Welcome to the Blackwell History of Education Museum at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL and a member of Illinois Association of Museums. We are a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting interest in the history of American education. We have one of the most extensive history of education collections in the country with thousands of books and artifacts of historical interest. Feel free to come in and take a look around..
The Blackwell History of Education Museum was named after Ruth and Harold Blackwell in recognition of their generous support of the museum. Ruth Blackwell was a teacher in one-room schools in South Dakota during the 1930s and 1940s. Many of the museum’s first books and artifacts were donated from Ruth’s own sizable collection. Together with her husband xxx Harold, a WW1 veteran and lawyer, the Blackwells provided a significant endowment fund to the museum.
Today the Blackwell has over 11,000 textbooks that were used in schools; some are more than 400 years old. We have large collections of hornbooks, battledores, primers, and readers as well as many other texts and reference materials. In addition, we have collections of slates, pens, inkwells, samplers, prints, student work, report cards, and a variety of documents. The Blackwell is currently involved in two major projects: the Oral History Project and the Country School Project.
The goals of the Blackwell Museum are fourfold:
• To collect and preserve educational artifacts and related material for posterity
• To exhibit these materials to the public in an interesting and informative fashion
• To make the collections available to faculty and students for scholarly study and research
• To collaborate with local schools and community groups in the study of educational history
2006 Building Bridges: Community, Collaboration, Celebration Conference
The Association of Midwest Museums (AMM) is accepting proposals for the 2006 Conference, Building Bridges: Community, Collaboration, Celebration. The conference is scheduled for September 26-29, 2006 at the Radisson Hotel in the Quad Cities, Illinois and Iowa. In the spirit of the conference theme, AMM will collaborate with the Illinois Association of Museums (IAM) and the Iowa Museum Association (IMA). For this unique collaboration, the three museum associations will come together for a very special conference. The Association of Midwest Museums (AMM), the Illinois Association of Museums (IAM), and the Iowa Museum Association (IMA) will literally cross bridges over the Mississippi River to examine how museum collaborations can benefit institutions and celebrate communities. The 2006 AMM Conference, Building Bridges, will explore how museums engage in creative partnerships, both with other museums and other community organizations.
The deadline for submission is Tuesday, January 31, 2006.