Illinois Heritage

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.

In this issue of Illinois Heritage we explore the “Badger Huts” of Jo Daviess County, the destruction of an elegant Italianate farm house in Springfield, the remarkable career of author and editor William Maxwell, Ottawa’s tent colony for the treatment of tuberculosis patients, the elegant art of Christia M. Reade, Joseph Harker’s ascent from the coal mines of southern Illinois to the presidency of the Illinois Woman’s College in Jacksonville, and so much more, including several newly installed historical markers around the state.

If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to renew your ISHS membership. In the coming weeks you will be receiving reminders in the mail from the University of Illinois Press, which handles our subscription and membership renewals. Early renewals help cut down on costs and give us a leg up on the new year. Thanks to all of you who have already sent in your renewals. We look forward to hearing from you in 2022.

William Furry
Executive Director

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.

The presence of humans in the Illinois Country goes back at least 12,000 years, and some archaeologists would push that envelope even further into the past. We find footprints of prehistoric peoples all over the landscape of the Prairie State, and we have ample evidence of their physical presence in cultural artifacts found in museums and historical society collections from Galena to Golconda, Chicago to Cairo. In this issue of Illinois Heritage, our goal is to shine a spotlight on the people who called Illinois home before Europeans arrived on America’s shores.

We also profile southern Illinois historian John Allen and visit the sites of three new historical markers around the state.

Be safe, share your Heritage, and, if you are able, make a donation to the Society in support of our annual appeal. As always, thanks for your membership in the ISHS. With your help, we do great deeds.

Prairie State history is seldom as pristine as our cover might suggest.

Sometimes it is downright gritty…and then there are the horseflies and gnats. But it is always interesting and sometimes downright fascinating. The September-October issue offers so many examples, from the profiles of Ethel Mars, John Dos Passos, Harriett Rendall, and Ada Miser Kepley to the fascinating essay on Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas, author of the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, which propelled Abraham Lincoln into the White House, provoked a Civil War, and led to the Emancipation Proclamation. Douglas biographer Reg Ankrom opens a window to our past, where we can reflect on the unresolved conflicts that have contributed to our social unrest today. It’s all good reading in your Illinois Heritage.

Thanks again, to all of you who contributed to our COVID 19 appeal, which helped get us through a difficult summer. May you all stay well, and may the autumn fall colorfully, and gently, in Illinois.