“Hang onto Your Hats!” Exhibit Opens at Tiskilwa Historical Society 

Just in time for the blustery winds of February, the Tiskilwa Historical Society is opening a new exhibit, “Hang onto Your Hats!” on Saturday, February 4, in the Timeline Gallery at its Museum on Main.  Wanda Sims Wagner has hauled her hat collection from the walls of Wanda’s Waves on West Main down the street to the museum where she has put together a delightful exhibit of hats belonging to current and long-ago Tiskilwa residents.

Wanda explains that her collection began back in the 1990s when her longtime beauty shop customer, Thelma Casper, decided to close her family home in Tiskilwa and move to Eau Claire, Wisconsin.  Inspired by Thelma’s five of hats feathery finery, Wanda’s patrons soon started adding to the collection that now totals more than fifty hats in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and materials.

Wanda’s nostalgic and often whimsical collection includes hats from more than 15 stylin’ Tiskilwa ladies and gents -- including Elza Moses, B.J. Fredenhagen, Janet Wagner, Keck and Mary Gerber, Louise Pfleger, Margaret Hunter, and Phyllis Ioder.  If there were a Cuteness Award, it would have to go to the Easter bonnets worn way-back-when by Dorothy and Fran Ary’s little girls. There’s even a mirror and a basket full of vintage hats so that visitors to try on a chapeau of choice.

This special exhibit will be in place until May 26. The community is invited to stop by the museum any Saturday between 9:00 and 2:00 to share the memories and the fun.

On March 3, the Tiskilwa Community Association will be hosting a free movie at the museum. The society’s next Monday-night program will be March 12, featuring Connie Swanson’s visual history of barns and how their architectural styles reflect the early years of our country.  

Historical Society’s “Salute to Veterans” on Nov. 14 to Focus on World War I

“The War to End All Wars” – an idealistic rallying cry that inspired a generation of Americans to support the World War I effort – is now merely a poignant footnote in the long story of human conflict.  Nevertheless, the many sacrifices of Americans at home and abroad are something to honor and admire.  On November 14 at 7:00,  World War I historian Mike Johnson of Princeton will share his war artifacts and knowledge at public program in the Community Room of the Museum on Main.  For the past five years, the Tiskilwa Historical Society has hosted a November program to honor veterans and their families.

Mike, who has built up an extensive World War I collection, will bring dozens of items to help him tell the story of three particular aspects of the complex war saga that unfolded almost 100 years ago.  First, he will give information on rations in the trenches as well as food rationing on the home front.  Next, he’ll talk about the surprising degree of involvement for women’s during WW I. And finally, he will have on hand several types of uniforms used during World War I.

To connect with Tiskilwa’s history, Mike will display and discuss the uniform and duties of Army First Lieutenant Harry Quick and well as display the flight cap of Milford Olds, a second lieutenant in the pre-Air Force unit called the Air Service.   In addition, Mike will show several food can labels and then check the audience’s knowledge of the new names coined for German-style foods.  His wife Mary Ann will even bake up Calumet war cakes for sampling after the program.

Although most people recognize “Rosie the Riveter” of World War II fame, many are not aware of the significant role that American women played in WW I – from the Army Signal Corps’ Telephone Units to the Navy’s Yeomanettes.  Mike will share information on the women who put themselves in harm’s way by shipping out for Europe, such as nurses for the Red Cross, as well as the others at home who volunteered for war relief efforts or worked in America’s fields and factories during the war.

A Vietnam veteran himself, Mike’s interest in World War I dates back to his childhood, but he first began to acquire artifacts from World War I while assigned to the Intelligence Center for the U.S. Army in Europe in Heidelberg, Germany.  Over the years, he has used his collection for presentations at numerous schools and organizations.  He has also organized public displays for the “Time Was” Museum in Mendota, the Princeton Public Library, and the Prairie Arts Center in Princeton.  Mike explains, “Those patriots, both men and women, looked back at their experience in the war with sadness for the suffering, with horror for things that some of them had seen first-hand, and yet with a sense of pride in what they had accomplished.  In my small way, I’m trying to honor the memory of the generation who truly believed they were fighting the War to End All Wars.”

Following the program, Mike will have additional exhibits set up in the Military Display area of the museum’s Gallery 2, so that visitors may continue to view items and ask questions while enjoying refreshments.   At the business meeting following the social time, the agenda will focus on participation and plans for “Walk Tiskilwa” coming up on Saturday, December 10.   The museum is handicapped accessible.        

