200 North Main St | Bloomington, Illinois | 309-827-0428
200 North Main St | Bloomington, Illinois | 309-827-0428
Trench art has been created in a number of places besides battlefield trenches – army hospitals, POW camps, machine shops, and towns and villages miles away from the action. Read this post to learn about some trench art in our collection, made by military personnel from McLean County
The Museum owns a very unique method used to transport illegal hooch; a prohibition doll.
Maybe I have spring fever. Or, maybe it's my excitement for the upcoming play, “Old Hoss" which will be performed March 7th - 9th here in our Governor Fifer Courtroom. Whatever the reason, I'm ready for some baseball; and, what better time to share one of the Museum's most beloved treasures!
Julia LeBeau (1903-1994) was the daughter of George and Nettie LeBeau, owners of a Bloomington music shop. In 1906 she decided she wanted a xylophone, but her father didn't want to spend the money — he didn't think she'd stick with it. Instead, he built this tin-can xylophone for her, using fruit, fish, and vegetable cans purchased from a downtown Bloomington grocery.
The Museum recently received a Normal Sanitary Dairy baseball uniform worn during the late 1930s and early 1940s. Located at 301 Broadway in Normal, the Normal Sanitary Dairy sold milk and other dairy products to McLean County residents from 1930 to 1959.
In observance of Movember, Museum staff thought it would be fun to highlight some historic 'staches of McLean County.
Museum volunteer Amy Miller recently donated a sizable collection of dance cards and other local ephemera* including this October 4, 1913 flier for a dance at Colfax's Central Opera House.