Colleen Taylor Sen, co-editor of The Chicago Food Encyclopedia, appeared on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight to discuss Chicago’s food history and unique lesser known Chicago food items. […]
It Is National Cheese Pizza Day
The Boring Pizza? Oh ho, not at all! Cheese pizza is a godsend perfect for kids’ birthday parties and church meetings. An icebreaker. A hand across countless divides. A relatively cheap […]
On Mutinus elegans, a mushroom both naughty and smelly
Mutinus elegans (Montagne) E. Fischer Usually at least partially submerged in the ground; appearing like a whitish to pinkish or purplish “egg” up to 4 cm high; when sliced, revealing […]
200 Years of Illinois: They Haunt By Night
Forget Halloween. August is the time for monster mashing in Illinois. One peruse of the state’s long history of monster sightings shows that warm summer nights bring the cryptids out […]
#CharlottesvilleCurriculum: Books for Understanding Systemic Racism
University of Illinois Press has always prided ourselves on our commitment to social justice. In light of the recent events in Charlottesville, here are 8 books and journals for understanding systemic […]
Who Was Jesse W. Weik?
Seven-year-old Jesse W. Weik was in the crowd when Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train passed through Indianapolis on its way to Springfield. Weik’s father, an immigrant baker and grocer, lifted his […]
Let’s observe National Soft-Serve Ice Cream Day one day early
There’s nothing more American than soft-serve ice cream. It provides the dairy and sweetness we crave in an attractive shape atop a sugary cone that encourages mobility. And we dispense […]
The King and Us
This week marks the anniversary of the death (?) of Elvis Presley, a transformative cultural figure of the twentieth or any other century. If you have memories of that afternoon in 1977, […]
UI Press Salutes Paul Oliver
UI Press salutes Paul Oliver, pioneering blues collector, who passed away today. Oliver’s tremendous contributions are documented in his own writings, most notably Blues Fell This Morning, and his journey […]
The Food’s The Story
While on the UI Chicago campus this week, we had the distinct pleasure of visiting the current Special Collections and University Archives exhibit at the library: “The Food’s The Story.” […]
National Book Lovers Day: Getting rid of books is impossible
Book lovers enjoy writing/talking about the sanctity of books. The tactile pleasure. The superiority of the physical object to the ethereal electronic version. The knowledge. The immersive experience. The old friend […]
Helen Jacobs and the wearing of shorts
Yesterday marked the birthday of tennis champion Helen Jacobs. Born in 1908, Jacobs learned her trade in Berkeley, California before going on to a term as the world’s top-ranked player […]