Jean Fox to Speak About Her Days in Pro Baseball as a Rockford Peach and a Muskegon Belle

“Let’s play ball!”  When all the farm chores were done on long summer evenings in late 1940s and early ‘50s, that’s what little Jean Peterson remembers her dad saying to the family almost every night after supper. 

Once dishes were done, it was time for Jean, her brother, two sisters, mom, and dad to play some softball.  With all that practice plus a lot of natural talent, Jean Peterson [Fox] of rural Wyanet became one of the youngest players in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL).  

Monday night, October 10, beginning at 7:00, the Tiskilwa Historical Society has asked Jean to share her memories about those exciting days when women played pro baseball in a league of their own.  For the program, local sports enthusiast and T-H-S member Charlie Waca will conduct an ESPN-style interview with Jean.  

Jean will tell about beginning her baseball adventure at the age of seventeen with an impromptu try-out with the Rockford Peaches.  Although Jean played semi-pro and pro ball for only two years, her accomplishment becomes amazing when one recalls that all this happened to a Bureau County farm girl back in the days when there were no organized sports for girls in grade school nor high school.

Despite her recognition along with the other 544 AAGPBL players in the Cooperstown’s Baseball Hall of Fame, Jean explains, “I remember it as a lot of fun.  I didn’t think of it at that time as being any part of history. It was just something I liked to do and had the opportunity to do.”  Jean, a fit and enthusiastic mother of three, grandmother of six, and great-grandma to three more, lives in Wyanet with Roger, her husband of 55 years.   

In addition to photos of her special memorabilia that will be projected as backdrop to the interview, Jean will bring a number of items for the audience to examine on their own, including her very own baseball card.  When speaking of baseball cards, Charlie is sure to pull out one from the museum’s collection – that of Warren Giles, Tiskilwa native and former President of the National Baseball League.

Jean and Charlie will discuss wide-ranging topics in the 45-minute program including how Jean started her career, her impressions of players and managers with the Rockford Peaches and the Muskegon Belles, and her opinion about the movie, “A League of Their Own” – a 1992 film that jump-started interest in the almost forgotten AAGPBL, created by Phillip K. Wrigley in 1943. 

The presentation will be held in the upstairs Community Room, which is handicapped accessible.  Immediately after the program, participants can enjoy refreshments, good conversation, and a leisurely look at the new special exhibit of Local Native American Artifacts in the lower level of the museum.   

At 8:30, members are urged to stay for the monthly meeting to find out how they might help with one little piece of all that it takes to keep the society alive and healthy.  The main items of business will be an update on progress for the Country School Project and plans for T-H-S’s participation in TCA’s Indian Summer Sunday scheduled for October 16. 

Next month’s program on November 14 will feature Princeton resident Mike Johnson sharing items and insights from his World War I collection for the society’s annual November Salute to Veterans.

Historical Society Presents “Remember When” in Words and Songs

With a September nip in the air after a long, hot summer, it’s the perfect time for a leisurely stroll down memory lane.  The Tiskilwa Historical Society is hosting program on Monday, September 12, to jog the memory of older folks and surprise the younger ones with a few “I didn’t know that!” revelations.   

The evening begins at 7:00 with a 12-minute preview of the Bureau County Historical Society’s new DVD titled “We Remember.”  BCHS Museum Director Pam Lange and BCHS member Kathy O’Malley will introduce the clip showing highlights of conversations with 30 Bureau County residents who shared memories of growing up in the early 20^th century.  This delightful glimpse “back in the day” was produced for a society fundraiser by former WGN radio personality Kathy O’Malley and her daughter Colleen.

Following that presentation, the audience will be treated to a 3-minute audio clip of a recent interview with Tiskilwa resident Wilbur “Red” Giltner describing a humorous incident during one of Tiskilwa’s notorious floods in the early 1950s.  For five years now, the Tiskilwa Historical Society has been recording Tiskilwa folks remembering their early years in the village and out in the countryside.  As autumn begins, the society will give special emphasis to adding more memories to their collection of 25 audio CDs in 2011-12.  The CDs are available to check out from the Museum on Main’s library.

