Grants

Past Grant Recipients

2026

Untold Histories – $150 to add the death date to the gravestone of James Edward Thompson who is buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield. Thompson was an African American 1908 Race Riot survivor and grocery store owner on the East side of Springfield. He won an early court case for reparations and went on to be an active leader in Springfield.

Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum – $1,000 to digitize and preserve the extensive collection of photographs belonging to the Osby family, one of the oldest African American families in Springfield. The collection includes family snapshots and images from various photography studios across central Illinois. One of the photos is more than 100 years old. The goal is to provide online access to these photos to help identify the photos.

 Dana Thomas House Foundation - $1,000 to reprint their booklet titled “Historic Dana-Thomas House Neighborhood Walking Tour” and to develop an app to enhance the visitor experience of both the Dana Thomas House and Susan’s neighborhood. The booklet, which brings the neighborhood alive and highlights the people who lived in Susan’s neighborhood, has been popular with tourists who enjoy learning about the neighborhood. The app will be an educational tool about Susan Lawrence Dana and her family, Frank Lloyd Wright, the Dana Thomas House, and the prominent people who once lived near Susan.

2025

Village of Divernon Historic Train Depot Restoration Project – $1,000 to be used for a portion of the costs of restoring the depot’s exterior siding and other necessary repairs to create a depository for housing relics and memorabilia of the village’s history as a mining town and its relationship with Madison Coal Mine No. 6 and the Illinois Central Railroad.

First Presbyterian Church Historical Museum – $1,000 for display cabinetry to be placed in a history room which will house important historic items including photographs of President Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd Lincoln, hand-written letters by Mrs. Lincoln and records of the membership of Mrs. Lincoln, and baptisms of two of her sons.

Illinois State Historical Society – $500 for printing a brochure to serve as a guide to their 19 historical markers throughout Sangamon County. The guide will include a Q/R code showing a link to the location and information about each marker. It will be given to members of the ISHS and Sangamon County Historical Society and be placed in the Sangamon Valley Collection of Lincoln Library, as well as other Sangamon County libraries upon request.

St. Paul Cathedral – $1,000 for an Historical Museum and Library that will focus on the history of the Cathedral and its connection to the marriage of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd, which was officiated by Reverend Charles Dresser, Rector of the Cathedral from 1838-1854. The museum will also feature historical artifacts, Lincoln related items and educational resources.

Rochester Sesquicentennial – $600 to assemble a trio of scrapbooks detailing the events, projects and programs that were offered to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of the village of Rochester and to serve as permanent documentation. The scrapbooks will be housed in the Village offices as a permanent repository.

Enos Park Neighborhood Improvement Association – $305 to digitize the Fever River Architectural Study of Enos Park (1997). Enos Park was platted in 1833 and by the early 20^th century nearly all of the neighborhood was developed by prominent Springfield residents. The Fever River Study is a historical record of all the buildings in the neighborhood as of 1997.

2024

Prairie Skies Public Library District – $1,000 to digitize microfilm of three local newspapers covering the Pleasant Plaines area to preserve the content and make them more accessible to researchers. The newspapers to be digitized are the “Pleasant Plains Press,” the “Review” and the “Argus.” These newspapers covered the lives of people living in the towns and surrounding countryside. Some dated back to 1901.

Oak Ridge Cemetery Foundation – $600 to fund graveside markers of six Underground Railroad Conductors who did the dangerous work of being an Underground Railroad Conductor in Springfield and Sangamon County. The markers will recognize and document their places in history. Four of the markers are to be placed next to the conductors’ respective graves in Oak Ridge Cemetery.

Thomas Rees Memorial Carillon, The Bells Group – $1,000 to produce an educational video that can be used in K-6 grade school music classes. The video will include scripted storytelling with dialogue, filming on location with drone footage, creation of advanced stock video or motion graphics and professional music. The video also will be uploaded to YouTube to reach a wider public audience.

2023

Chatham Area Public Library - $1,000 to digitize a portion of 70 audio cassette tapes that contain oral history interviews conducted from senior residents in the community who reminisced about growing up in the 1920s and beyond. Once digitized, the recordings will be transcribed and then stored online at the Illinois Digital Archives in the Chatham Area History collection.

Central 3 Community First Project, Inc. - $1,000 to purchase several additional display cases to secure artifacts and loaned possessions being collected for exhibit at their restored First Black Firehouse Museum in Springfield.

Dana Thomas Foundation and Springfield Art Association - $1,000 to host a presentation on the work of nationally known artist and poet Leigh Gross Day and her friendship with Susan Lawrence Dana. Day was a life-long Springfield resident.

Temple B’rith Sholom -$1,000 for a bronze plaque to recognize and memorialize the location “Hebrew Ground” within Block 5 of Oak Ridge Cemetery. The plaque will honor the final resting place of 342 Jewish settlers of Springfield including the first Rabbi in Springfield.

Springfield Art Association - $1,000 to restore a mid-19th century sofa once owned by Illinois Governor Augustus French, who served as governor from 1846-1853. The sofa has been on display at Edwards Place, but needs to be reupholstered so that it can be utilized by visitors who cannot stand for long periods of time.

2022

Friends of the Original Leland Farm House Inc. - $1,000 to restore the Leland Farm House Summer Kitchen which has been moved from its original site to Washington Park. The funds will be used to reinstall the windows, a door and staircase as well as mason work for the foundation and a brick walkway outside the historic 1860s building. The building will be used to display information about the Leland family and original farmhouse.

Illinois State Museum Society – $900 to restore Vachel Lindsay’s Lincoln Top Hat at the Illinois State Museum. The 3-foot tall fiberglass version of Lincoln’s stove pipe hat was painted by artist Felicia Olin in 2009 as part of the city’s “Hats Off to Lincoln” project celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Lincoln’s birth. Being displayed outside the museum for a number of years, the hat has suffered weather damage and now needs repainting.

Oak Ridge Cemetery - $1,000 to create a brochure and map which will identify and celebrate distinguished individuals of color buried at the cemetery. The booklet will assist descendants, historians and other interested parties in locating burial markers of African Americans interred at the cemetery.

Preservation Inc. - $1,000 for supplies and labor costs associated with drywalling the damaged ceiling and walls in practice rooms around the stage of the 1908 music conservatory on the former Ursuline Academy campus. Future plans include making the building useable for music lessons for which it was originally designed.