History Online By Vance Martin

This month's column will review several Illinois local history web sites starting with the Alton Museum of History and Art www.altonweb.com/museum. You can learn about the history and culture of this important river-town community beginning with the mythology surrounding the pre-historic, yet recently restored, Piasa bird rock painting. Talking about tall tales, the life of Robert Wadlow, Alton's "Gentle Giant" and Guinness Book of Records tallest man, is also featured. The tragedy of the 1837 martyrdom of Elijah Parish Lovejoy is explained in "Alton and the Civil War."

The Vermilion County Conservation District in Danville www.vccd.org/historic.html has a colorful site displaying the continuing process of historic preservation in East-Central Illinois with photos documenting the conservation of "Laury Barn." One can also learn about native Illinois vegetation and the District's efforts to document, preserve, and protect it.

Carmi's White County Historical Society www.rootsweb.com/~ilwcohs describes the historic preservation of their headquarters in the Ratcliff Inn. The society, like many local historical societies, is also the center for genealogical research in the Carmi and White County area. They also have links to the famous Southern Illinois Depression Era Charlie Birger Gang http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7847/birger.htm and to their neighboring historical society in Callatin County.

The Johnson County Illinois Genealogical & Historical Society http://www.johnsoncountyil.net lists a wide variety of publications for sale to aid you with family research in this far southern county. The society also maintains the Paul Powell House in Vienna. A powerful Democrat politician who served as a State Representative and Secretary of State, Powell was a strong proponent of southern Illinoisans and coal miners and helped SIU become what it is today However, his 1950s and 1960's political wheeling and dealing would probably earn him a federal indictment today.

The Jersey County Historical Society http://www.618connect.com/~jchs is a site very helpful to genealogists and to historians. Among its many useful tools are an index of Naturalization records and the listing of all cemeteries in the county with their geographic locations.

The McLean County Museum of History www.mchistory.org/index.html located in the old Court House in Bloomington is one of Illinois' biggest and best. Its sophisticated web site features many of the educational opportunities available at the museum, and tantalizing tidbits to entice visitors. One of these tidbits is the index of Civil War letters available at the museum. Something to look forward to is the museum's effort to digitize African-American oral histories, which will be available later this year.

The Champaign County Historical Museum www.champaignmuseum.org is housed in the now restored 1857 Champaign Cattle Bank and offers a look at the county that will be home to the Chicago Bears football team http://www.chicagobears.com/ this fall. The Museum offers a brief look at the material history of Champaign and offers opportunities for researchers of local history. An interesting piece of this material culture is the popcorn truck, a local sensation for more than 75 years. It offers a large popcorn kettle mounted to the truck and is always a crowd pleaser.

The Madison County Historical Society www.plantnet.com/museum in Edwardsville resides in a Federal style home built in 1836. They offer a yearly rotating collection of firearms, tools, china, and costumes that reflects the seasons and history of Madison County. The web site describes the family history library but allows no online access to its holdings.

The Lee County Historical Society www.leecounty history.com is rich in history and historical figures. Famous neighbors claimed by Lee County are Orson Welles, Charles Walgreen, and Ronald Reagan. The site offers myriad articles from the county's history along with some interesting photos. More agencies should consider emulating this Dixon website in presenting maps and local history in an casy-to-navigate format.

The Byron Museum of History www.byronillinois.org/ museum/webpages/index.html is located on the Rock River in Ogle County. This site is very limited but contains a well-written history of an early settler family. Hopefully they will find time to generate more material.

Bells and whistles don't always make a website better, but they do make it louder and more difficult to load. The general purpose of a website is to introduce people to your county's history and to encourage them to visit; a Seuratesque background will not entice them anymore than plain blue. Respect those members of the online community who may still operate on slower computers that can choke on higher graphics, Sound and moving pictures are nice but don't necessarily make one want to visit. A first page should be simple and quickly convey a message. Fit it on one page and be tidy.

My suggestion for a website would be a representational picture from the county with a map showing the general location of the county or city. The address and phone number should be prominently displayed. Descriptive links should then be utilized, all within a one-page setting. The linked pages should not be too extravagant either. If you want someone to visit, you want them to see what you have, not wait for it to load forever. Pictures aren't bad, but it's better to have 10 pages of 3 pictures than 3 pages of 10.

The main point of these websites is to raise public knowledge of the local museums and to increase visitation and financial support. I encourage you to check out these websites and to visit these museums. Local museums offer a wealth of new and interesting knowledge that can help one learn more about Illinois and more about themselves.

Vance S. Martin is a government service intern at the Illinois State Archives and will start his doctoral program at Loyola of Chicago this fall.

18   ILLINOIS HERITAGE