The final half-hour of the program will feature T-H-S member Steve Borge of Brimfield, encouraging everyone to sing along as he plays his guitar to some old-time Country Western tunes, such as “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me, Lucile.”  In fact, the modest Steve said he may even plead with everyone to sing along, just to cover his own voice. 

The “Remember When” program will be presented in the upstairs Community Room, which is handicapped accessible.  The program will be followed by refreshments, good conversation, and a monthly meeting to be held in the lower Museum level.

Next month’s program on October 10 will feature Wyanet resident Jean Fox telling about her days as a professional baseball player with the Rockford Peaches.

Cherokee “Trail of Tears” to Be Featured at August 8 Program

In the late fall of 1838, more than 16,000 Cherokee were forced to give up their ancestral homeland in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains and begin a 700-mile journey to “Indian Territory.”  By the time they reached Oklahoma on March 26, 1839, more than four thousand had perished due to extreme cold and ill treatment.

The Tiskilwa Historical Society is hosting program on Monday, August 8, focusing this tragic journey as well as the Cherokee people of today.   The speaker will be Reverend Dan Lybarger, well known to the large crowd who attended his program of Native American flute music and storytelling at Museum on Main in June.

The Trail of Tears program will be presented in the upstairs community room at the museum, beginning at 7:00 p.m.  The museum and community room are both handicapped accessible.

Reverend Dan, pastor of the Native American Fellowship Dayspring Church, East Peoria, is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church.  His ancestral heritage is Ojibwe, Cherokee, and German.  Four years ago, “Fire Crow,” as Dan  is known in Cherokee circles, was elected chief of the Free Traditional Cherokee Band.  He has presented numerous programs in colleges, public schools, and churches throughout the Midwest. 

In addition to his pastoral duties, Dan has a great interest in preserving the indigenous languages of the First Nations of North America.  Two nights each month, he teaches Tsalagi, or Cherokee, language classes.  Dan observes that “To know a people’s language is to open the door to their heart and soul.” 

To tell the story of the Trail of Tears, Dan plans to use flute music, projected photos, and paintings.  He may even offer a few beginning words of Tsalagi for participants to learn.  Another of his interests is helping others trace their Native American genealogy.  

For the upcoming Pow Wow weekend, the historical society has announced these extended museum hours:  on Friday, Aug. 5 from 12:00 to 4:00; on Saturday, Aug. 6 from 9:00 to 4:00; on Sunday, Aug. 7 from 12:00 to 4:00.  As a special feature, there will be a Classic Cars Display on the west lawn on Saturday. 

Tiskilwa Historical Society is hosting a local version of “Cars 2” on the west lawn of Museum on Main this year during Pow Wow Days.  This photo from last year’s Classic Car Display is a hint of things to come on Saturday, August 6, from 9:00 to 3:00.  If you’d like to show off a vintage car or a farm vehicle and want more information, please call Chuck and Neva Lucas at 815.646.4763, the society members who are organizing the display. 

“Gunmakers of Bureau County and Illinois” Featured on July 11 at Tiskilwa Historical Society

On Monday, July 11, beginning at 7:00 p.m., Wyanet history buff Curt Johnson will present a program focusing on gunmakers of Bureau County and other parts of Illinois.  As a special feature, he will bring along 12 to 14 antique guns to display and discuss in the community room of Tiskilwa Historical Society’s Museum on Main.  A long-time gun enthusiast, Curt will welcome questions from audience members who have a yen for a few more details.

One highlight will be a halfstock percussion rifle made by Edward Kline of Henry in the mid-1850s.  Kline is well known among gun collectors, especially for his ornate rifles with silver mountings and inlays of excellent workmanship.  In his research, Curt has found that Kline was “well established [in Marshall County] by 1854, when his ads can first be found in area newspapers.”

At the July business meeting following the presentation, members will discuss plans for Pow Wow Days, including extended museum hours, a Country School float for the parade, and a special Monday, August 8 return of Pastor Dan Lybarger to present a program on the Cherokee “Trail of Tears” as well as their written language. 

