Champaign County History Museum Stories

TELLING OUR STORY

The museum's primary educational mission is to tell the stories of Champaign County. We strive to tell those stories in various ways, including monthly articles curated by our volunteers and staff, our monthly recorded "History Talks," and our oral history collection that allows residents to tell their own stories. These resources are available to the public below.

Giving Tuesday: Support CCHM & CCNDI

The Champaign County Newspaper Digitization Initiative at the Champaign County History Museum is within $2,500 of the goal to scan the St. Joseph Record from 1940 to 1962 and convert it to a researchable digital format. Once it is converted, it will be available free of charge on the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collection through the University of Illinois Library. https://idnc.library.illinois.edu/ Starting in December 1941, just after Pearl Harbor, Charles W. Dale, the edito

Will Best

1 day ago2 min read

An Introduction to the EI League

By Janey Schmidt Fig 1: EI Game Photo America’s Favorite Pastime Baseball has long been known as America’s favorite pastime. The Eastern Illinois Baseball League began as the Champaign County League in 1933, just four years into the Great Depression.(1) With unemployment rates and morale at an all-time low, many Americans jumped at any chance they had to have a little bit of fun. After a meeting at the Bailey & Himes Sporting Goods Shop at 606 East Green Street, nine man

Janey Schmidt

Nov 236 min read

A New Digital Exhibition!

Willie Nelson / Photographed by Dennis Garrel Forty years ago, on September 22nd, 1985, Champaign County hosted its largest concert at Memorial Stadium. Following the success of the Live Aid concert, Farm Aid sought to elevate the struggles of small family-owned farms, which were at the time competing with an expansive, increasingly corporate agricultural economy, and extensive droughts. Over 78,000 people gathered at Memorial Stadium to attend hte 14-hour-long concert featur

Will Best

Sep 221 min read

Voices from the Past - Cliff Delong

By Rachel Mulick Cliff Delong on October 3rd, 1951 from the UIUC archives Cliff Delong, born in 1903, spent 1977 sharing stories of his...

champaigncohistory

Aug 14 min read

A Tale of Two Cities-of-the-Dead

By Gabriel Foster This is Part 2 of the history of Mount Hope Cemetery. If you haven't read the first part make sure you go back and read...

Gabriel Foster

Jun 112 min read

Giving Tuesday: Support CCHM & CCNDI

1 day ago2 min read

An Introduction to the EI League

Nov 236 min read

A New Digital Exhibition!

Sep 221 min read

Voices from the Past - Cliff Delong

Aug 14 min read

A Tale of Two Cities-of-the-Dead

Jun 112 min read

A Garden for the Dead in the Big Grove

May 18 min read

The Story of the Sky Above Champaign County

Mar 112 min read

General Everything of Champaign County

Jan 297 min read

A Buried Mausoleum: The Burt Family in Mount Hope Cemetery

Dec 26, 20247 min read

Oral Histories

Our local history is best told by those who lived through it. To that end, the museum has in its collections a series of recorded oral histories told by residents. These recordings were made by museum staff and volunteers and have been digitized from audio cassette recordings. The opinions expressed by the interviewee are those of the subject and are intended for personal or educational purposes. All oral histories include full transcriptions that can be accessed by clicking the music note on the right of each recording.

These recordings are presented in an unedited format and are the copyright of the Champaign County History Museum. Duplication and use without the museum's expressed written permission are prohibited.

History Talks

Each month, we welcome a topical expert to speak on various topics of Champaign County History. These talks are recorded and viewable here.