Peoria Public Library - Local History Collection

Next Monday, June 15!

One week from today!

Join us on Monday, June 15th as we welcome award-winning author Michael W. Twitty to Peoria!
Program is from 6:30 to 8:30 PM at Main Library, auditorium. No cost to attend.

Twitty's groundbreaking book, "The Cooking Gene," has earned numerous prestigious accolades, including The James Beard Award for writing and Book of the Year. Twitty is the first black writer to receive this award.
Come hear him speak about this acclaimed food memoir in which he explores the roots of Southern cuisine, tracing his own ancestry from Africa to America, and from slavery to freedom.

Excerpt:
"Cooking from a place of heritage, identity and belonging is a powerful thing fraught with class and cultural politics...
"Once upon a time I was just black or brown; you pick the color designation. I was an orphan of the West, the descendant of unwitting and unwilling Americans. Soul food was just that -- for a sad people with amnesia and massive Stockholm syndrome trying to cook their way to some semblance of self-understanding and truth.
"Everything we tried to do was a poor imitation or with faulty memory; nothing was taken on its own merit, left to its own context. No, we were messy and inferior and confused.
"And now I know I am not that."

Honor the stories of Central Illinois veterans and heroes at the opening of Central Illinois Heroes Who Answered the Call, a new Peoria Historical Society America 250 exhibit. Join us Saturday, May 16 from 1–3 PM at the Peoria Public Library Main Library as we celebrate the local individuals and military units who shaped our nation’s history. The exhibit is free and open to the public through June 6.

Peoria Public Library is proud to host the Peoria Historical Society in our Gallery. After you've seen the exhibit, stop in and visit the Local History Collection!

Honor the stories of Central Illinois veterans and heroes at the opening of Central Illinois Heroes Who Answered the Call, a new Peoria Historical Society America 250 exhibit. Join us Saturday, May 16 from 1–3 PM at the Peoria Public Library Main Library as we celebrate the local individuals and military units who shaped our nation’s history. The exhibit is free and open to the public through June 6.

Don't forget that Mother's Day is this Sunday, May 10 - but if you do, find a local store giving free gifts to Mom and take her there! See ads like this one from May 1959 by using NewsBank at the Library (or at home if you have a Peoria Public Library card!).

It's National Library Week! In the April 23, 1963 Peoria Journal Star, the library celebrated by employing a grocery store theme.

This year's national theme is "Find Your Joy," and we invite you to find your joy at any of our five library locations, but especially at our Local History and Genealogy Collection at the Main Branch.

Remember when we could only mail our tax returns? You may not have to make a trip to the post office anymore, but you do have to meet tomorrow's deadline.

Photo from April 16, 1981 Peoria Journal Star

On Monday, April 13th 2026, the Peoria County Genealogical Society will hold its monthly member meeting at the Peoria PublicLibrary North Branch, entitled “Local History & Genealogy Resources at Peoria Public Library” to hear from Sue Kaufman, PPL Local History & Genealogy Librarian. Sue will join us in person and cover how the Peoria Public Library can help you supplement, and possibly revolutionize, your research. What is hiding in the basement of the Downtown Peoria Public Library? Genealogy GOLD! Participants may attend via Zoom or in person.

Located on Lower Level 1 of the Main Library, the Peoria Public Library - Local History Collection and Genealogy Room is a vast and growing collection highlighting the history of Peoria, reputed to be the oldest European settlement in Illinois.

Established in 1691 by the French explorer Henri de Tonti, Peoria has had a distinctive past. The Illinois River and the World’s Most Beautiful Drive. Whiskey. Vaudeville. Penicillin. Caterpillar. Every facet of our past has a home in Peoria Public Library’s archives.
An Illinois native, Susan has more than 35 years of experience as a genealogy librarian and in Special Collections, having started her career in Peoria, IL (1987), then moving to the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, (1999 – 2004) then moving to Texas in 2004, returning to Illinois in 2023 to Peoria.

Sue was born in Illinois, growing up in Chicago. Her undergraduate degree is from Southern Illinois University in Criminal Justice. She has graduate work in Sociology, receiving her Masters in Library and Information Sciences from Dominican University in Chicago, IL in 1999. She did not start out to be a genealogy librarian. There were two jobs in Peoria when she was hired there, Children’s Librarian and the Genealogy / Reference Librarian. She took the Genealogy Librarian job and learn the research process on the job. She loves working with people and customer service, which is why she is a librarian.

A presenter at local, state and national genealogy conferences and meetings, she also has held numerous genealogical society board positions in Illinois, Indiana, and Texas and at the national level with the Federation of Genealogical Societies.

Free and open to the public. No registration needed if attending in person.

Zoom registration:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/hLBAGcn3RtmvRvU9pKUkYA

More Information and Links:

Their page:
https://www.facebook.com/ppllocalhistory/
Their website:
https://peoriapubliclibrary.org/about-ppl/local-history-genealogy/
Event Link on Our Site:
https://www.peoriacountygenealogy.org/.../local-history.../
Event Page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/3580071192149755
Recorded Presentations:
https://www.peoriacountygenealogy.org/.../recorded...

In honor of the Peoria Chiefs' Opening Day tomorrow, we're throwing it back to a Journal Star story about Opening Day 1985. Baseball fans might recognize the Chiefs' starting pitcher that day. 😉

This unusual picture passed as an April Fool's joke in 1964! How do we know? We discovered such a dubious prank by searching our newly available online access to the Peoria Journal Star. With the help of the Friends of Peoria Public Library, the Peoria PublicLibrary now offers digital access to the Peoria Journal Star back to 1951. Come to the library and use our public computers, or explore from home if you have a Peoria Public Library card!