By Lindy Smith, Research Service Archivist, The Ohio State University, and former Graduate Assistant, Student Life and Culture Archives.
Long before the OSU-Michigan game ended play for the regular season, it was a tradition for the Illini-Buckeye rivalry to bring things to a close. From 1921-1933, Ohio State and Illinois met to play their final games.
Don’t ever try telling me that archivists don’t know how to have fun! Case in point: Our intrepid assistant and blogger Rory Grennan is paying homage to former University Librarian Hugh Atkinson today, with a bit of a nod to the fact that many archivists (and librarians) at Illinois now bike to work. Do you see the resemblance??? Continue reading “Halloween Post: Hugh Atkinson”
In September of 2012, the University of Illinois Archives officially acquired the personal papers of Harold (Hal) Robinson Bruno, Jr. (1928-2011), University alumnus (’50), former political editor of Newsweek (1960-1978), and former political director of ABC News from 1978 to 1997. Bruno also took a turn in front of the camera when he served as the moderator of the boisterous 1992 vice presidential debate between Dan Quayle, Al Gore, and James Stockdale. He also hosted the weekly radio program Hal Bruno’s Washington on ABC Radio from 1981-1999. Continue reading “University Archives Acquires Hal Bruno Jr. Papers”
Parades are almost a given at any Homecoming celebration, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is no different. However, in the early years of the 20th century, Illinois Homecoming weekend featured something other than floats: the Hobo Band Parade. Continue reading “Homecoming History: Hobo Band Parade”
In honor of election season, here’s a photo of John F. Kennedy visiting downtown Springfield, IL on the presidential campaign trail in October 1960. The man beside him is Democratic Governor-to-be of Illinois Otto Kerner Jr., also campaigning that fall.
This was not Senator Kennedy’s first visit to central Illinois. He was invited to speak at the University of Illinois Senior Convocation in Urbana on January 27, 1957, and gave an address entitled “Politics: Our Most Neglected Profession”. Among other topics, he humorously touched upon his brief candidacy for the Vice-Presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago the year before:
I will not comment, on this wholly non-partisan occasion, on that race…except to note what must be a record of some sort. When I got into the race, almost everyone favored my getting in; and when I got out, almost everyone favored my getting out — and all this in about four hours.1
1. “Politics: Our Most Neglected Profession”, John F. Kennedy, January 27, 1957, Record Series 39/1/5, University of Illinois Archives.
EDIT (6-21-2013): The original post erroneously identified the location of the photo as Champaign, IL.