Celebrate Illinois Authors: Bicentennial Exhibit

In celebration of the Illinois Bicentennial (December 3, 1818), a new exhibit on the main level highlights a "celebration reading list" curated by the Illinois State Historical Society. A selection of titles by Illinois authors is listed below and available as a handout at the exhibit.

Also on display are writings by instructor Kevin Roberts' ENGL 180 students, writing in the style of Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology. 

The exhibit will be available through the end of the year. It's a great study break and a way to celebrate 200 years of Illinois statehood!

ILLINOIS CLASSICS: A Celebration Reading List Compiled by John E. Hallwas of the Illinois State Historical Society

Black Hawk, Black Hawk: An Autobiography (1833). Famous in its own time, it was the first native American autobiography. A remarkable self-portrait of a complex individual.

Edgar Lee Masters, Spoon River Anthology (1915, 1916). An American classic of poetic monologues, in which dead village residents reflect on their lives and struggles.

Eliza Farnharm, Life in Prairie Land (1846). Engaging account by a traveler and settler, who came to central Illinois in the 1830s. She depicts the natural world as well as people.

Edna Ferber, So Big (1924). Winner of the 1925 Pulitzer Prize, this novel, set near Chicago in the 1890s and early 20th century, depicts a widow who supports herself and her son.

Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull House (1910). A superb autobiography, in which the famous social activist recounts her early years and the social work at Hull House.

Carl Sandburg, Poems of the Midwest (1946). Selected poems by the famous poet and Lincoln biographer taken from Chicago Poems and Cornhuskers.

Richard Wright, Native Son (1940). An acclaimed, powerful novel, about a black youth in Chicago, who is brutalized and depraved by powerful forces, and condemned to die.

Gwendolyn Brooks, Selected Poems (2006). A volume of compelling poems, often about the black experience, by the celebrated, Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago poet.

Studs Terkel, Division Street: America (1967). One of several best-selling books by Terkel. His oral interviews about Chicago become very insightful social commentary.

Lisel Mueller, Alive Together: New and Selected Poems (1996). This volume won the Pulitzer Prize. She deals with her cultural and family history, the value of love, etc.

William Maxwell, So Long, See You Tomorrow (1980). An acclaimed short novel focused on youth, memory, and personal loss. It reflects Maxwell’s youth in Lincoln, Illinois.

Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street (1984). A celebrated short novel, with chapters like prose poems, about a young woman in a Chicago Latino neighborhood.