News

Ryan Kruger, District Manager for the Walgreen Company, at the Edwards Trace marker dedication in Springfield, September 8, 2002.

Busy season for markers

The Illinois State Historical Society has or will unveil I several historical markers this summer, including two commemorating maritime disasters in the Prairie State. On July 5, the Columbia Disaster marker was unveiled in Pekin, and on July 24, the Eastland Disaster marker will be rededicated on Chicago's lower Wacker Drive. The large ornate steamwheeler Columbia sank on the Illinois River on July 5, 1918, killing 87 passengers. The Eastland excursion boat sank in the Chicago River on July 24, 1915, killing more than 800 people, mostly wome™ and children.

Other new Society markers include the Dixie Highway marker in Homewood (dedicated June 1), the Original Christian County Courthouse marker in Taylorville (dedicated June 29), and three markers commemorating George Rogers Clark's march from Fort Massac to Kaskaskia in the summer of 1778. Others still to be installed this year include the Stephen A. Douglas in Quincy marker, and a marker recognizing the first Walgreen Drug Store in the nation (Chicago). For more about the Society's 400-plus markers and how to apply for one, visit www.historyillinois.org.

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Washington sipped here

Historic Mount Vernon and Archaeology Magazine are offering history and archaeology enthusiasts a unique opportunity to follow the final season of excavation at George Washington s 18th-century whiskey distillery online. The interactive dig is featured on Archaeology Magazine's website www.archaeology.org through October 2003. The project will reveal and examine discoveries as they are uncovered in the field. George Washington was the only founding father to commercially operate a distillery, and its size and volume of production rank the building among the most important structures of its kind in 18th-century America. No operating distilleries from the 18th century exist in America, and Washington's is the first to be excavated systematically by archaeologists. Virtual visitors will learn about the history ol the excavation and observe how archaeologists analyze artifacts and soil, interpret data, and draw conclusions about the structure that housed the risky business venture Washington embarked upon over 200 years ago.

Call for papers

The first Midwest conference on Gender History, sponsored by the Women's and Gender Historians of the Midwest, will be held June 10-14, 2004, at Loyola University Chicago, Lakeshore Campus. Proposals for short papers (15-20 minutes), panels, roundtables, workshops, media presentations, and posters are due, along with a single-page vita, by September 1, 2003. For more information about the organization or the conference, go to http: www.wittenberg.edu/academics/hist/whom/wghom.html. Organizers anticipate the conference will examine broad questions facing historians and history professionals in their work. In particular, they hope to create a dialogue among scholars, historian, students, teachers, museums, and archives. The committee is especially interested in innovative and creative presentations that allow for useful discussions among participants. Send proposals to: For "traditional" research papers/panels:

Dr. Malia Formes, History Department
Western Kentucky University
#1 Big Red Way
Bowling Green, Kentucky 42101
Malia.formes@wku.edu

For roundtables, workshops, or other non-tradional presentations:

Church and community, the Illinois story

The Illinois Conference of Churches (ICC) celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2005. As part of the celebration, the ICC General Board launched a history project this summer to tell the story of the Christian community's contribution to Illinois' social history.

The Conference traces its roots to the numerous voluntary associations and mission societies of the Nineteenth Century organized to advance both religion and morals in society. Some of these included Bible Societies, Sunday School Associations, YMCAs, YWCAs, and other societies that served the poor, the marginalized, or tackled issues of social justice. As the Great Depression spread across the nation, a state ecumenical organization called the Illinois Council of Churches took shape and was constituted on June 7, 1930, in Springfield. Its aims were to foster growing relationships among churches and to facilitate cooperative efforts for missions across the state to address human need and advance social justice in society.

In 1972, following the 2nd Vatican Council, the Illinois Council of Churches was reorganized as the Illinois Conference of Churches, reflecting a new relationship between Protestant churches and the Roman Catholic Church. Today the Illinois Conference of Churches represents 15 denominations from the Protestant, Anabaptist, Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox Traditions.

The Illinois Conference of Churches archives are housed in the Illinois State Historical Library and now are catalogued and accessible for research. To find out how your church or mission can support the project, write Reverend David A. Anderson, care of ICC, 522 East Monroe, Suite 208, Springfield, Illinois 62701, or visit the Website at www.ilconfchurches.org.

Roadside attractions

Web surfers seeking Illinois' offbeat attractions should drop in at www.roadsideamerica.com. Here they'll find descriptions of and directions to the Worlds biggest, Ugliest Lincoln Statue (Charleston), Carbondale's monument to King Tut (a dog, it turns out), and Ana's marker to King Neptune (a porker with a past). Travelers will marvel at the "World's Largest Catsup Bottle (Collinsville) and the miniature golf course in a funeral home (Palatine). Oddly, there are three attractions devoted to "famous" Illinois elephants and one to the "Leech Lady" of Sangamon County, who, it turns out, is former ISHS advisory board member Barbara Mason, curator of the Emmet Pearson Medical History Museum in Springfield.

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