Items | Digital Collections at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library

Weston Depot
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The small wooden depot served the town of Weston, Illinois. Multiple railroad tracks can be seen in the foreground.
Wreckage of the Bloomington Fire
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The damaged Bloomington skyline is visible beyond the courthouse square. A streetcar and a crowd of people are visible in the foreground. June 19, 1900, much of the center of Bloomington was destroyed by a fire that started in the Model Laundry. Flames spread rapidly and destroyed many buildings in a four square block area of the city. No businesses failed because of the fir...
Circus performers on trapeze
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)Trapeze artists fly through the air in Bloomington, Illinois.
Bloomington High School Band
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The members of the Bloomington High School Band pose in full uniform.
Pantagraph Bindery
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)This photo shows The Book Bindery of The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Illinois. The Pantagraph newspaper first published in 1837. It was two years older than the Chicago Tribune, and was a well-respected newspaper. There were many newspapers published in McLean County, many of them in Bloomington and Normal.
The Comet' Airship
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The photos shows the dirigible "The Comet" on top of the Klemm building. It was piloted by Captain George Yager. It was the first controllable aircraft to appear in McLean County.
Lincoln Beachey
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The Lincoln Beachey, an early aircraft, is shown at the LeRoy Fair, Illinois. Fairgoers can be seen in the background.
Barn Raising
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)McLean County, Illinois, men pose for a picture during a barn raising.
Clay Pot
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)This clay pot was used by the Mississippian Indians. An important use was food storage.
Madison' Projectile Points
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)Four small to medium-sized thin triangular arrowheads. The points are usually like isosceles triangles in shape, or more rarely, equilateral triangles.
Grooved axe
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The grooved axe was a tool used by the Archaic Indians. It was made of stone.
Feeding the Chickens
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)Two young boys feed the chickens in rural McLean County, Illinois. Farmers in the area might also have raised hogs, cattle or sheep and grown grain.
Threshing Crew
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)Members of a threshing crew pose with their thresher near Carlock, Illinois, in 1887.
Skinner School, Hudson Township, Illinois (exterior)
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The children of Skinner School, Hudson Township, Illinois, pose with their schoolteacher in front of their schoolhouse.
Johnny Ramseyer and His Pig
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)Johnny Ramseyer poses with his pig "Columbia" in the split rail pen.
Gun Lock Plate
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)This gun lock plate is made of iron. It was a trade item - white settlers traded the gun plate to the Kickapoo.
Taxi Wreck
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)A crowd of people surround a wrecked taxi cab on a Bloomington, Illinois, street corner. The rear half of the taxi is demolished.
Bloomington - Normal Street Car
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The photo shows street cars that were part of the street railway system. The viaduct under the C&A tracks in Normal is shown, and it is still used by an occasional auto.
Wisconsin Dells Excursion
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)A group of McLean County, Illinois, residents take a boat excursion in the Wisconsin Dells.
O'Neill Bros. Grocery
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)A group of men standing in front of the O'Neill Grocery at 1102 W. Chestnut Street, Bloomington, Illinois.
Major Nolton Engine, close-up
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)This close-up of the Major Nolton Engine shows details like the antlers, lights, etc.
Pantagraph Composing Room
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The Composing Room of The Pantagraph Printing & Stationery Company, Bloomington, Illinois, is detailed in this photo.
Market Street School
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The children and teacher of Market Street School pose in front of their schoolhouse.
Report Card
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)This is an 1886 Report Card from the Bloomington Public Schools. It belonged to Fanny Perry.
Twelve-horse Hitch
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)This photo shows a 12-horse hitch being used to plow a field in McLean County, Illinois.
Plowing
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)Two men and their horses plow fields near Bloomington, Illinois.
Stubblefield Horse
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)A Percheron horse stands in the foreground of the Stubblefield Stables. A lot of farm work was carried out with the help of Percheron or Norman horses, which were bred and sold in Normal, Illinois.
Reaping Hook or Sickle
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The sickle was used to cut the grain during the harvesting process. It was then threshed with a wooden flail and cleaned by tossing it into the air with a fork.
Snowbirds
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)Survivors of the severe winters called themselves "Snowbirds", and they would meet annually to relive their memories.
Prayer Stick
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)This prayer stick was used by the "Praying Kickapoo" in the 1830's. It is carved with symbolic characters.
Bone Awls
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)Bone awls were commonly used by the Mississippian Indians. They were used to punch holes in skins, clay, etc. They were commonly made of turkey leg bone.
100 West Washington Street, Bloomington, Illinois
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)Photograph of Washington Street in Bloomington, Illinois in 1904. The image includes text describing each of the numbered items.
Lost Lake' Chert Blade
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)This is a blade used by the Archaic Indians. Made of chert, it has a notch on either side.
Centennial Parade, Bloomington, Illinois
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)A float travels down the street near the west side of the square. The crowds are watching the Centennial Parade, Bloomington, Illinois.
Maize Illustration
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The first illustration of maize in the herbals from De Historia Stirpium of Leonhard Fuchs.
Wickizer Bakery, interior
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)Breads and rolls fill the counter of the Wickizer Bakery, which was at 603 N. Main, Bloomington, Illinois.
Bloomington, Illinois
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The photo shows South Center Street in Bloomington, Illinois, around 1857. Shops, sidewalks, livestock, etc. are all visible.
Rosencrans School, interior
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The interior of the Rosencrans School, Illinois, is decorated with pictures and paper chains. The children and their teacher are seated at their desks.
Carved Bone Hand
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)This carved bone hand was used in glove-making. Glove-making was one of the early cottage industries of pioneer Illinois.
Kickapoo Wahkwahpoakuk
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)Wahkwahpoakuk was a Kickapoo Indian who lived on the Kickapoo reservation in Kansas. He was photographed by Milo Custer who visited there between 1906 and 1911.

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