 Hostick Awards announced
The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and Illinois State Historical Society are pleased to announce the winners of the 2004 King V. Hostick Awards. This year's recipients and their proposals are: Dana Weiner, Chicago, Illinois "Racial Radicals, Principles Enacted: The Struggle Against Inequality, Prejudice, and Slavery, 1829-1870." Award, $2,020.
Cheryl Hudson, Oxford, United Kingdom
"Making the Modern Citizen: Political Culture in Chicago, 1890-1930." Award, $2,300.
Kenya Davis-Hayes, Lafayette, Indiana
"Lessons of Place: A Case Study for the Creation of Physical and Curricular Segregation, 1910-1920." Award, $3000.
The Agency and Society invite applications for the 2005 King V. Hostick Award. The award, established by the late manuscript dealer King V. Hostick, provides financial assistance to graduate students in history and library science while writing dissertations dealing with Illinois. Preference may be given to research conducted at the Illinois State Historical Library. Stipends are individually determined up to $3,000. All applications must be received In I ebruary 6, 2005. For further information, contact Thomas F. Schwartz, Illinois State Historian, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, #1 Old State Capitol Plaza, Springfield, Illinois. 62701-1507. For telephone or e-mail queries, call 217-782-2118, or write torn schwartz@ihpa.stiile.il.us. Guidelines for King V. Hostick Award applicants are available on line at www.historyillinois.org
History and technology
The 25th annual Illinois History Symposium will be held December 3-4 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield. This year's symposium, themed "Engineering Illinois: Medicine, Science, and Technology Since 1818,' will offer Continuing Professional Development Units (CPDUs) for teachers and feature an Illinois Video Documentary Fair. Filmmaker Jeffrey Chown of Northern Illinois University, whose documentaries about John Peter Altgeld and the Black Hawk war have won national awards, will moderate a special session at the symposium.
This year's Symposium topics focus on technology, but several aspects of Illinois history, including the Underground Railroad, Civil War prisons, social and political state history, and the history of medicine will be featured.
The symposium will also feature sessions on teaching Illinois history at the college level and on organizing history clubs for middle and high school students. For more information, or for a list of symposium sessions, visit the Society website at www.historyillinois.org.
 "Springfield's Lincoln," a new hands-on sculpture by Larry Anderson of Tacoma, Washington, was unveiled on the Old State Capitol Plaza in Springfield, June 6. The lifesize sculpture features Abraham and Mary Lincoln, with Willie Lincoln in the foreground, shown waving goodbye to his brother Robert (not pictured) as he goes off to school. Photograph by William Furry
Chicago with a twist
History, meet Humor. Humor, meet History. For a Chicago walking tour unlike any other, sign up for Second City's Neighborhood Tour, a humorous and historic guided tour or Chicago s Old lown neighborhood, happening every Sunday through September 2004. Tours begin at Chicago Historical Society and are led by actors from Second City. Among the many highlights are Chris Farley's former apartment (above a Mexican restaurant on Wells), Twin Anchors (Frank Sinatra's favorite rib joint), and St. Michael's church, gutted by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 but soon restored by determined parishioners. Tickets are $15 or receive a discount by purchasing tickets for a show at The Second City at the same time. For more information visit the Chicago Historical Society's website at www.chicitaohistory.org.
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Minting Reagan
 President Ronald Reagan's death last month raised plenty or questions among Republicans and Democrats alike about how best to memorialize the fortieth President of the United States. As of press time, Congress had introduced more than 30 pieces of legislation recognizing him, enacted five resolutions recognizing his birthday, and passed two bills implementing a national day in his honor. The joint houses presented him with the Congressional Gold Medal and named two post offices, a courthouse, an aircraft carrier, and a national airport after him. Now some members of Congress are attempting to place his face on American currency.
Even before the former President's death, Grover Norquist, President of the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project, led a movement to memorialize Reagan throughout the nation. Now he is focusing on the effort to change the face of the ten-dollar bill. In the near future, Senator Mitchell McConnell (R-Kentucky) reportedly will sponsor legislation to replace Alexander Hamilton with a portrait of Reagan. Hamilton was never president but he was a member of the Continental Congress, the first Treasury Secretary, and a principal author of the Federalist Papers. But according to Darlene Anderson, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, paper money is never changed because of aesthetic considerations. It has been changed only to prevent counterfeiting.
Several years ago Norquist attempted to have President Reagan's face replace President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the dime (H. R. 3633). Changing the appearance of currency is not difficult. In absence of specific congressional guidance, the final decision to change the appearance of currency rests in the hands of the Treasury Secretary, who, prior to rendering a decision, must seek the advice of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The redesign must also be reviewed by the Commission of Fine Arts. The law prohibits any living person's face from appearing on money. Although Norquist had some success with both Bush and Clinton's Treasury secretaries, he could not convince former first lady Nancy Reagan, who was also consulted on the proposal. She declined to support the dime project.
Placing President Reagan's face on currency may be the quickest way to create a lasting memorial. Though some would be supportive of constructing a memorial to Ronald Reagan in Washington D.C., legislation passed last year (PL. 106-126) bars the construction of any new memorials on the Mall. The Commemorative Works Act, a bill that President Reagan signed into law during his second term, permits non-military commemorative works to be built in the District of Columbia only on the 25th anniversary of the death of the commemorated person. (From the National Council for History).
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