Browse Items (146 total)

A replica of the first Vista Dome car that Mr Moore boarded to return home after serving in the army in 1945. Eager to fulfill the public's expectation for post-war innovation, Burlington took the GM designers' idea to Aurora workshops to produce the…

This is a photo of a woman (possibly Charlotte Littlefield) from the collection of Joseph Littlefield's papers belonging to Terri and Dave Mabon. Dave Mabon is Joseph Littlefield's great-grandson. Born in Peoria County, Illinois in 1842, Joseph…

This is a memorial certificate presented to Emma Sutorius, Bill Dean's maternal grandmother, on the day she passed her Catechism exam in 1904. Born in 1889, Emma passed her exam at the age 14. A granddaughter of Swiss emigrants Gottlieb and Anna…

This is a long letter Charlotte Littlefield wrote to her Daughter Josephine (?) from the Pershing Hospital in Grand Island, Nebraska telling her about the family history and the Pioneer days in 1864 when her family came to Nebraska from Illinois to…

This is a pension certificate documenting Charlotte Littlefield's right to receive pension after her husband, Civil War veteran Joseph Littlefield died in 1911. Charlotte (Lotta) Littlefield (nee Roberts) was Joseph Littlefield's second wife, whom he…

Colleen Volkmer tells the story of the Cowboy Rug to the History Harvest graduate student assistant Rob Voss. This rug with a cowboy trying to stay in the saddle of a bucking horse is a wonderful piece of Americana from the middle of the 20th…

This confirmation certificate comes from the family of Bill Dean, Margaret Dean's husband, who are the second great-grandchildren of Gottlieb and Anna Schuetz. Born in 1840 in Ruegsau, Switzerland, Anna Parli was 16 at Confirmation. She married…

This document comes from the family of Bill Dean, Margaret Dean's husband, who are the second great-grandchildren of Gottlieb and Anna Schuetz. It is most probably a confirmation notice for Gottlieb Schuetz the sponsor wrote as keepsake of the…

This rug with a cowboy trying to stay in the saddle of a bucking horse is a wonderful piece of Americana from the middle of the 20th century. Colleen Volkmer believes this gift from the ex-husband's maternal uncle bears a signature of Randolph Scott,…

The Family of Bill Dean collection includes many death notices cut out of mostly German-language newspapers. This obituary tells of Julia Emma Kleber's death at the age of 37 of emaciation. Born in 1862 in Illinois, she married Albert Augutus Kleber…