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Category: Found in the Archives

Campus Memories: Taking a Stroll Down Lovers’ Lane

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Written by Caitlin Stamm

Now that it is officially summer and campus has emptied out, it’s a perfect time to take a wander down memory lane. There’s no better place to start than by exploring Lovers’ Lane!

Cover of <em>The Siren</em>, October 1911
Cover of The Siren, October 1911

Lovers’ Lane was located on Daniel Street and Champaign, between Fourth Street and Wright Street [1], next to the Kappa Alpha Theta house. For decades, it was a spot close to campus where couples would gather to take walks.

From <em>The Siren</em>, November 1921
From The Siren, November 1921

Lovers’ Lane was even featured on the October 1911 cover of The Siren. It’s no wonder the lane, and its proximity to sorority houses, was profiled; The Siren’s editor lived on Daniel Street in the Beta Theta Pi house [2].

As the University replaced brick walkways with cement, a Champaign City ordinance necessitated the removal of the great trees to create a sidewalk [3]. A 1915 Daily Illini article notes, “The sentiment of the majority of people living along the street seems to be in-favor of making the new walk narrower so that the long, shaded lane may be spared to future generations of strolling lovers” [4]. This, however, was not to be the case. The trees were condemned after the fall of 1915 and all had been removed by 1926 [5]. Continue reading “Campus Memories: Taking a Stroll Down Lovers’ Lane” →

Full-Time Football Coach to Probate Judge: Arthur Hall and his Artifacts

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Cleats from the Arthur Hall Collection after visiting Conservation. Found in Record Series 28/3/24.
Cleats from the Arthur Hall Collection after visiting Conservation. Found in Record Series 28/3/24.

Written by Leanna Barcelona

After a semester at the University’s Conservation unit, the artifacts donated with the personal papers of the Illinois football coach Arthur Hall are now back at the archives and a part of his collection. The collection donated from his family contains several newspaper clippings spanning from the beginning of his football career to the end of his term as probate judge. Artifacts such as team sweaters, football uniforms, cleats, hats, and baseballs from his time here, as well as small Illini memorabilia, are also part of the collection and over a century old.

Postcard of Coach Hall, c. 1907. Found in Record Series 28/3/24.
Postcard of Coach Hall, c. 1907. Found in Record Series 28/3/24.

Arthur Raymond Hall was born in 1869 in Tonica Illinois and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1897-1902, graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Law and a Master’s Degree of English and Rhetoric from the College of Literature and Arts. As a student, he played on the Varsity baseball team in 1899 and the Varsity football team from 1897 through 1900, serving as the captain in his last season. In addition to varsity athletics, Hall was involved in the English Club, the Langdell Law Club, the Y.M.C.A., and the Philomathean Literary Society.[1]

Continue reading “Full-Time Football Coach to Probate Judge: Arthur Hall and his Artifacts” →

The May Fête at the U of I

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Alpha Xi Delta Stunt Show performers, 1910
Alpha Xi Delta Stunt Show performers, 1910

Written by Caitlin Stamm

Each year, people around the world celebrate May Day and the arrival of spring. At the University of Illinois, this celebration took the form of the May Fête, a mid-month celebration with a maypole dance and pageant.  Celebratory May activities held at the University began in 1899, although activities like Field Day began earlier, in 1883.[1] Later, the May Fête became a central part of the University Interscholastic, a multi-day event with popular sporting events and field days featuring the U of I athletes and teams from area high schools, a circus  featuring the various student groups on campus, open-air concerts, operas and dramatic performances, a parade, and general merriment.

Continue reading “The May Fête at the U of I” →

Greetings from Illinois: A Journey Through Postcards

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U of I Commencement, 1913 RS 39/2/28
U of I Commencement, 1913 RS 39/2/28

Written by Anna Trammell

As the end of the academic year draws near, Illini all over campus are daydreaming about summer travels on the horizon. Since the end of the 19th century, one of the primary hallmarks of travel has been the postcard. The first American postcard was copyrighted by John Charlton in 1861.[1] In 1873, government issued  “postal cards” with a one-cent postage fee debuted.[2] At the 1893 World Colombian Exhibition in Chicago, picture postcards were sold as souvenirs.[3]

From there, postcard collecting and mailing increased in popularity and public demand eventually forced congress to grant the one-cent rate to privately printed cards in 1898.[4]

Postcards reached the height of their popularity in the first decades of the 20th century with over nine hundred million cards mailed in 1913 alone.[5] Continue reading “Greetings from Illinois: A Journey Through Postcards” →

Illinois in the Soviet Union: Glasnost Bowl 1989

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Written by Nick Hopkins

This advertisement was part of a glossy brochure which attempted to entice football fans to purchase pricey tickets to the game. 26/1/5, Box 9, University of Illinois Archives.
This advertisement was part of a glossy brochure which attempted to entice football fans to purchase pricey tickets to the game. 26/1/5, Box 9, University of Illinois Archives.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has put a good deal of effort into promoting its football program. The success of this can be seen in the volume of UI football merchandise across the state, or by simply asking a local Champaign-Urbana resident. One lesser known promotional event in the history of UI football is the Glasnost Bowl, a contest between the University of Illinois and the University of Southern California. This unprecedented event was to be held in Moscow, USSR on September 2nd, 1989 and would have been the first American football game played in the Soviet Union.
Continue reading “Illinois in the Soviet Union: Glasnost Bowl 1989” →