The 2021 ISHS History Symposium will be online starting April 15. The program is a combination of recorded, on-demand sessions and live sessions (April 22-24). With the theme "Changing Historical Landscapes," the lineup features historians, artists, and community members engaged in efforts to reimagine, reinvigorate, and revise commemoration and historical interpretation throughout the state.

Live sessions will be broadcast via Zoom Webinar and the ISHS YouTube Channel. Attendees must complete a simple, free registration for each live session.The Symposium schedule and registration links can be found here.

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.

This past year was challenging on multiple levels, not just because of the pandemic but due to the stress our museums, historical societies, and other educational communities have endured to keep our doors open (even when closed), and to give our staffs and volunteers meaningful tasks and goals to achieve. How empowering to know that even in an international crisis and lockdown we still can enrich other lives by sharing our Illinois history. Our “Best of Illinois History” celebration takes place over Zoom beginning at 4 p.m., on Friday, April 23.