Summer in Illinois Postcards

Editors Note 03/2021: Postcards-Illinois is no longer a collection in IDHH.
This Spring, the Illinois Digital Heritage Hub celebrated the addition of forty collections from the Illinois Digital Archives to the DPLA. These collections include Postcards-Illinois from the Newberry Library. The collection includes nearly five thousand postcards, many of which feature Illinois’ beautiful State Parks, rivers, and shorelines, and other Summertime destinations, past and present.
Postcards-Illinois is just a small subset of the Curt Teich Postcard Archives which comprises around 2.5 million items, probably the largest collection of postcards and related material in the United States. Originally donated by the Lake County Forest Preserve District, a large part of the Newberry’s collection is now searchable through the Digital Public Library of America’s interface which will provide even greater access to and awareness of the material than ever before.
The items highlighted here seem particularly relevant for the month of August, including outdoor destinations from around Illinois and serve as encouragement to experience the places that inspired such beautiful imagery.

Postcard featuring picnic grounds among evergreens
Shawnee National Forest, Southern Illinois. 1938. Newberry Library.
Postcard featuring lake and shoreline with houses and people on the beach
The Glorydale Summer Resort on Kankakee River, Momence, IL. 1929. Newberry Library.
Postcard with painting of people on beach and swimming in lake
Bathing Beach on Cedar Lake, between Lake Villa and Antioch, Illinois. 1949. Newberry Library.
Postcard with clear river cutting through a lush forest
Picturesque Des Plaines River. 1964. Newberry Library.
Postcard with a boat on a lake shore
Tower Park -Tower Lakes Estates. 1927. Newberry Library.

You can access all of the above images and all other Newberry items in the IDHH.