Newsroom

Robert D. Sampson talks about his new book, Ballists, Dead Beats, and Muffins, a first-ever history of early baseball in Illinois that adds the Prairie State game’s unique shadings and colorful stories to the history of the national pastime.

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.

Current or former residents of Madison County are invited to attend a second “History Harvest” on Saturday, January 21 from 11 A.M. – 2 P.M. at Collinsville Memorial Library. The library is located at 408 West Main Street in Collinsville. The focus of the History Harvest is to collect information for a future exhibit about immigration and migration to Madison County.

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.

County Board Chairman Debbie Smith has named District 5 County Board Member Adam Smith as the new Chairman of the Marion County Bicentennial Committee. Adam Smith has set the first meeting of the committee for this year for Wednesday, January 4, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. Everyone in the community is invited to attend this public meeting.