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Religion

A Community in Conflict

2 items

1874
In 1874, the temperance women of Bloomington worked hard to get an ordinance passed that would prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages.

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

3 items

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

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

Twin Cities once hosted own Chautauqua
“The most American thing in America.” That’s what Theodore Roosevelt said of the Chautauqua mov...

Article

Biographies

7 items

Hamilton, Kate Waterman
Kate Waterman Hamilton was born on November 12, 1841 in Schenectady, New York the only daughter...

Biography

Jane Hendryx

Hendryx, Jane Frankeberger
Jane Frankeberger was born in Champaign County, Ohio on September 4, 1818 to Jesse and his seco...

Biography

Florence Kaywood

Kaywood, Florence Stevens
Florence (Stevens) Kaywood was born on October 8, 1864 to William and Sarah (Shields) Stevens i...

Biography

Sigmund Livingston

Livingston, Sigmund
Read Must Men Hate onlineSigmund Livingston was born on December 27, 1872 in Giessen, Germany. ...

Biography

William Major

Major, William Trabue
William Trabue Major was born on March 1st, 1790 about three miles from Frankfort, Kentucky.  H...

Biography

Melinda Rankin headstone

Rankin, Melinda
Melinda Rankin was born in Littleton, New Hampshire on March 21, 1811. She attended and taught ...

Biography

Thompson, Jennie
Jane “Jennie” Lynd Thompson was born on October 28, 1860 in Bond Head, Canada—located in the pr...

Biography

Blog

10 items

American Passion Play Behind the Curtain, 1963
The American Passion Play, staged in Bloomington since 1923, is the oldest such retelling of th...

Blog Post

Father Ric Schneider Named 2016 History Makers Honoree
Born July 21, 1932 in Louisville, KYSince Father Ric Schneider arrived in Bloomington to become...

Blog Post

Fourth Generation American Passion Play, 1961
The American Passion Play, staged right here in Bloomington, is the nation’s oldest such stagin...

Blog Post

Holiness Tabernacle Normal, 1929
The Central Illinois Holiness Association, an interdenominational camp meeting grounds, is situ...

Blog Post

Lost Bloomington Grace Methodist Church
Grace Methodist Church, located on the northwest corner of East and Locust streets, was dedicat...

Blog Post

Lost Treasure of Bloomington First Church of Christ, Scientist
Designed by Bloomington architect Arthur L. Pillsbury, this Classical Revival-style First Churc...

Blog Post

Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church Bloomington, June 9, 1940
Founded in October 1865 as South Hill Baptist Church, Mt Pisgah Baptist Church has played an im...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 30: Gertrude Fifer and Grandson Joe Bohrer
Unitarian Church, Downtown Bloomington Easter Day 1932, Seen here are Gertrude Lewis Fifer and ...

Blog Post

Private Joe’ Fifer Laid to Rest August 8, 1938
Seen here are pallbearers bringing the casket of Joseph “Private Joe” Fifer into the old downto...

Blog Post

Unitarian Church of Bloomington 209 N. East St., undated
Bloomington has a rich Unitarian tradition. Seen here is the old Unitarian Church in downtown B...

Blog Post

Finding Aids

33 items

Bach, William
William R. Bach, son of William and Sophia (Koehler) Bach, was born December 10, 1871 in Bloomi...

Finding Aid

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

Finding Aid

Bloomington Methodist Congregations
This collection contains a variety of histories of early Methodism in Bloomington.  The focus i...

Finding Aid

Bloomington-Normal Black History Project
Finding aid for the 6-box archival collection ...

Finding Aid

Breen, Rev. Frank L.
Rev. Frank L. Breen (1886-1967) was a prominent local Protestant minister in Bloomington.  He w...

Finding Aid

Brown, George W.
The George W. Brown collection is a compilation of personal documents of the Brown family and t...

Finding Aid

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

Finding Aid

Christmas
Christmas is an annual winter festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primar...

Finding Aid

Church Records
This collection contains record books, meeting minutes, financial information, membership lists...

Finding Aid

Church Women United
From 1941 to today women of the Church Women United Movement have held a vision of Christian un...

Finding Aid

East Bay Camp
The collection includes correspondence involving camp founders, newspaper clippings, camp newsl...

