Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day from the IDHH. We’re a little late on celebrating mothers, but still feel like a tribute should be made. Shelter-in-place has been particularly difficult, and we’re hoping that the distance between you and your loved ones is either not-far, or easily traversed. 

Mother and Daughter Performers on Menage Horses. 1950. Passion for Circus. Photographer, Sverre O. Braathen. Used with permission from Illinois State University’s Special Collections, Milner Library.

To celebrate Mother’s Day we’re highlighting photographs of families of performers, especially mother-daughter performers from Illinois State University’s Passion for Circus Collection.  The photographs come from a collection of nearly 10,000 spanning from the 1930’s to the 1950’s from circus across the United States.

Performer and Employee with Parent. 1950. Passion for Circus. Photographer, Sverre O. Braathen. Used with permission from Illinois State University’s Special Collections, Milner Library.

Below is just a small selection of performers and their families, mostly mother-daughter aerial and acrobatics acts, but also performers with their spectator, non-circus parents.

Mother and Daughter Circus Performers. 1949. Passion for Circus. Used with permission from Illinois State University’s Special Collections, Milner Library.
Performer with Parent. 1951.Passion for Circus. Photographer, Sverre O. Braathen. Used with permission from Illinois State University’s Special Collections, Milner Library.
Performers in Wardrobe. 1936.Passion for Circus. Used with permission from Illinois State University’s Special Collections, Milner Library.
Aerialists in Wardrobe. 1945. Passion for Circus. Photographer, Sverre O. Braathen. Used with permission from Illinois State University’s Special Collections, Milner Library.
Mother and Daughter Production Girls. 1944.Passion for Circus. Photographer, Sverre O. Braathen. Used with permission from Illinois State University’s Special Collections, Milner Library.


For the full collection you can visit Illinois State University’s Milner Library webpage, or browse on the IDHH.

Nurses at the Graham Hospital School of Nursing

Graham Hospital School of Nursing students. 1946. Graham Hospital School of Nursing Library. Images from the Past. Permission to display given by Graham Hospital School of Nursing Library.

 Reports from across the country describe the effort of nurses as they continue to care for patients sick with Covid-19 and put themselves at risk. Thousands of nurses have themselves been infected with the virus Covid-19 during the pandemic while caring for patients in hospitals and nursing homes.
The Graham Hospital School of Nursing Library collections is the only collection in the IDHH dedicated entirely to nursing and nurse education. It contains 2,000 images and interviews from nurses who trained at the Graham Hospital School of Nursing in the 20th century, as well as images of and information about Graham Hospital, the history of medicine and the Graham Hospital and Canton Illinois community, as well as nursing and nursing education. Below are a few images. Thanks to nurses in Illinois and across the country.

Graham Hospital School of Nursing Student Delivering Flowers. 1951. Graham Hospital School of Nursing Library. Images from the Past. Permission to display given by Graham Hospital School of Nursing Library.
Graham Hospital School of Nursing Students Scrubbing. 1963.Graham Hospital School of Nursing Library. Images from the Past. Permission to display given by Graham Hospital School of Nursing Library.
Graham Hospital School of Nursing Students in Classroom. 1947. Graham Hospital School of Nursing Library. Images from the Past. Permission to display given by Graham Hospital School of Nursing Library.
Graham Hospital School of Nursing student with patient. 1945. Graham Hospital School of Nursing Library. Images from the Past. Permission to display given by Graham Hospital School of Nursing Library.

I hope that all the reader’s of the Highlights blog and everyone surfing the IDHH and DPLA are safe. For everything from the Graham Hospital School of Nursing Library on the IDHH click here, or for more on nursing from the rest of our contributors, click here