Aldrich, Frank W.

While Frank Aldrich was a banker by trade, he was remembered by many, locally and internationally, because of his hobbies. In his obitu...

Antique Study Group

The Antique Study Groups were sponsored by the McLean County Cooperative Extension Service.  The groups met regularly to learn about an...

As You Like It Club

Organized in 1914 with twelve members, this women’s literary group has programs in members’ homes each month. Individual members presen...

Bloomington Club

The Bloomington Club was formed on September 13, 1886. The Club was the idea of a young lawyer, William H. Beaver, who was new to Bloom...

Bloomington Gold (Corvette Show)

In 1973, the first Bloomington Corvette Corral event took place.  By 1977, the Bloomington Corvette Corral had grown to be the biggest ...

Bloomington History Club

The History Club of Bloomington was founded in 1880 as a group of women who would meet monthly to read papers on an assigned topic....

Bloomington-Normal Garden Club

The Bloomington-Normal Garden Club was formed in 1931, originally part of the Art Association. Its purpose was to enable members to sha...

Bloomington-Normal Junior Women’s Club

Women’s Clubs began to form in 1890 when the General Federation of Women’s Clubs organized. Illinois Federation of Women’s Clubs was or...

Bloomington, Illinois Aviation 1920, 1930, 1940

Aviation buff Marion McClure donated these materials which he used in compiling a 1998 book entitled Bloomington, Illinois Aviation 192...

Castalian Club

Twelve members of the Travel Club resigned and formed the Castalian Club at the home of Sara Hart in Bloomington, Illinois, on November...

Central Social Club (Randolph Township)

The Central Social Club, originally known as the Diamond Grove Club, was a women’s club originally established by Mrs. H. H. Waggoner, ...

Clio Club Collection

In 1895, the idea for a literary club took root at the home of Nannie Orme Dyson. Nannie was the daughter of Colonel William McCulloug...
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Community Players

In 1923 a women's club met in Bloomington and discussed creating a group to perform some amateur theatricals. The first production...

Corn Belt Philatelic Society

This collection includes Corn Belt Philatelic Society Chatter Newsletters for Dec 1965 through March 1989. Many vintage cancelled stamp...

Diaries Collection

Diaries from 1848-1960, information on diarists, and supporting documents....
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Ezra M. Prince

Ezra Prince, a prolific local historian, was born in Maine in 1831. He attended Harvard University and moved to Bloomington in 1856 and...

Finley, Ada Collection

Ada was born in Hudson, Illinois, to George and Josie Lentz on July 19, 1898. She married Stephen Eugene (Gene) Finley on September 8, ...

Four O’ Clock History Club

In October 1888, twelve young women met after school to launch the Four O’ Clock History Club. The object of the Club, according to the...

Fuller, Margaret Club

The Margaret Fuller Club met for the first time on January 30, 1893, at the home of Emma Brown in Bloomington, Illinois.  A women’s lit...

Helen Littleton Burns Postcard Collection

This remarkable collection is comprised of postcards sent to and collected by Helen Littleton Burns, or members of her family, mostly b...

Jennie Rayburn Diaries

The collection consists primarily of Jennie’s diaries covering the years of her widowhood (1925-1942) when she was 66-84 years of age. ...

Knife & Fork Club

Knife and Fork Club International is a social dinner club with chapters in cities across the United States.  In Bloomington, members wo...

KodaRoamers Camera Club

The KodaRoamers was formed organized in September 1944. The aim of this photography group, according to Mike Lux’s Highlights, was “to ...

Kuerth, Hester Adams Cookbook

Hester Adams Kuerth (1891-1982) was a fifty-year member of the McLean County Home Extension.  She was also a member of the Gridley Amer...

Longfellow Club

The Longfellow Club dates to April 6, 1882 when Miss Alice Suddeth, assisted by Miss Mae Sherwin (principal of Franklin School), invite...

May Christian Collection

Annie May Christian (she went by May for most of her life) was born in Decatur, Illinois, in 1866 to Matthew and Elizabeth (Mitchell) C...

Moraine View State Recreation Area

This collection includes newspaper clippings from 1941 through 1985, plus manuscript histories of Dawson Lake and of the LeRoy Sportsme...

Normal Avenue Neighborhood Club

The Normal Avenue Neighborhood Club was formed in the Spring of 1931 by Irene Buzzard and Elsie Popejoy.  Limited to women in the neigh...

Normal Community Garden Club

In the summer of 1939 nine women were invited to meet at the home of Mrs. Wm. (Hattie) Dickey to organize a Normal Garden Club. The pur...

Normal History Club

In the late 1800s, life in a small university town did not offer many opportunities for artistic and cultural pursuits. In winter 1894,...

Normal Literary Center Collection

An adult study group, the Normal Literary Center was founded in 1896 and celebrated its 100th anniversary in fall 1996. In the ...

Old Settlers Association of Eastern McLean County

From 1885 to 1915, self-described “old settlers” of eastern McLean County held an annual picnic celebrating the bygone pioneer era. At ...

One O’Clock Schoolers Club

The One O’Clock Schoolers Club is a social club whose members reside in or resided in the 500-600 block of North School Street in Norma...

Phonograph and Audio

The history of McLean County has been recorded and captured on vinyl covering a variety of subjects in a variety of ways. From the spee...

Silverleaf Community Club (Normal Township) 1918 – 1962

The Silverleaf Club Collection materials range from 1924 to 1962. The club's minutes make up the bulk of the materials. The Collec...

Travel Club

This collection contains program booklets (1906-2009), meeting minutes, treasurers documents, club history, and more from the Travel Cl...

Turners in Bloomington

William “Bill” Adams (1927-2013) grew up in a family which participated in the Turner organization in Bloomington.  In the early 1980s,...

Woman's Club of Bloomington-Normal

The Woman’s Club of Bloomington-Normal collection consists of two boxes.  The dates of the material range from 1897 to 1997, and the cl...

Wood, Lois Postcard

This is a collection of over 250 postcards collected by Lois Wood over the years to show life in Bloomington-Normal and surrounding com...