Finding Aid

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

Finding Aid

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

Finding Aid

German Baptist Church
The German Baptist Church of Bloomington, Illinois, was located at the southwest corner of West...

Finding Aid

German Evangelical Church
This collection includes newsletters, bulletins, anniversary booklets with church histories, ne...

Finding Aid

Holy Trinity Church and Schools
The first time the name "Holy Trinity" appears in the directories for Bloomington was...

Finding Aid

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

Finding Aid

McLean County Clergy Staff / Ministerial Association Collection
The McLean County Clergy Staff / Ministerial Association Collection was donated on September 19...

Finding Aid

Moses Montefiore Temple
On May 14, 1882, a group of men of the Jewish faith met in Bloomington “for the purpose of form...

Finding Aid

Patrinmar Bridge Club
The Patrinmar Bridge Club was a club for Catholic women, established in 1928 by the Rev. Stephe...

Finding Aid

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

Finding Aid

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

Finding Aid

Second Presbyterian Church Collection
The Second Presbyterian Church was founded in 1855 as The New School Presbyterian Church, and w...

Finding Aid

St. John’s Lutheran Church
This collection contains biographical information, historical information, directories, bulleti...

Finding Aid

St. Joseph’s School of Nursing
St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing was a Catholic institution conducted by the Sisters of Th...

Finding Aid

St. Mary’s of Bloomington Church and School
St. Mary’s Catholic Church also known as the German Catholic Church was founded in 1867 by the ...

Finding Aid

Travis, Joan M. Spiritualism
The Joan M. Travis Spiritualism Collection consists of items about the concept of spiritualism ...

Finding Aid

University Christian Church
The collection contains booklets produced by the University Christian Church, directories, outr...

Finding Aid

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

Finding Aid

Wayman AME Church Archaeology
In the summer of 1992, an archeological excavation was conducted at the Wayman A.M.E. (African ...

Finding Aid

West Twin Grove Christian Church
The first meeting of what would eventually be West Twin Grove Christian Church was organized by...

Finding Aid

Western Avenue Community Center
Western Avenue Community Center (WACC) opened in 1926 when Reverend Frank Breen and a group of ...

Finding Aid

Withers Home
When Sarah B. Withers died in 1897, she left her home at 305 West Locust Street in Bloomington,...

Finding Aid

Making a Home

7 items

Burtis Family
The settlement of the frontier was often one of speculation. Buy land cheap, raise the price, a...

Digital Exhibit

John Benjamin
When John R. Benjamin, his wife Sarah, and their two children arrived in Illinois in the sprin...

Digital Exhibit

Maria del Socorro Luna del Real
In 1975 Maria del Socorro Luna del Real piled into a station wagon with her seven younger sibli...

Digital Exhibit

O'Neil Family
Mary Motherway O’Neil lost her husband from fever at the height of the Irish famine. Because sh...

Digital Exhibit

Vaughan Family
In 1857 Hugh Vaughan, together with several other families, left Wales seeking a better life. T...

Digital Exhibit

William and Henry Wells
Brothers William and Henry Wells had both been born into slavery. They were free men when they ...

Digital Exhibit

Zook Family
Yost and Susan Hoestetler Zook arrived in 1850 with sons Adam and Jacob, and daughters Catherin...

Digital Exhibit

Oral Histories

4 items

Caribel Washington
Caribel Washington lived most of her life in Bloomington.  She graduated from Bloomington High ...

Oral History

Lucy Woosley

Oral History

Manny and Margot Mendoza

Oral History

Robert and Lillian Augusta Boykin
Social clubs, Union Baptist Church, domestic, yard & railroad work, farm life & sharecr...

Oral History

Publications

4 items

History of Holy Trinity Parish, Bloomington, Illinois

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

Wayman AME Church A 175 Year Jubilant Journey Book
We are on a “Jubilant Journey” that has covered 175 years of ministering in McLean County. We a...

Publication

Wayman AME Church: One Hundred Fifty Years Of History
History of Wayman AME Church, including past clergy and an archaeological dig of the Center St....

Publication

Research

1 item

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

Article

Videos

1 item

The Saints and the State: The Mormon Troubles in Illinois

Video