

The collection contains documents pertaining to the McLean County Bicentennial Arts Festival an...

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McLean County Association for Home and Community Education

This collection includes newspaper articles referencing the various HCE/HEA members and the pro...

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McLean County Bar Association Memorials

The tradition of the McLean County Bar Association since 1897 has been to memorialize deceased ...

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McLean County Emergency Squad

In 1967 with the near completion of Interstate 74 and Interstate 55, Bloomington, Illinois had ...

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McLean County Home Bureau

The McLean County Home Bureau was first established in 1918 by Mrs. Spencer Ewing, and was call...

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McLean County Homemakers Extension

The McLean Home Bureau changed its name to McLean County Homemakers Extension Association on Ju...

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McLean County Library Association

Responding to an invitation from Vail Deale of the Withers (Bloomington) Public Library, twenty...

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McLean County Medical Assistants Association

On November 17, 1958, a group of twenty-four medical assistants—medical secretaries, laboratory...

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McLean County Medical Society Auxiliary/Alliance

The McLean County Medical Society Auxiliary was formed in 1927 upon the suggestion of the Illin...

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Minutes Books

The collection contains single volumes of minutes of various local organizations including: Was...

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Normal History Club

In the late 1800s, life in a small university town did not offer many opportunities for artisti...

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Normal Literary Center Collection

An adult study group, the Normal Literary Center was founded in 1896 and celebrated its 100th a...

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Normal Theater

The Normal Theater was built by Sylvan and Ruth Kupfer, who owned the 209 North Street lot wher...

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Not In Our Town

The Not In Our Town (NIOT) movement began in Billings, MT, in 1992 to “stop hate, racism and bu...

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Occupational Development Center

The Occupational Development Center (ODC) provided employment and training for individuals with...

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Old House Society

The Old House Society is a nonprofit organization in McLean County devoted to the preservation ...

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Old North Normal Historic District Association

Old North Normal is the oldest intact area of continuous residential development north of Illin...

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Old Settlers Association of Eastern McLean County

From 1885 to 1915, self-described “old settlers” of eastern McLean County held an annual picnic...

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Olde Towne Neighborhood Association

The Olde Towne Neighborhood Association was formed in 1997 as a non-profit organization. The ge...

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ParkLands Foundation

ParkLands Foundation was chartered in 1967 as a private, non-profit corporation under Illinois ...

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Price School Social Club, 1946-1973 (Bloomington Township)

The Price School Social Club was a group of women associated with Price School, which was locat...

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Quill Club

A local literary organization affiliated with the State and National American Pen Women’s Organ...

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Red Cross

This collection holds the educational materials used by Stella Bennett, a certified Red Cross I...

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Rock of Praisers

Michael Louanna Casey-Beich organized the Rock of Praisers in 1990 from her home at 1107 E Jeff...

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Sister City Asahikawa

This collection contains correspondence, budgets, fundraiser information, newspaper clippings, ...

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Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War

The Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) Collection consists of personal and for...

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Tau Epsilon Delta

In January 1931, Louise Muxfeld organized a group of Bloomington High School girls into the Gam...

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The Auxiliary to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (ASUVCW)

The ASUVCW Collection consists of encampment proceedings (1933-40), constitutions and by-laws, ...

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The Voice of the Black Community (Newspaper)

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Toastmasters (Smedley) Collection

Born in Waverly IL in 1878, Ralph C. Smedley graduated Illinois Wesleyan University in 1903 and...

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Turners in Bloomington

William “Bill” Adams (1927-2013) grew up in a family which participated in the Turner organizat...

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United Way of McLean County

In 1935, local community leaders founded the Community Chest of McLean County that later became...

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Valley of Bloomington Scottish Rite

The Valley of Bloomington is part of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the Ancient Accepted ...

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Veterans of World War 1 Barracks

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

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Vietnam Moving Wall

Several organizations present a "Moving Wall" -- a scaled down replica of the Vietnam...

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Voice for Choice

Founded in mid-1989, Voice for Choice was a local organization “devoted to ensuring the right t...

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Woman's Club of Bloomington-Normal

The Woman’s Club of Bloomington-Normal collection consists of two boxes. The dates of the mate...

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YWCA

The YWCA organization was founded in England in 1855, but women were active in the organization...

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Young Men’s Club

Materials in the collection include club introductory information, several versions of the cons...

Finding Aid

Publications

2 items

History of the Illinois Association of Club Women and Girls, Inc. 1901-1975

In presenting to the Illinois Association of Club Women and Girls, Inc. this history, we must f...

Publication

Home Town in the Corn Belt, Volume 5: Home Town Clubs and Organizations

In this volume of Home Town on the Corn Belt, articles ranging from The Amateur Musical Club to...

Publication

Research

1 item

Post Amerikan

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

Article

Speakers Bureau

1 item

Lucy's Girls: Lucy Orme Morgan and the Girl's Industrial Home

Speakers Bureau

Videos

4 items

Lunch & Learn -- Arcadia: America's Playable Arcade Museum

Video

Lunch & Learn: The Land of the Giants from Atlanta, Illinois with Bill Thomas

Video

Lunch & Learn: What's New at the Zoo with Jay Pratte

Video

The Pantagraph: Images to Inform and Inspire

Video