Landing the job

Trina Wade selecting books

Last year, Trina Wade, a mother of four, was working part-time at a major financial institution, studying full-time toward a business degree, and hunting for a job in a new industry. She was busy, working hard, and getting frustrated. “My goal was to have a new career before I graduated,” Wade said. “Being on the … Read more

A closer look at Wright’s legacy

Closer Look FLW

A tour group with the Elmhurst History Museum dropped by the library’s Special Collections last week to get a closer look at original architectural drawings from Frank Lloyd Wright’s first published work, the 1910 Wasmuth Portfolio. Oak Park’s Unity Temple, the Robie House in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, and the Winslow House in River Forest are just three of the National Historic … Read more

Opening access to more Oak Park treasures

Madison Street, 1903

Genealogists and local history buffs, take note: more photographic treasures telling Oak Park’s local story from the Civil War and beyond will soon be available online, thanks to a grant the library received in October. On the heels of successfully completing its Hacking Hemingway: Cracking the Code to the Vault digital imaging grant, the library … Read more

Welcoming home local Civil War vets

Leigh Tarullo and Grand Army of the Republic Collections

Last week, we welcomed home two of the oldest items in the library: a pair of Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) volumes containing around 100 photographs and a wealth of information about local veterans who fought in the Civil War. “They’re a great time capsule of veterans from this time period,” said Leigh Tarullo, Curator … Read more

How we spent our Hemingway summer

How we spent our Hemingway summer

It would have been Ernest Hemingway’s 117th birthday this July. The anniversary did not go unmarked here in Hemingway’s hometown. To skim the surface: In July, the library’s Special Collections team participated in a conference of international Hemingway Society scholars who came to Oak Park. A gala was held at the Main Library to support the home, now a museum, where Hemingway … Read more

A burst of creativity

Hacking Hemingway comic

Check out students’ six-word stories in the catalog and by see more work by searching Twitter with #HackingHemingway Tweens and teens are digital learners, creators Inspired by old Hemingway family photos digitized earlier this year through a state grant to the library, Oak Park tweens and teens showed “a burst of creativity” in their classrooms and at the library this spring, … Read more

What’s happening with Hacking Hemingway

Hacking Hemingway Twitter

Humanizing history in 140 characters Since February’s release of the first 84 digitized artifacts from the library’s Special Collections and The Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park on the Illinois Digital Archives, there’s another place online you may have seen young Ernest, his sister Marcelline, and his mother Grace. Your Twitter feed. As the library … Read more

Hemingway artifacts now online

Ernest and Marcelline baby portrait

‘Stunning images, handwritten commentary’ Unprecedented, online access is now available to rare Ernest Hemingway family artifacts from the late 1800s and early 1900s through the Illinois Digital Archives (IDA). Thanks to an $86,900 grant from the Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White, the first 84 digitized artifacts from the Oak Park Public Library’s … Read more

Opening the vault

Marcelline Hemingway Baby Book

Now online are the first 84 of at least 300 digitized artifacts from the library, The Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park (EHFOP), and the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest. All artifacts will be uploaded into the Illinois Digital Archives (IDA) in time for the Hemingway Society’s 17th biennial international conference. in Oak Park … Read more

Grants to Individuals (GTI)

Grants to Individuals (GTI) (access available at the Main Library only) Candid’s tool for students, artists, researchers—and other individual grant seekers—with profiles on 10,000 foundations that provide grants, and details on scholarships, fellowships, and other grants available to individuals. As a Funding Information Network partner, the library provides access to Candid’s websites: Foundation Directory Online … Read more

Foundation Directory Online (FDO)

Foundation Directory Online by Candid

Foundation Directory Online (FDO) (access available at the Main Library only) Candid’s grant-seeking tool, which includes 232,000+ funder profiles, 18.4+ million grants, 900,000+ grant recipient profiles, and 1+ million key grant decision-makers and leaders, along with contacts, maps, charts, federal grants, requests for proposals (RFPs), and more. As a Funding Information Network partner, the library … Read more