The Tiskilwa Historical Society celebrated its fifth anniversary on June 13 on the west lawn by the Museum on Main

Reverend Dan Lybarger, pastor of Native American fellowship Dayspring Church in East Peoria, charmed everyone with delightful music and stories. Things really got rolling around 7:00 p.m. when the more than 70 children from Tiskilwa's summer Bible School classes joined the crowd of 65 adults, ready and waiting in their lawn chairs

Using hand-crafted wooden flutes, Rev. Dan and his grandchildren from Louisiana, Drake and Kaitlyn, entertained a hushed audience with their haunting music

Rev. Dan combined the serious with the humorous, much to the fascination and delight of those attending

The fun-filled hit of the evening was the Friendship Dance, as Rev. Dan led a snaking circle of chidren and their teachers on a wild circular path

Native Songs, Stories on June 13 at Fifth Anniversary Party on Museum Lawn

The Tiskilwa Historical Society is hosting its fifth annual Anniversary Party on Monday, June 13, beginning at 6:30 p.m.   Reverend Dan Lybarger of East Peoria will present a special program that tells the story of our Native people through flute music and story telling.

The Society is inviting area folks to pack up a few lawn chairs or blankets, grab the kids, and come on down to the west lawn of the Museum on Main for songs, snacks, a visit with your neighbors, and a rare chance to share in the rich traditions of America’s first families. If the monsoons of May continue into June, the program will be presented in the upstairs community room at the museum.  

Reverend Dan, whose mother is Cherokee and father is Ojibwe, is pastor of the Native American Fellowship Dayspring Church, East Peoria.   Dan draws upon a wealth of traditional tales and songs.  As a little boy, he listened to many stories told by his great-uncle near the “talking tree” in front of his grandmother’s home in Canton.  “My great-uncle sat there one day and said, ‘Danny, I want you to remember that your life does not belong to you, it belongs to the creator.’  And I never forgot those stories.”

Reverend Dan is sure to include a story about the timid little mouse, during which he asks the youngest members of the audience to act out parts. 

Reverend Dan may also help the audience learn a few words of Cherokee.  In addition to his pastoral duties, two nights each month Dan teaches Tsalagi, or Cherokee, language classes.  By doing this, he hopes to preserve not only the words but also the values of his culture.  Dan observes that “To know a people’s language is to open the door to their heart and soul.” 

At the June business meeting, members will vote upon a slate of 2011-13 board members and one constitutional amendment, and the treasurer will present the annual financial report. Next month’s program on July 11 will feature Curt Johnson of Wyanet, who will display and discuss a dozen guns from his collection, all of which were made by gunsmiths of Bureau County.

April 11 Program to Highlight Markers and Monuments of Bureau County

Bureau County may be best known for its rolling fields of rich, black soil. Nevertheless, the county could also boast of its surprising total of 75 public monuments and markers, erected by civic-minded citizens in its 24 towns and throughout its rural areas.

On Monday, April 11 at 7:00 p.m., many of those structures will be highlighted at the Tiskilwa Historical Society’s monthly program. Community members of all ages are invited to the Museum on Main, as Sharon Bittner and Nancy Gillfillan share information and insights they gleaned by traveling around the county to photograph markers and interview people about this remarkable reflection of Midwestern civic pride.

The program will focus on several categories of commemorative structures, including several in honor of veterans, pioneers, historic events, and railroads.  Attendees won’t be surprised to hear that the county’s largest monument is the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial across from the courthouse in Princeton, but they may be interested to learn that the Civil War Memorial in Tiskilwa’s East Park is the oldest known public marker in the county.  

The impetus for the two speakers to begin collecting this information was prompted many years ago by their involvement in the Princeton Evening Woman’s Club and its “Public Affairs” project.  As a result, on several summer days in the 1980s, Sharon and Nancy set out – cameras and notebooks in hand – to speak with town historians, mayors, librarians, and even a few unsuspecting bystanders.  These friends shared of a spirit of adventure, a love of history and its preservation, and a sense of humor called upon many, many times as they became lost following country roads to the next elusive marker. 

In early 2008, when both women had retired from their careers – Sharon as an English teacher at Hall High School in Spring Valley and Nancy as a librarian in Dixon and East Peoria – they dug through their carefully saved notes, and once again set out to roam the county for updated photos.   

In November 2008, they published a book entitled Markers and Monuments of Bureau County.

Following their presentation, the society will provide refreshments and social time. At their  meeting beginning around 8:15, they will discuss a proposal to place markers at the locations of the Tiskilwa’s country schools.  To help gauge community interest in this project, the historical society urges members and non-members alike to stay and share suggestions during the first fifteen minutes of the meeting.

