News Archive

The Winter 2022 issue of the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society is now available. The Journal, the scholarly publication of the ISHS, is published quarterly and is a benefit of membership in the Illinois State Historical Society. Each issue includes articles, essays, book reviews, and documents about history, literature, art technology, law, and other subjects related to Illinois and the Midwest. Visit our Membership page for membership options and information. Click on the “Read More” button to read this issue's Editor's Comments and see a list of articles and reviews included in this issue.

This issue of Illinois Heritage is full of fascinating stories about Illinoisans who have made a difference in Illinois and Midwestern history, starting with Robert Preston Taylor, a lawyer and scientist who worked at the Illinois State Museum; William Edgar Brotherton, WWI aviator who flew with famed pilot Eddie Rickenbacker; and the unveiling of a new ISHS public history initiative, “The Land and the People Hold Memories,” an opportunity for post WWII citizens to write about their experiences between 1946-1975.

The Heritage is published six times per year and is available as a benefit of membership in the Illinois State Historical Society. Individual editions can also be purchased by contacting our office directly. Visit our Membership section for membership options and information.

Click on the “Read More” button to see this issue’s Editor's Comments, Table of Contents, and sample articles.

We invite you to submit a proposal to present at the 25th Annual Conference on Illinois History.

The conference will take place on October 5-6, 2023. This conference is a great opportunity for historians, students, educators, and anyone interested in Illinois history to come together and share their knowledge and insights. We hope that you will consider submitting a proposal and joining us in October.

Looking ahead to the new year, the 2023 calendar is filling fast, with historical happenings popping up across Illinois like mushrooms on a warm spring day. We’re already planning historical marker unveilings in East St. Louis, Peoria, Decatur, Secor, Bloomington, Mt. Vernon, and several other cities, thanks to a grant from the WilliamG. Pomeroy Foundation of Syracuse, New York, and the dedicated volunteers who promote local history in their communities. We’re also getting ready for the annual “Best of Illinois History” awards, which takes place in April and honors historians, archivists, exhibitors, museum curators, writers, and the lifetime achievements of individuals whose passion for local history has changed lives, attitudes, and neighbor- hoods. Watch for details in Illinois Heritage and make your reservations early to join us for the celebration in Springfield.

The Conference on Illinois History is accepting proposals that deal with the history, culture, politics, geography, anthropology, sociology, or archaeology of Illinois. We also welcome proposals that use Illinois history as a lens to understand a regional, national, or international issue. The Conference is scheduled for October 5 & 6, 2023 at the  Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois.

In the spring of 2023, the Illinois State Historical Society will launch a statewide project to encourage local historical societies to promote the writing of short memoirs—roughly one to three typed pages—by older residents which reflect their Illinois experience in the post-World War II era (the later 1940s, the 1950s, and the 1960s). A selection of those will then be published, either in a collection devoted to memoirs of that area within the state (which would be locally funded and sold) or in a series for a local newspaper or a society newsletter.

The Summer/Fall 2022 issue of the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society is now available. The Journal, the scholarly publication of the ISHS, is published quarterly and is a benefit of membership in the Illinois State Historical Society. Each issue includes articles, essays, book reviews, and documents about history, literature, art technology, law, and other subjects related to Illinois and the Midwest. Visit our Membership page for membership options and information. Click on the “Read More” button to read this issue's Editor's Comments and see a list of articles and reviews included in this issue.

Editor’s note: The Illinois State Historical Society is the proud recipient of a three-year, matching grant from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation® (Syracuse, New York) to place 25 new historical markers around the state that focus on marginalized or neglected narratives in Illinois history. Deryn Pomeroy, Trustee and Director of Strategic Initiatives of the foundation, agreed to answer these questions we posed to her.

There is so much history in the November-December issue of Illinois Heritage, and our list of contributors continues to grow. Bucky Halker’s portrait of Woody Guthrie in Illinois is a fascinating look at a 20th century icon not generally associated with the Prairie State, and Dave Joens’ “Breaking up is Hard to Do,” a  discussion of Illinois’s contentious sectionalism, explores the many aborted paths to secession in our 204-year history. Chris Suerdieck’s “The First Burger King” tells us about a mom-and-pop hamburger joint in Mattoon that made headlines simply by sticking to a winning recipe, and we say goodbye to Dr. G. Cullom Davis, a friend and colleague who changed the way we do history.

In this issue of Illinois Heritage we take a canoe trip with “Ernie” Hemingway and his chums down the Des Plaines and Illinois rivers, meet a celebrated children’s author and artist from Macomb, investigate Chicago’s “Babbling Burglar” and his gang of bent cops, plant trees in Kewanee with some enterprising high school students, and explore the evolution of the Illinois prairie into an agricultural incubator for farming innovations around the world.