Illinois Heritage

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.

This issue of Illinois Heritage is delighted to share Prairie State history by some of our favorite contributors—John Hallwas, James Cornelius, Kristan McKinsey, Mark Sorensen, Beth Young and Bill Kemp—as well as a few new ones, including Dean Karau, whose original piece on Richard Carroll is a fascinating portrait of an African American man’s journey up from slavery to post-Civil War Illinois.

We also meet Christina M. Shutt, the new executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM), explore several central Illinois cemeteries, and contemplate the possibilities of the nation’s 250th birthday, which John Dichtl, CEO and President of the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH), shares with us in his “Guestwork” piece. Also included in this issue is the Illinois Humanities (IH) Executive Summary, “On Wisdom and Vision: humanities organizations in Illinois during COVID-19,” which reflects on this past pandemic year and how more than 177 Illinois humanities-focused organizations weathered the storm.

Enjoy Illinois. Read Illinois history. Share your Heritage. Better yet, buy a membership for a friend. Some gifts never stop giving.

To our readers:

The nominations are in and buzz is building. If you have not already done so, mark your calendars for Friday, April 24 and the “Best of Illinois History Awards Gala,” the night the Illinois State Historical Society celebrates the people, organizations, authors, museums, and historical societies that made history in the Prairie State in 2019. If you haven’t already received your invitation in the mail, call us. We’ll have one in the mail before you can name the state fossil.

This issue of Illinois Heritage contains articles on several fascinating people, places, and events in our state’s past that will stir your imagination, bring you closer to the essence of Illinois and, perhaps, stoke your own creative fires.

Thank you for reading Illinois Heritage. Your membership and gifts keep this organization vital and relevant. We cannot serve Illinois history without you.

On the Cover: "The Chicago Bean," symbol of the city's growth, rebirth, and regeneration. Photo courtesy City of Chicago.

This issue of Illinois Heritage is chockablock with interesting snapshots of the "City of Neighborhoods," as Chicago is sometimes known. Sherry Williams offers and account of growing up African American in the Englewood neighborhood during the tumultuous Civil Rights era. Speaking of "two Chicagos, one black, and one white, separate and unequal," Christopher Ramsey details the ups and downs of the Chicago Lawn neighborhood, commonly known as Marquette Park. And Devin Hunter adapts his Laoyola University dissertation on Uptown to share with us what he's learned about on of Chicago's more intriguing neighborhoods. Just north of Uptown is Andersonville, an old Swedish neighborhood that today is home to one of the largest gay and lesbian communities in all the Midwest. Peter Ellertsen tells us about this neighborhood - then and now. Ray Hanania examines the history of Arabs - Christian and Muslim  - both in the city and suburbs. Last, William Fury takes the reader on a sensory-filled tour of Chinatown.

As always, happy reading... Bill Kemp (Guest Editor)