March 14 Program to Reveal Past, Present of Bishop Hill Settlement

On Monday, March 14 at 7:00 p.m., the present-day sights and unusual history of Bishop Hill Settlement in western Illinois will be featured at the Tiskilwa Historical Society’s first public program of 2011.

Community members of all ages are invited to the Museum on Main, where Bishop Hill Site Superintendent Martha Downey will share her photos and insights about this National Landmark Village, located 40 miles southwest of Tiskilwa. 

The 1846 founding of Bishop Hill by Swedish religious leader Eric Jansson and his followers was an attempt to create their own “Utopia on the Prairie,” a place where they could practice religious freedom in a communal setting.  Today, many nineteenth-century buildings still stand, now housing the museums, quaint eateries, art galleries, and gift shops of twenty-first-century Bishop Hill.

Following the presentation, refreshments and social time, the society will discuss plans for hosting the annual conference of the Galena Trail and Coach Road on April 9 at the Museum on Main as well as make plans for their fifth anniversary musical event to be held June 13 in the West Park. 

Winter Schedule Set for Tiskilwa Historical Society and Museum on Main

Tiskilwa Historical Society’s Museum on Main will re-open for 2011 on January 8 to resume its usual schedule of Saturday hours, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  Throughout January, visitors will have their final chances to view the special exhibit in the Timeline Hallway Gallery, featuring the wood carvings of long-time Tiskilwa resident Bill Waca. 

The society’s schedule of public programming will resume in March.  Bright ideas for future topics may be given to any member of the Board of Directors, who meet monthly throughout the year.

During the next two months, various special committees will continue to catalog newly donated items, complete the 2010 scrapbook of T-H-S articles and photos, change and add to existing displays, and update the membership data base.  In other words, volunteers will keep the museum humming with the day-to-day activity that earned its recognition by the Illinois Association of Museums as its 2010 Volunteer Institution of the Year.  Anyone who can join in for a few hours a month may call the Museum Director, Cecille Gerber, at 815.646.4353.   

Young visitors at the Museum on Main -- such as Mackenzy and Matthew, pictured here --  are fascinated with the old-timey 20th-century technology displays.  Here, the siblings inspect the front-side and "back-door" workings of a 1925 Kellogg switchboard. 

Four times a year, the Museum on Main features a short-term special exhibit in the entrance hallway.  A lifetime of whittlings and carvings by the "Tiskilwa Termite," Bill Waca, will remain on display through Saturday, January 29.

1 sunny vacation day +  1 huge snow pile + 1 nine-year-old boy = 3 hours of fun. 

Here, Chad Heilstedt conquers a soon-to-be-hauled-away mountain in front of Steimle Garage in Tiskilwa.

Tiskilwa Historical Society Gains State Recognition as

“Volunteer Institution of the Year”

The Illinois Association of Museums named the Tiskilwa Historical Society as the 2010 Volunteer Institution of the Year at its annual conference in Naperville on November 4.  On hand to accept the award were five board members: Ed Waca, president; Judy Wright, secretary; Cecille Gerber, museum director; Helen Kenney and Jan Lohaus, board members.

Board members all agreed that is quite an honor to receive a competitive award from such a large and prestigious group as the IAM.  The state organization presents several categories of institutional and individual awards annually.  With all the volunteer activity needed for the society’s move last winter, the board decided to give it a try in 2010 by submitting an application last summer. 

“We knew we'd had an amazing year,” museum director Cecille Gerber explained, “and as we began to work on the application, we realized just how amazing it was. For instance, when we sat down to add up the volunteer time logged between July1, 2009 and June 30, 2010, it amounted to almost 3,000 hours!” 

The August 1^st application was submitted in a multi-sectioned binder that included answers to questions such as these: number of paid staff (none), number of volunteers (more than 50 for the move), number of members (297 at that time). 

Other sections required copies of the society’s mission statement, by-laws, budget, history, achievements, and a narrative overview of outstanding features. A section titled “supporting evidence” included several articles printed in the local press, a photo-essay on CD showing the move to the new facility, an invitation to visit the T-H-S web site, three letters of personal recommendation, four issues of the Wapsipinicon newsletter, and other documents such as the Collection Policy, deed-of-gift and membership forms.

The historical society views this very public recognition as a confirmation for ongoing support and appreciation by the Tiskilwa community – both near and far – whose spirit of volunteerism and community service made this award possible. 

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