Khalaf Al Habtoor Archives at Illinois College

05/15/2025

This Centennial Jacksonville poster was recently discovered in the Khalaf Al Habtoor Archives. After careful unfolding, it is now on display at the Jacksonville Public Library for the 1925 Centennial Celebration exhibit until the end of June.

Now on display (because it is very big and needed it out of the house) the rest of the exhibit will come at the end of the month.

02/14/2025

Illinois College's first black student, Rev. William Elihu Guy, was admitted in 1895 and graduated in 1899. Guy was a member of the Glee Club and Sigma Pi. His brother Ira Guy came to the college in 1897. After graduation, he was ordained and served as a pastor for over forty years from Arkansas to Toronto, Canada. The Khalaf Al Habtoor Archives currently has an exhibit up now to the end of February located on the lower floor of Schewe Library. Illinois College

01/29/2025

In celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birthday, student archives worker Thorne Morgan has created an exhibition of Lincoln and his attributions during his presidency and the Civil War. The exhibit can be found in front of the Khalaf Al Habtoor Archives on the lower floor of the Schewe Library.

On February 12, we will host a Lincoln celebration, viewing artifacts, including Lincoln's sofa, at 11am in the Paul Findley Congressional Office Museum. From noon to 2pm, there will be a scavenger hunt to find all the Lincolns in the Schewe Library.

10/08/2024

View the new archives exhibit on the prominent American orator and politician William Jennings Bryan! Bryan graduated from Illinois College in 1881. He ran for the presidency three times under the Democratic and Populist parties in 1896, 1900, and 1908.

This exhibit contains some of the material found in the William Jennings Bryan Collection from Khalaf Al Habtoor Archives. It was created with the help of archives student assistant Norah Hacker '28.

07/31/2024

After months of inventorying, scanning, and uploading, the Sharing Our Heritage digitization project has multiple collections with thousands of images to share, largely thanks to the Archives student assistants' hard work and the Illinois State Historical Advisory Board grant funding.

Browse the JSTOR Forum Khalaf Al Habtoor Archives Page to view the following collections, with more to be uploaded throughout the year.
- Illinois College Athletics – Baseball and Softball
- Illinois College Athletics – Basketball
- Illinois College Athletics – Football
- Illinois College Athletics – Track & Field and Cross Country
- Illinois College Athletics – Volleyball
- Illinois College Athletics – Cheerleading & Pom Pon and Women's Gym
- Illinois College Buildings & Campus
Link here: https://www.jstor.org/site/illinois-college

06/18/2024

I have some to share today: Samantha Sauer, former Illinois College Archivist, and Madison Pierson, Public History Fellow at Illinois College, have written a blog for the Museum Education Roundtable about their work on our art storage wall. You can check the blog post here: https://www.museumedu.org/the-big-picture-balancing-collections-care-and-access-with-project-design-and-student-engagement/

New on the blog! Discover how Illinois College is balancing art collection care with student engagement! Explore Madison Pierson and Samantha Sauer's innovative project, which transformed inaccessible art storage into a dynamic, inclusive space. Learn about the hands-on experience students gained, contributing to diversity and institutional goals. Dive into the full story and see the before-and-after transformations!

Alt Text: Madison Pierson and her team of student assistants stand proudly in front of the completed vertical storage.

Read the full blog:"Balancing Collections Care and Access with Project Design and Student Engagement" here: museumedu.org/blog

Let us know your comments below!

05/02/2024

You're in for a musical treat with the final installment of the William Jennings Bryan series. Elise Griffin '24 decided to take her research beyond the archives and actually play some sheet music written for Bryan.

During Bryan's final presidential bid in 1908 a local Jacksonville, Illinois resident, Florence Tunison Duncan, wrote a piece called "Willam the Conqueror.” The piece is an upbeat instrumental march written for piano or organ, featuring both treble and bass clef, and is 6 pages in length. The piece is written in cut time but does not have a clear tempo marking. The front page does feature a handwritten note to Mrs. Duncan from Bryan thanking her for writing the piece for him.

*Elise Griffin ’24 was able to play the treble clef part of the piece on her trumpet. Take a listen.

04/29/2024

It's finals week! Next in our series on William Jennings Bryan is Brennen Smith '25, with one very puzzling artifact.

William Jennings Bryan and William Howard Taft ran against each other in the 1908 presidential election. These types of picture puzzles were first patented in 1902 by Issac H. Blanchard, and were used mostly for political publicity. For this specific picture puzzle, a picture of William Howard Taft is presented on the front, but when someone pulls down on the puzzle piece at the bottom a picture of William Jennings Bryan will appear, stating that he will be the next President of the United States.

04/23/2024

As we near the end of the semester, we are also coming to the end of the William Jennings Bryan collection. This next post comes from Shawn Oderio '24:

This postcard, dated October 19, 1908, was sent from Columbiana County, Ohio and shows the Democratic Nominee William Jennings Bryan (IC class of 1881). Having run for president two times previously in 1896 and 1900, the 1908 election was the last attempt Bryan made for the presidency. Similar to elections today, in 1908 Ohio was a battleground state and ultimately went to Bryan’s opponent, William Howard Taft. Overall, Bryan won 162 electoral votes and Taft took the presidency with 321. This election was the biggest loss for Bryan’s political career – he later served as Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson from 1913-1915.

04/04/2024

Next up in the series about William Jennings Bryan is Devin Nesler '24:

William Jennings Bryan a famous IC alum from 1881 and three-time presidential nominee for both the Democratic and Populist parties in 1896, 1900, and 1908. Even though he lost all 3 of his presidential runs, he was still very influential in the Democratic party. Many of his supporters called him “the Great Commoner” because of his faith in the common people. After losing a presidential election for the third time, William Jennings Bryan rallied behind Woodrow Willson, eventually becoming the secretary of state. The photos as seen above come from a long range of his political career including a campaign ad.

04/02/2024

Today's installment on the William Jennings Bryan collection comes from Tyler Gilbert '24:

This record holds two speeches of William Jennings Bryan that were recorded in 1908. The two speeches are called “Immortality” and “An Ideal Republic” which were also played during the World's Fair in St. Louis, MO, Buffalo, NY, and Portland, ME. The recordings were also given an award for innovation because they were provided by the Victor Talking Machine Company and had their player be a stand-in for Bryan. To hear the speeches, click the links below: Immortality: https://www.historyonthenet.com/authentichistory/1898-1913/2-progressivism/4-TR-Taft/19080615_Immortality-William_Jennings_Bryan.html An Ideal Republic: https://www.loc.gov/resource/jukebox-126522.

03/28/2024

Today's post in the William Jennings Bryan series comes from Travis Mullins '24:

In the presidential election of 1896, William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan were men of different perspectives who had their eyes set on how they would make a difference for the citizens of the United States. These glass mugs are pieces released by the same company hoping to drum up business with customers from both political parties. The rim of the mugs have a really interesting design to them and the head of each candidate is pressed into their mug. The mugs also include the campaign slogans which are written above each head.