A history of Springfield romances

Six love stories to put you in the mood

Love to last a lifetime Sarah Blanchard and Stuart PatersonWhen Sarah Lee Blanchard of Springfield entered the University of Michigan in the fall of 1961, she had no idea she would cross paths with th

They saw him standing here

George Harrison, the first Beatle in America, left his footprints all over southern Illinois

The 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ first visit to America will be commemorated in February 2014. The Liverpool lads, shortly after their single “I Want to Hold Your Hand” reached t

Lincoln’s Election Day in Springfield

Election Day, 1860, started with a boom for Republican presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln. According to Harold Holzer’s book, Lincoln: President-Elect, local Republicans (not including Linco

How sick was Lincoln?

Springfield author’s new book separates fact from myth

The theories are plentiful: Abraham Lincoln was gay, or had Marfan’s syndrome, or syphilis or mercury poisoning; Mary Lincoln was insane, and on and on. But, are they true?It’s been 80 yea

Springfield’s role in preserving the dead

Before the Civil War, embalming was mainly done in America by medical men seeking to preserve corpses for anatomical study. It wasn’t until the outbreak of the Civil War, when tens of thousands

The poetry of longevity

Illinois State Historical Society honors 23 centenarians

What do Poetry Magazine, Chicago Chinatown, Madison County, Haenig Electric Company and the YMCA of McDonough County have in common? They are a few of 23 Illinois businesses, nonprofits and municipali

When Springfield’s competing streetcars came to blows

Corporate arrogance and malfeasance seem like modern phenomena, but they’re not. Take the story of Springfield’s 1890 “streetcar wars,” for example. Shortly after the Civil War

Secrets uncovered by 1950s drought

It’s hard to think of anything good about droughts, but they have turned up some interesting finds. On Aug. 6, the Illinois State Museum announced a new acquisition that resulted from the curren

When Vladimir Nabokov came to Springfield

The great Russian novelist, author of Lolita, was taken aback by a flagpole enthusiast

When the great Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov visited Springfield in 1942, he met a man who would become fodder for one of the most entertaining letters he wrote to his wife. It was excerpted last

Springfield’s Ladies Aid supported Civil War soldiers