The Champaign-Urbana Historical Clocks Society’s collection has both a physical component and a digital component. The physical collection consists of ten clocks located throughout the Champaign-Urbana area, and the digital component includes surrogate images of the clocks. These clocks are of historical significance and reflect various collecting techniques. The collection has a geographic focus limited to the Champaign-Urbana region. In order to meet the criteria of historically significant, the clock must date pre-1940, have a market value exceeding $500, or be considered rare; that is, there are not many remaining examples of the clock or not any examples in the Champaign-Urbana area, and/or the clock was owned by a member of the Champaign-Urbana area. CUHCS follows the standards and best practices outlined by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). In particular, the CUCHS strives to meet the collection stewardship standard that the society, “guided by its mission, provides public access to its collections while ensuring their preservation.”
The purpose of the collection is to raise awareness of historical clocks in the Champaign-Urbana, provide access to the clocks on both a physical and digital level, provide additional resources for both the casual and professional researcher, and to preserve the clocks for future access and educational purposes. Currently, eight of these clocks are included in a guided tour led by Emeritus Professor and local horologist Dr. Bruce Hannon. Information about these clocks is located on the society’s webpage, including provenance, historical background, physical descriptions, and context details. For the purposes of access and preservation, a digitized video of the tour along with surrogate digital images of the clocks are located on the webpage. The webpage also includes additional resources that will be of use to those who have a general interest in local history, clock collectors, and clock owners as well as resources that will aid researchers interested in more in-depth information on the collection and horology. These resources include hyperlinks to other horology collections such as the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors library, information on the care and maintenance of clocks, and information relating to horology in the Champaign-Urbana area.
Dr. Bruce Hannon, with the help of CUHCS funds, is responsible for the maintenance and preservation of these clocks. The CUHCS also maintains the digital collection. Additional items that relate tangentially to the clocks in the collection and/or the local history of these clocks are acquired by the CUHCS. Some items of interest to the collection are privately held, and the CUHCS works with the private collection to provide information on about these items on the society’s webpage. If you are interested in donating a clock or items relating to the clocks currently held in the collection, please contact the acquisitions manager.
Copyright applies to the digital surrogates available on the website and you must obtain permission before reproducing these images for commercial purposes. Fair use policy (Section 107) also applies if you are planning on using the images for educational purposes.
“Collections Stewardship.” American Alliance of Museums. http://www.aam-us.org/resources/ethics-standards-and-best-practices/characteristics-of-excellence-for-u-s-museums/collections-stewardship.
Miller, Andrew Hayes. Illinois Horology: A Brief View into the Land of Lincoln. Columbia, PA: National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, 1977.
The National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors, Inc. www.nawcc.org.