Show us a picture and tell us a story. In this moth-style storytelling night, we're inviting you to bring a photo or picture and tell us the backstory. Your 5 minute story could be funny, heartbreaking or outrageous; whatever it is, we want to hear it.

Register in advance to share a story, or to join us online to listen.

Join the Urbana Public Arts Program, the UC Independent Media Center and The Urbana Free Library for a showcase of poetry, spoken word, music, and artistic expression that highlights Black women's history, present and future. This performance, featuring women from our community, is designed to promote creativity and connection! Hosted by Ashanti Files, the Poet Laureate of the City of Urbana.

Tune in to our Facebook page for the event.

Maureen Holtz, author of Arcadia Publishing's Robert Allerton: His Parks and Legacies, will present a discussion about the history of Robert Allerton and his homes outside of Monticello and on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. The presentation will include archival photographs.

In 2009, Holtz co-authored a biography about Robert Allerton, followed by a photography book in 2011, and another Arcadia Publishing book about Monticello, IL in 2013.

Members of the Women's Army Corps (WACs) were the first women other than nurses to serve overseas in World War II. Cyndee Schaffer's mother, Mollie Weinstein Schaffer, was one of them. Drawing upon excerpts from Mollie's letters written home during the war, this presentation provides a romantic, yet frightful, glimpse into the life of a woman in uniform during this crucial time in history. It details Mollie's experiences from basic training in Florida in October 1943 to the dramatic moment when the Statue of Liberty came into view upon her return in November 1945. It traces the footsteps of the women who served in Europe, following Mollie and her fellow WACs who were stationed in London, England before D-Day and during the post D-Day German buzz bomb attacks. The WACs were transferred to Normandy, and then to Paris after its liberation by the Allies. After VE Day (Victory in Europe), they served in Versailles. Finally, they traveled to Frankfurt, Germany, as part of the Army of Occupation and witnessed firsthand the devastation of that country before returning to the United States. This presentation will invite contemplation of the vital and varied roles that women have fulfilled in the American military.

This event is being produced by the Champaign County Genealogical Society in partnership with Illinois Humanities. This event will also be cosponsored by The Urbana Free Library and the Champaign County History Museum. The Illinois Humanities Road Scholars Speakers Bureau invites Illinois authors, artists, and educators to share their expertise and enthusiasm with people throughout state, enabling local nonprofit organizations to present free-admission cultural programs of high quality to their communities for a modest fee.

Illinois Humanities is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Illinois General Assembly [through the Illinois Arts Council Agency (IACA)], as well as by contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed by speakers, program participants, or audiences do not necessarily reflect those of the NEH, Illinois Humanities, IACA, our partnering organizations, or our funders.

For more information visit ilccgs.org (under the meetings/research night tab) or contact the Adrienne at programs@ilccgs.org.

This program is made possible in part by a grant from the Urbana Arts and Culture Program.

Get your team together, and join us for this virtual trivia event. Questions will explore the lives and work of amazing women from art, history, science, music, leaders, activists, and even a few rebels that made their mark on this world of ours! Enjoy this virtual time with your team, and perhaps even learn a bit about women's history! This Women's History Month program is in collaboration with The Museum of the Grand Prairie. Registration opens on March 11th.

This month we're reading Famous Men Who Never Lived by K Chess.

Digital Magazines Now Available on Libby! 

Our digital magazines have moved! You are now able to checkout and read digital magazines on the Libby app. The RBdigital collection was acquired by OverDrive, so those magazines will be incorporated into our OverDrive/Libby collection. If you’ve already been using the RBdigital app to read them, you will be able to access all the same materials through Libby. If you haven’t checkout out this collection yet, now’s a great time to get started! The Library’s subscription contains 3,000 titles, including The New Yorker, Newsweek, Cook’s Illustrated, The Economist, and National Geographic. 

Magazines will be available instantly and won’t count toward the app’s collection checkout limits (up to 10 items at a time for eBooks and audiobooks). Learn more about using Libby here. If you have any questions, give us a call at (217) 367-4405.