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Curating Illinois Quaker History – An Interview with Sofia Caruso and Emily Gutknecht

Banner for exhibit. Exhibit title is The Quakers of Illinois: Social Concerns and Westward Migration. It is located in the Main Library in Room 324. The open hours ae Monday through Friday, 9am to 12pm, and 1pm to 5pm.

This spring, the IHLC opened The Quakers of Illinois: Social Concerns and Westward Migration, an exhibit exploring the history of the Religious Society of Friends, or the Quakers, in Illinois throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Read about graduate student Sofia Caruso and undergraduate student Emily Gutknecht’s experiences and insights researching and curating the exhibit.

Two glass exhibit cases displaying The Quakers of Illinois: Social Concerns and Westward Migration. The cases contain photographs, documents, and books. Between the cases is a poster with a photo of a house and some text about the exhibit.

How did the idea for the exhibit come about?

SC: In the fall of 2023, I began processing new additions to the Illinois Yearly Meeting papers in our Religious Society of Friends collection (MS 960). I was surprised by how involved the Religious Society of Friends had been with social movements of the 19th and early 20th centuries, especially for a religious group that is relatively small.… Read More

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#SmallTownSaturday – Farmer City, Illinois

Population-1815

Welcome back to Small Town Saturday! This week, we’ll be looking at Farmer City Illinois.

Farmer City, a small town in DeWitt County Illinois, had a complicated early life. The first town in the area was founded by a man by the name of Dennis Hurley, who arrived in 1830. He named the area “Hurley’s Grove,” though this name would not last long. Hurley would severely injure himself with the ramrod of his gun shortly after settling in the region. He was followed by Nathan Clearwater and Richard Kirby, with 9 families living in the area by 1835.

The image is a map of the triangular Santa Anna township in 1875, with Farmer City at the center of the township.
Map of Santa Anna Township in 1875, Image 27

By 1837, 19 families lived in Hurley’s Grove.… Read More

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The Danville Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers

In March of 1865, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill establishing the National Asylum (later renamed National Home) of Disabled Volunteer Soldiers into legislation, just three months before his assassination. Due to the severe impact of the Civil War, the idea of homes for disabled veterans had begun gaining favor in Congress. The war had a severe impact on the population of young men in the United States, with approximately two percent of the US population losing their lives and thousands of soldiers returning home injured.

A black and white portrait of an older man with a short white beard, wearing a suit jacket and bow-tie.
Joseph Gurney Cannon portrait by Hartsook Photo, 1915

After the bill establishing the National Home was signed into law, the federal government began selecting locations for branches.… Read More

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#SmallTownSaturday – Princeton, Illinois

After a few short years of hiatus, #SmallTownSaturday is back!

This month, we are looking at the town of Princeton in Bureau County, Illinois. The county was established in 1837, with Princeton as the county seat.

Figure 1: Bird’s eye view of the city of Princeton, Bureau County, Illinois circa 1870s

Princeton was formed in the early 1830s as a transplant colony for the Hampshire Colony Congregational Church of Northampton, Massachusetts. It became a stop of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad in the 1850s and began expanding quickly. Abraham Lincoln himself stopped in Princeton in 1854. Lincoln gave a well-attended speech in Bryant Woods on the Fourth of July 1854.… Read More