Category Archives: Found in the Archives

Campus Eateries and Hangouts: The Green Tea Pot

Students today have an overwhelming number of dining options and they can stop in at any one of the numerous Starbucks or Espresso Royale locations for a cup of coffee or tea. In 1916 there were fewer options. The entrepreneurial women of Delta Gamma saw this as a business opportunity. The perfect chapter house had gone […]

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Republican President comes to Champaign-Urbana… in 1911

The Republican National Convention has taken center stage in Cleveland this week. One of Ohio’s famous Republican politicians has a connection to the University of Illinois!   In February 1911, President William Howard Taft (1857-1930) toured Champaign-Urbana and the University of Illinois.  Taft is the only U.S. President (1909-1913) who also served as a Supreme […]

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Wheelchair Athletes’ 1962 Tour of South Africa and Rhodesia

Cailin Cullen is a student in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science and is currently completing a practicum at the Student Life and Culture Archives. On June 11, 1962, a group of seventeen wheelchair athletes gathered at the University of Illinois for an orientation regarding their upcoming trip to Africa. For three full days, thirteen men […]

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Alma Mater and the Commencement Connection

Eighty-seven years ago, on a warm day in June, our Alma Mater statue was unveiled as the centerpiece of the 1929 commencement week program.  The concert band played and a host of officials gave speeches.  UI President David Kinley prophetically declared, “The significance of this gift is for the future, what it will mean for future […]

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A Life in Words: A Look Back at the College Career of Roger Ebert

Zack Stein is a graduate student in Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois. He is currently completing a practicum at the Student Life and Culture Archives. It has been nearly three years since the death of Roger Ebert. To most of us, he was one of the most famous film critics in history. […]

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