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

Soybean Varieties Advertisement
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)This Funk Brothers Seed Company advertisement show different varieties of soybeans.
Life Magazine Illustration of McLean County Hogs
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The caption from this Life Magazine photo of McLean County hogs reads, "Fat-sated hogs on Illinois farm wallow in thick carpet of shelled corn. Farmers prefer to waste corn on livestock rather than sell at ceiling prices.
King Corn from 1916 Corn Show
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)This cartoon shows how locals felt about the Bloomington Cornfest, depicting a man as King Corn.
Adlai E. Stevenson Farm 46 Report
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The report from the Adlai E. Stevenson Farm 46 in Heyworth in 1932 shows the number of acres devoted to each crop and their growing condition. Adlai E. Stevenson was a Democratic Party politician and dipolomat. He was elected Governor of Illinois in 1948 by a larger majority than any other candidate in the history of Illinois. He was the Democratic Party's candidate for Pre...
Block House, Carlock, Illinois
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)This concrete block home south of Carlock, Illinois, was built around 1900.
Cornbelt Cube
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)This home, constructed around the turn of the 20th century, is called a Cornbelt Cube, or American Foursquare, because of its shape.
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.
Barn Raising
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)McLean County, Illinois, men pose for a picture during a barn raising.
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.
Laying Tile About 1940
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)Workers lay drainage tile in a trench of a field about 1940.
Corn Husking Contest
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)An arial photo of a corn husking contest at Funk's Farm with hundreds of spectators.
Corn Sheller Advertisement
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)This is an ad for a corn sheller, which would provide feed by removing kernels from the cob.
Plank Fence
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)This plank fence at the Karr Homestead has a wide range of planks used, and a snake fence with riders or braces in the center.
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.
Bloomington High School Band
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The members of the Bloomington High School Band pose in full uniform.
Men in corn wagons
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)Two men in overalls sit in wooden wagons full of corn as horses pull them.
Farmer in field pulled by horses
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)A farmer, pulled by two horses, harvests a field before combines were popular. His barn and residence are in the background.
Field of Shocked Corn
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)A field of shocked corn in McLean County shows how farmers prepared for the harvest.
Farmers inspecting corn
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)Three farmers in hats wear pouches around their necks while inspecting Funk's corn.
Corn Belt Bank, Bloomington, Illinois
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The Corn Belt Bank building in downtown Bloomington is six stories high, one of the tallest in the city. A horse and carriage wait on the street outside.
Corn Exhibit Photograph
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)A photo of the 'Just Corn: The Amaizing Story' exhibit inside the McLean County Museum of History in 1997. Panels of related photos and logos of seed companies are shown.
Arctic Ice Company Advertisement
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The Arctic Ice Company was one of several local manufacturing companies in Bloomington, Illinois, which ultimately failed.
International Tapetronics Corporation
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)International Tapetronics Corporation (ITC)'s version of the automated radio station, as used by WFYR Radio in Chicago, about 1974.
Diamond Star Groundbreaking
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The groundbreaking ceremony for Diamond Star Motors factory in Bloomington-Normal on April 16, 1986.
Bloomington Pork Packing Company
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)In 1872, William Van Schoick combined his company with three partners to form the Bloomington Pork Packing Company. The company butchered 15,000 hogs annually, but ultimately failed, due to competition from national producers in the 1890s.
Isaac and Cassandra Funk
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)Isaac and Cassandra Funk were important early settlers of McLean County.
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.
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.
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.
Karr Homestead, Bloomington, Illinois
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)The Karr homestead near Bloomington, photographed about 1885, shows an example of what pioneer field and fences were like.
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.
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.
Automated Corn Planting
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)In 1995, a tractor attached to an automated corn planter seeds a field. Bags of Ciba seed are used.
Corn Design on Float
Image | Teaching with Digital Content (Cultural Heritage Community)A close-up look at a unique design made of corn on a float in the Bloomington Cornfest parade.

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