University of Illinois Press

Keith Sculle, co-author of Picturing Illinois: Twentieth-Century Postcard Art from Chicago to Cairo (University of Illinois Press, October 2012), concludes our Postcard of the Day feature with his favorite from the book. Postcards stimulate reference to the past in ways … Continue reading →

John Jakle, co-author of Picturing Illinois: Twentieth-Century Postcard Art from Chicago to Cairo (University of Illinois Press, October 2012), reveals his favorite from the book. Figure 131 on page 133 of Picturing Illinois shows Memorial Stadium on the University of Illinois … Continue reading →

On April 10, 1900, University of Illinois benefactor Arnold Beckman was born in Cullom, Illinois.  Fourteen years later this snowy scene of Beckman’s hometown was captured for postcard distribution. Cullom, 1914.  No publisher given. Taken from Picturing Illinois: Twentieth-Century Postcard Art from … Continue reading →

Is this Illinois?  With the wooded hills in the background, it’s reminiscent of a highway view in West Virginia  This is an early 20th Century postcard of Savanna, Illinois, a Mississippi River town in Carroll County. Savanna, ca. 1910. A. O. Elliott (#U.S. … Continue reading →

In 2009 we published Steven Ashby and C. J. Hawking’s book Staley: The Fight for a New American Labor Movement.  Here’s a postcard view of Decatur’s Staley plant around 1940. The A. E. Staley Manufacturing Company, Decatur, ca. 1940. Curt Teich & Co., Chicago; C. … Continue reading →

Yesterday the Chicago Bears demolished the Tennessee Titans 51-20 in Nashville. Next week Da Bears come home to Soldier Field to play the Houston Texans. Here’s a postcard of that iconic stadium from early last century. Soldier Field, ca. 1930. … Continue reading →

It’s the last weekend before the 2012 presidential election and neither candidate has spent much time campaigning in the State of Illinois, much less in the Press’ hometown of Champaign. 100 years ago William Howard Taft didn’t take our vote for granted. President William … Continue reading →

Main Street, Galena, ca. 1960. Color-View Inc. (#63769-B), Rockford, Ill.; Ektachrome by Joe E. Clark; Dexter Press, West Nyack, N.Y. Taken from Picturing Illinois: Twentieth-Century Postcard Art from Chicago to Cairo (University of Illinois Press, October 2012).  Previous postcards here, … Continue reading →