News

Banquet of the century

The 1911 annual Illinois Centennial & Distinguished Service Awards Banquet will be held Friday, October 10, 2003. at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel in Chicago.

The event, hosted by the Illinois State Historical Society, the Council lor Illinois I listory, and the Centennial Awards Committee, begins with a reception at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m.

More than 50 Centennial Businesses will be honored this year, among them: The Chicago Gravel Company, the Midlothian Country Club, Libertyville Woman's Club, Macon County Medical Alliance Society, SBC, Citizens Bank of Chatsworth, Alliance Francaise de Chicago, Logan Count; Title Company, and the Farmers Grain and Coal Company of Green Valley. All Centennial Award recipients have documented 100 years or more of continuous business operations in Illinois.

Banquet attendees will be entertained by an ensemble from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, this year's recipient of the Socict\ s \rtistic Contribution Award.

The Centennial Awards banquet is open to Centennial winners and their guests, and members of the Illinois State Historical Society Meals are $150 each. Centennial and Distinguished Service recipients receive one complimentary ticket each. For more information about the banquet, call217-525-2781, or visit the Society's web site at www.historyillinois.org.

Will Rogers and Route 66

Character actor and Illinois Humanities Council Road Scholar Lance Brown presents his first-person program "Will Rogers, Now!" in Springfield on Sunday, September 28. The free, one-hour program will be held in the Carnegie Room at Lincoln Library, 326 South Seventh Street, and is sponsored by the Illinois State Historical Society. The talk is part of the city's annual Route 66 Festival, which also includes a workshop for teachers hosted by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. For more information, call 217-525-2781.

A storyteller and musician, Brown is the author of On the Road with Will Rogers. He has been portraying the Oklahoma humorist for more than 15 years. Sharing Rogers' wit and wisdom. Brown presents a dynamic portrayal of this beloved populist philosopher, telling the truth in very simple words. Rogers' homespun philosophy and wit promote acceptance of America's ethnic diversity, rooted deeply in his Native American heritage and cowboy upbringing.

Got questions about your Prairie State's past? Steer your mouse to Illinois, the global discussion room for the history and culture of Illinois.

H-Illinois is part of H-Net, an international network of scholars that constructs and coordinates electronic networks to advance humanities and social science teaching and research. H-Net was created to provide a positive, supportive, equalitarian environment for the friendly exchange of ideas and scholarly resources, and is hosted by Michigan State University.

H-Illinois' primary mission is to increase interest in and to facilitate discussion about the history and culture of peoples of the state of Illinois; the history and culture of Midwesterners; and the roles of the state and region in national and transnational experiences. The list is inter- and multi-disciplinary in scope. Anyone interested in the topics oi Illinois history and culture is welcome to the list. Academicians, archivists, independent scholars, teachers, public historians, writers, librarians, artists, fine arts and humanities professionals, students, and all who care deeply about the Illinois experience are welcome. The principal activity of II-Illinois is the discussion of topics relevant to Illinois and Midwestern history and culture.

H-Illinois is co-edited by Timothy Draper, Waubonsee Community College (and an ISHS Board member), and Richard Pate, Danville Area Community College. Like all H-Net lists, H-Illinois is moderated to edit out material that is not germane to the list, involves technical matters (such as subscription management requests), is inflammatory, or violates evolving, yet common, standards of Internet etiquette. H-Net's procedure lor resolving disputes over list editorial practices is Article II, Section 2.20 of our bylaws, located at: http://www.h-net.org/about/by-laws.html. Logs and more information can also be found at the H-Net Web Site, located at: http://www.h-net.org/~illinois/

To join H-Illinois, send an e-mail to: listserv@h-net.msu-edu. Send only this text: sub Illinois firstnamc lastname, institution (example — sub H-Illinois Leslie Jones, Pacific State U).". Follow the instructions you receive by return e-mail. If you have cjucstions or experience difficulties in attempting to subscribe, please send a message to: help@mail.h-net.msu.edu. For more information about H-Net, write to H-Net@H-net.msu.edu, or point your web browser to: http://www.h-net.org.

Illinois Heritage 5

News

Visions 2004

Need a date for 2004? The Illinois State Historical Society's Visions calendar has all 366 days, so you can plan the year and reflect on the past simultaneously. This years Visions calendar features more than three dozen historic portraits of prairie people, places, and memorable events, all donated by Illinois museums, historical societies, and individual ISHS members. The annotated calendar, free to all members, is also available in multiple quantities for resale by museums and historical societies. For more information call 217-525-2781. E-mail orders will be accepted at ishsmembers@eosinc.com.

Prize money for student scholars

Illinois high school students interested in the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln are invited to enter the Illinois State Historical Society's Orndorff Scholarship essay competition. The Illinois high school student whose essay is selected will be given an award of $1,000, plus a certificate. The deadline for 2004 is May 31.

Essays should be between 1,000 and 1,500 words with an annotated bibliography and suggestions for further reading. The focus should be on Abraham Lincoln or a significant event in the Civil War period in Illinois.

The winning essay and author will be honored and presented a check at the Banquet of the Illinois History Symposium in December 2004. The winning essay will be published in the January/February issue of Illinois Heritage magazine, the popular history magazine of the Illinois State Historical Society. For more information, call 217-525-2781, or visit the Society's web site at www.historyillinois.org.

The Verna Ross Orndorff Scholarship was established in 1989. A resident of River Forest, Ms. Orndorff was a lifelong student of Illinois history.

Olive Foster Award

Olive Foster

The Illinois State Historical Society is now accepting nominations for the 2004 Olive Foster Award.

The Olive Foster Award was established in 1988 in honor of Olive Foster, former Illinois State Historian, Director of the School Services Program, and originator of the Illinois History Program for students. The award is designed to recognize and reward full-time teachers for outstanding contributions to the study and teaching of state and local history. Recipients of these awards actively promote Illinois history in schools as well as in their local communities, using the resources of one or more local historical societies, museums, Illinois State Historical Society, and other Illinois historical groups. Documentation of the teachers work will be required.

Three $500 awards will be given annually—one each to teachers at the elementary, middle/junior high, and high-school levels. Awards will be presented and winners given their checks at the Awards Banquet during the Society s Annual Meeting.

Nominations may be made by any group or person, including the nominee, and should include the following information:

•   Nominee's name and address

•  Subject(s) and grade(s) that the nominee teaches

•   Nominator's name and contact information

•  School where the nominee is employed

•  Name and contact information of the nominee's principal

•   Nominee's educational background

•  Nominee's professional experience

•  A narrative description of the nominee's outstanding classroom accomplishments. This should include specific history units taught by the nominee and information about local museums or historical societies that were involved. Commentary on the results or impact of the programs and also how they were developed may be included. Other awards won by the nominee or nominee's students may also be listed.

•   Letters of support or recommendation (optional)

The Society's Education and Awards Committees will judge all nominations and select the winners. For more information, call the Society office at 217-525-2781, orvisit the web site at www.historyillinois.org.

6 Illinois Heritage