Illinois State Museum facts for kids
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| Established | 1877 |
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| Location | 502 South Spring Street Springfield, Illinois, United States |
| Type | Art museum, history museum, natural history/anthropology museum |
| Public transit access |  SMTD |
The Illinois State Museum is a cool place to learn all about the state of Illinois. It shows you what life is like, the land, the people, and the art of Illinois. The main museum is in Springfield. It has exhibits on natural history, like fossils, and also shows off Illinois's amazing art and culture.
You can see things like old fossils and learn about mining. There are displays of homes from different times in history. You can also see dioramas that show what Native American life was like. The museum has many old tools and items from different cultures. Plus, there's a special collection of glass paperweights!
The main museum is in Springfield, close to the Illinois State Capitol. There are also a few other locations. These include Dickson Mounds in Lewistown and the Lockport Gallery in Lockport. The museum also has a Research and Collections Center in Springfield.
Contents
History of the Museum
The Illinois State Museum first opened its doors on May 25, 1877. It started inside the state's Capitol building in Springfield. Amos Henry Worthen was the very first person in charge of the museum's collections.
As the state government grew, the museum needed more space. So, in 1923, its collections moved to a new building. This building is now called the Michael Howlett building.
The museum kept growing and collecting more items. People wanted a special place just for the museum in Springfield. This new building would be great for tourists and school groups. So, construction began in 1961, and the building was finished in 1962. This is the building where the Illinois State Museum is today!
In the 1980s and 1990s, the museum opened more locations. These were called satellite museums. The Dickson Mounds Museum focuses on the history of Native Americans in the Illinois River valley. Other galleries in Chicago, Lockport, and Rend Lake showed art and crafts made in Illinois.
The Illinois State Museum had to close for a short time. This happened from October 2015 to June 2016 because of money problems in Illinois. It reopened on July 2, 2016. Now, there is a small fee to get in, but kids and veterans can enter for free. Some of the other galleries, like the Chicago Gallery, did not reopen.
Museum Collections and Important Returns
The museum works to care for and understand its collections. This includes many items from different cultures. The museum has also worked to return some special items. For example, in 2019, the museum returned 42 sacred objects to Indigenous Australians. These items were taken around 1920 and were sent back to their original communities.
The museum also holds many Native American remains. It is working to return these to their proper tribes, following a law passed in 1990.
Dickson Mounds Museum
The Dickson Mounds Museum is located in Lewistown. It is an archaeological museum. This means it focuses on the history of Native Americans in Illinois.
The museum has many cool exhibits. You can find hands-on displays and dioramas. There are also photos and artifacts. These show what life was like for people from the Ice Age all the way up to the 1800s. The museum grounds are huge, covering about 230 acres. They include the Eveland Village, which has the remains of three old Native American buildings.
Lockport Gallery
The Lockport Gallery is in Lockport. This gallery shows different art exhibits. It features works by both past and present artists from Illinois.
The gallery is located in a very old building from the 1850s. This building was once used to store grain and supplies. It also had rooms for the people who worked on the canal. The building was used for grain until the 1950s. The Lockport Gallery temporarily closed in October 2015.
Southern Illinois Art & Artisans Center
The main art space here was the Southern Illinois Art Gallery. It showed different exhibits of art from Illinois artists. It also displayed fine art and cultural art from the museum's own collections.
This center also had a shop called the Southern Illinois Artisans Shop. Here, you could buy beautiful crafts made by Illinois artists. They also offered workshops and special events. The center is located near Rend Lake. It closed in October 2015 and has not reopened.
ISM Chicago Gallery
The ISM Chicago Gallery was located in Chicago. It showed different art exhibits. This gallery also closed in October 2015 and has not reopened.
How the Museum is Managed
Since 1995, the Illinois State Museum has been part of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR). This means the IDNR helps manage the museum.
As of January 2019, the museum is a division of the IDNR. It includes the main museum and the Research and Collections Center in Springfield. It also includes Dickson Mounds in Lewistown and the Lockport Gallery in Lockport.
The museum has its own special board with 11 members. These members are chosen by the Governor of Illinois. The museum's job, by state law, is to collect and keep important items. These items include plants, animals, human history, and art. The museum also teaches the public about these things.
