McLean County Museum Of History

It seems like a new biography of President Abraham Lincoln comes out every few years, trying to discern new perspectives of his time and character. Lincoln himself didn't write much about his life, so what he did put down on paper has an outsized importance.

The McLean County Historical Society announced the recipients of the 2025 History Makers Awards Wednesday at the McLean County Museum of History.

A Trump administration effort to remove the federal government from wide swaths of American life continues to spread. Libraries and museums in Bloomington-Normal and around Illinois also will feel the impact.

Happy birthday Abraham Lincoln. He’s 216. The McLean County Museum of History is hallmarking Lincoln’s Feb. 12 birthday with the start of a coloring contest to celebrate Lincoln and work on a mural showing a famous speech he made in Bloomington.

For a gathering Sunday sponsored by Not in Our Town Bloomington-Normal, sharing anxiety about the incoming administration, and resolving to stay involved are two major steps toward making things better — and even, to some extent, healing.

The exhibit commemorates 100 years since the founding of Country Financial by McLean County farmers. It includes details of the company’s history and artifacts from the Illinois Farm Bureau archives.

Waddell was a Bloomington native who became a celebrated classical vocalist in Europe and the United States, mentoring many others along the way.

Human beings have marked the turning of the year with many different traditions over thousands of years. Some practices have fallen out of favor. Today, American society celebrates on New Year’s Eve, and not New Year's Day, though this was not always the case.

Christmas in America wasn't always the huge festive cultural movement we know today. The Puritans made the celebration of Christmas illegal. They thought such demonstrations were sacrilegious.

Downtown Bloomington goes full-festive this weekend as free holiday music rings all through the Twin Cities.