Tara McClellan McAndrew

“Too late now,” said Henry Darger, an 80-something retired janitor and former central Illinois resident, as he waited for death at a Chicago charitable institution in 1973. He’d just been told that his landlords discovered the artworks he’d created over a lifetime. But Darger thought it was too late for his art and too late […]

The Confederate prison known as “Andersonville” in Georgia is often considered the worst of all the Civil War’s prisons. Its horrible reputation still provokes articles and documentaries today. More than 45,000 Union soldiers were imprisoned there during its 14-month existence and at least 12,000 of them died from exposure, illness, or gunshot. (Guards shot any […]

If it had not been for media mogul William Randolph Hearst, New Salem State Historic Site might still be a cow pasture. In 1906 Hearst was a wealthy New York congressman who owned several newspapers and had hopes of becoming president. On August 17, he stopped here while traveling back to New York from his […]

Here’s a conversation starter for you: What do Rod Blagojevich and Mary Lincoln have in common? (It’s not good hair.) The two are an incongruous pairing: an impeached former governor known for his wire-tapped expletives and a refined, widowed former first lady of the nation. The answer: narcissism, according to modern experts. People with narcissistic […]

The Lincoln-Herndon law offices must have been like the “fun cabin” at summer camp: always messy, rarely dull and the best place to hear something interesting. William Herndon was Lincoln’s last law partner and nine years his junior. Although Herndon was a brand new lawyer when he joined Lincoln (and proved to be a problem […]

You’re an Illinois woman in the middle 1800s and you find yourself pregnant after your sweetheart — who promised marriage — left. Your reputation and chance of finding a husband are ruined and you have to depend on your family for support. What to do? Sue the cad’s sorry behind. In those days, dumped pregnant […]

One of the grandest homes that Springfield has ever seen is only a memory. Not even a full photograph of it is known to exist. The home was built by Illinois Gov. Joel Matteson in 1856, during his last full year as governor. Matteson was a political opponent of Abraham Lincoln’s and a wealthy man […]

A different kind of Lincoln bicentennial celebration is being held in Springfield, starting March 7. It encourages everyone to search their family roots and see if they reach back to Springfield during Lincoln’s time, or even back to the Lincolns themselves. Rudy Davenport, a member of the Springfield contingent of the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, says […]

When Abraham Lincoln, his father, stepmother, and step-brother first came to Illinois from Indiana, they settled in a log cabin about three miles west of Decatur on the Sangamon River. The history of that long-gone cabin is a tangle of folklore and interesting facts. The city of Decatur, through its Lincoln Heritage Project, commissioned a […]

Many of us have heard about New Philadelphia, the racially integrated town in west central Illinois established by former slave “Free Frank” McWorter in 1836. Free Frank was an enterprising man who bought his own freedom and that of several family members, and developed this town where blacks and whites lived in equality. But few […]

Candles and popcorn strings on the tree, and the rare fruit treat in your stocking — they were all part of Christmases past. And they’re so removed from our modern lives, which often feature electrically-lit, artificial Christmas trees and fruit every day of the year. Here, for your enjoyment, are reminiscences of Christmases long ago, […]

When the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum opened, it was heralded as the first of its kind. However, there was an unofficial version housed in the Lincoln Home from 1884 to 1893. It was run by Civil War veteran Osborn Oldroyd, a man who was as quirky as the museum he created. When Oldroyd began collecting […]