The Champaign County Historical Archives will open a new exhibit this month to honor the history of the people who founded Urbana's Cunningham Children's Home.
On Thanksgiving Day in 1894, Joseph and Mary Cunningham donated their home and 15 surrounding acres to the Woman’s Home Missionary Society of the Illinois Conference Methodist Episcopal Church. The next year, the Cunningham Deaconess Home and Orphanage opened.
The exhibit will highlight the home's history and the Cunninghams' contributions to Urbana's early settlers and community.
The archives has also added a new database -- the MyHeritage Library Edition -- to aid in the research of local history and genealogy.
The database provides access to records -- including birth, death, military and immigration -- from all over the world from the 16th century. Among the resources are the U.S. and U.K. federal census, government records, wills, photographs, yearbooks and passenger lists.
Alerts Sign-up