

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 23, 20256 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 childhood with the historians of Champaign County. Not only did he participate in a series of interviews with the Champaign County History Museum, he was also a part of the Champaign County Memory Bank project, which collected oral histories and newspaper interviews about life during the turn of the century. The result is a rich story of Delo
champaigncohistory
Aug 1, 20254 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 1, 202512 min read


A Garden for the Dead in the Big Grove
By Gabriel Foster Winner of the 2025 Adele Mazurek Suslick Award for Excellence in Research Early burials and the Old Urbana Cemetery...
Gabriel Foster
May 1, 20258 min read


The Story of the Sky Above Champaign County
By Brendan Gallian Winner of the 2025 Adele Mazurek Suslick Award for Excellence in Research FIG. 1: The University of Illinois current...
Brendan Gallian
Mar 1, 202512 min read


General Everything of Champaign County
By Kennis Murphey Edited by Will Best Fig. 1: Portrait of Samuel T. Busey Courtesy of the Champaign County Historical Archives General...
Kennis Murphey
Jan 29, 20257 min read


A Buried Mausoleum: The Burt Family in Mount Hope Cemetery
By Philo Wang Just south of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a peaceful place of eternal rest—Mount Hope Cemetery....
Philo Wang
Dec 26, 20247 min read


A Fire that Shook Downtown Champaign
By Joe Griffith Fig 1: Christmas Card created by Christopher Evans circa 1997 Champaign County has a history of devastating fires that...
Joe Griffith
Oct 11, 20245 min read


Our All-American Girl: Dottie Schroeder
By Anna E. Sielaff Winner of the 2024 Adele M. Suslick Award for Excellence in Research “Dottie Schroeder the smooth and graceful...
Anna Sielaff
Sep 27, 202413 min read


The Forgotten Hero of Film: Joseph Tykociner's Work on Sound on Film at UIUC
By Emily Binder “The only sound was the ticking of the machine. And I thought, now they have invented moving pictures, but where is the...
Emily Binder
Jul 25, 20249 min read
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