Library Display

History of Chicago 1673-2004

The story of the development of Chicago’s lakefront is as vast as the lake on which the city was founded. As history records, in the 1640s the Miami Indians, a branch of the Illiwek Tribe, settled in a village on the southern extremity of Lake Michigan. The village, Che-cau-gou, was named for a small river whose source was close to the Illinois River and ran into Lake Michigan. Legend records the name as deriving from the odor of the abundantly growing wild onion.

This fall the Todd Library is featuring a captivating display on the history of Chicago including articles, archival materials, books, photographs, and memorabilia. Geology buffs may find the prominent Shaping the Chicago Shoreline poster, depicting its geological development, especially interesting. Come visit the library and learn more about “Our Kind of Town”.

Library Display

Banned Books Week 2004

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, the annual event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stress the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.
Ban No More in 2004 Pin
Come visit the Todd Library during the twenty-third anniversary of Banned Books Week September 25 – October 2 and receive your celebratory pin and bookmark!

Library Display

Remembering 9/11

This month Todd Library reflects on that unmistakable day in American history, 9/11. Our library display features memorable quotes and reflections by firefighters, policemen and professionals who were firsthand witnesses to the tragedy and assisted at the rubble recovery site. Also available on the display are titles which can be checked out that deal with the subject of terrorism.

Library Display

Vietnam: Before, During and After

The Vietnam: Before, During and After display in the Todd Library highlights a collection of materials documenting the Vietnam Conflict. Pictorial displays and print materials address the US involvement before, during and after the conflict. The browsing collection of books may be checked out.

Library Display

Mastodon Project

Around 10,000 years ago, shortly before they were to become extinct, mastodons, large Ice-Age mammals that are distant relatives of modern elephants, roamed what is now the Aurora area, an area where the last glaciers were just melting. Seventy years ago, as a way to keep jobs from becoming extinct during the Great Depression, the Civil Works Administration was created, with one of its crews assigned to the Phillips Park Lake Excavation Project in Aurora. It was during that dig, in January of 1934, that mastodon bones were discovered in the park’s Townsend Lake, forever after known as “Mastodon Lake.”
Mastodon Bones

Preliminary preparatory work, which includes ground penetrating radar and geological core samples, has already begun, but the actual excavation will begin in May, to coincide with an 11-week credit class Waubonsee is offering in the summer semester. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in an excavation of a real-life fossil,” said David Voorhees, Earth Science/Geology instructor at Waubonsee and the college’s lead instructor for the Mastodon Project. “This could be the pivotal event in students’ educational and scientific careers.”

The Todd Library contributes to this exciting project with its pictoral display complete with selected books and videos that are ready for you to check out. Come visit the library to learn more about this historical Park located at our back door!
Mastodon Display

A look at the news and events happening in the Libraries at Waubonsee Community College