Newsroom

I Grew Up in War Housing: The History of Defense Housing Projects in East Alton, Illinois 1941-1954, a new book by Philip David Walkington, offers a firsthand depiction of growing up in a WWII defense housing project during an unparalleled time in American history.

The Illinois State Historical Society's 2018 Centennial Business Awards luncheon will be held in Springfield at the newly restored Illinois Governor’s Mansion on September 22. If you are a previous Centennial Business Award winner, you are invited to this special Illinois bicentennial event. Invitations will be going out soon.

The 2018 King V. Hostick Scholarship recipients were announced in early June by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the Illinois State Historical Society. This year’s scholarship winners come from across the nation, and represent the finest new scholarship in Prairie State history.

Thanks to the General John A. Logan Museum, Murphysboro, Illinois, for permission to reprint this article and General Order 11 from the museum's website. For more information go to: http://www.loganmuseum.org/index.php/memorial-day.

On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, as Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), issued General Order No. 11 designating May 30 “for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion.”  Logan’s General Order, his Memorial Day Order, established Memorial Day as a national holiday. 

ATTENTION TEACHERS AND EDUCATORS

The Make Reconstruction History Visible mapping project (a Zinn Education Project) is an opportunity for students and teachers to identify and advocate for public recognition of Reconstruction history in their community and the significant accomplishments made by newly freed people and their white allies.