Please scroll down. The events are listed from most recent to oldest.
AUGUST 2, 2025
Event: Inauguration of the new historical marker in Hillsboro
Time: 1 p.m.
Context: The marker dedication is taking place during the all-day Old Settlers Day & Hillsboro Bicentennial celebration
Location: In front of the historic Montgomery County Courthouse
AUGUST 2, 2025
Talk: “Life of the Indigenous People of Illinois”
Speaker: Dr. Michael Wiant
Time: 2:30 p.m.
Location: Hillsboro Public Library (420 S. Main Street)
JULY 2025
ON DISPLAY. This image (provided by Heritage Auctions), shows 21-stars, It was purchased by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, which claims it dates to 1818-1819 at the time that Illinois was admitted to the Union as the 21st state. But a notable flag expert disputes the early date of the flag, concluding that it is not from 1818 but from the Civil War period and is likely a so-called Southern exclusionary flag. The flag’s blue canton space is reserved for stars representing only those states remaining loyal to the Union. The flag measures 7-foot-5 by 6-foot-5. It is known as a “Grand Luminary” because its 21 stars are arranged in the shape of a star. Such flags are rare because the design was changed a year later when Alabama and Maine joined the Union.
JUNE 17, 2025
Talk: “Escape to Freedom: New Philadelphia and the McWorter Family Saga”
Speakers: Gerald McWorter and Kate Williams
Time: 6 pm.
Location: First Mennonite Church, 902 W. Springfield Ave., Urbana
Further information: newphiladelphiail.org
MAY 15, 2025
Talk: “The Archaeology of the Edwards Trace”
Speakers: Tracy Garrison, Luke Moore, David Brady
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Urbana Free Library Auditorium
MAY 4, 2025
May Day/Mother Jones Celebration at Mt. Olive City Hall and Union Miners Cemetery, Mt. Olive
1-3 p.m. in Mt. Olive with special event: dedication of the “Labor History of Mt. Olive” historical marker in City Hall and the “Original Burial Place of Mother Jones” historical marker in the Union Miners Cemetery.
Guest Speakers: Mayor John Skertich, UMWA-Local 1613 President Scott Thomas, and Dr. Helaine Silverman representing the University of Illinois Mythic Mississippi Project.
Helaine & Scott at UMC marker dedication
MARCH 27, 2025
We are thrilled !!! to announce that the United States Library of Congress has requested permission to include the Mythic Mississippi website (mythicmississippi.illinois.edu) in the Local History and Genealogy Web Archive, which is part of a larger collection of historically and culturally significant websites that have been designated for preservation. We are working to finish the MMP website so that it can sent to the LOC.
MARCH 16, 2025
Meeting of the boards of the Union Miners Cemetery and Mother Jones Museum in Mt. Olive. 
February 7-8, 2025
CONFERENCE: “UNTOLD STORIES OF NAUVOO”
November 7, 2024
TIME: 3-5 pm
TALK: The Eliot Bible – Encountering Colonial History in Illinois
SPEAKER: Dr. Robert Morrissey (Department of History, UIUC)
LOCATION: Rare Books and Manuscripts Library (346 Main Library)
The John Eliot Bible (1663) is the first bible published in North America. The RBML owns an extraordinary copy of this exceedingly rare book. Professor Morrissey will discuss how the text can be used to examine American origin stories, as well as histories of historical interpretation and practice.
October 17, 2024
TIME: 7 p.m.
PLACE: Auditorium, Urbana Free Library
SPEAKER: Dr. Robert Morrissey (Department of History, UIUC)
TALK: “Reclaiming Stories: A Community Project on Early Illinois Indigenous Art”
In this talk, Dr. Morrissey shares experiences working with the Miami and Peoria Tribes on a project called “Reclaiming Stories.” Focused on traditional practices of hide painting, this project creates an opportunity for citizens of the Miami and Peoria Nations to travel to Paris to reconnect with very old examples of this art form. He reflects on this project as part of an extraordinary process of cultural revitalization among these Indigenous groups whose traditional homelands include modern-day Illinois.
THE CELEBRATION AT THE UNION MINERS CEMETERY HONORING THE 125TH ANNIVERSARY WAS FEATURED IN THE UNITED MINE WORKERS JOURNAL (January-February 2025, page 11): CLICK
September 12, 2024
REGISTER HERE FOR THIS LECTURE AT UI-SPRINGFIELD: CLICK 
July 29, 2024 
Two restaurants en route to the Coal Triangle towns south of Springfield that are targeted by the Mythic Mississippi Project have been awarded $50,000 each to help them rejuvenate, innovate, and expand their businesses, ensuring their cherished legacies endure. We hope that Tilley’s in Mt. Olive will apply for this funding in the next round. Meanwhile, let’s congratulate Flesor’s Candy Kitchen in Tuscola and Docs in Girard.
May 16, 2024
Lecture: “Macktown National Register Site at Rockton, Illinois”
Speaker: Rochelle Lurie (RRL Consulting, Inc.)
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Urbana Free Library Lecture Hall (downstairs)
April 10, 2024
Lecture: “Coal Mining History”
Speaker: Mike Matejka
Location: CARTERVILLE: Batteau-Ivey Lounge (F Wing) at John A. Logan Community College
Time: 10 a.m.
Info: (618) 985-2828
March 21, 2024
Lecture: “Stone chips and river canoes at Cahokia”
Speaker: Larry Kinsella (Cahokia Archaeological Society)
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Urbana Free Library Lecture Hall (downstairs)
February 20, 2024
February 15, 2024
Lecture: “The 14th-Century Indian Village of Noble-Wieting, south of Bloomington, IL”
Speaker: G. Logan Miller (Department of Anthropology, ISU)
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Urbana Free Library Lecture Hall (downstairs)
JANUARY 21, 2024
1 p.m. at the Havana City Center (326 W. Market Street)
Dr. Helaine Silverman, Co-Director of the Mythic Mississippi Project, will speak on incorporating Havana into the project’s “Western Illinois Pioneer Trail” as part of the SPARK! lecture series.
December 21, 2023
Lecture: “The Archaeology and Architecture of German Immigration in Southwestern Illinois”
Speaker: Michael Smith (Illinois State Archaeological Survey)
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Urbana Free Library Lecture Hall (downstairs)
December 7, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. VICTORY AT VIRDEN WEBINAR CELEBRATING THE 125TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF VIRDEN
HERE IS THE RECORDING OF THE EVENT: CLICK
December 6th every year 
December 5, 2023 from 6:30-8 p.m.
Steve Marking (Mississippi River Network and 1Mississippi) presents “Scenes from Our Mighty Mississippi” – songs and stories of the river. For more information please click here.
October 18, 2023
*** Project Co-Director, Helaine Silverman, was featured by the U of I’s News Bureau in their “Illinois Experts” – discussing cultural heritage districts, a topic of direct relevance to the Mythic Mississippi Project: CLICK
FYI: October 9, 2023 is Indigenous Peoples Day.
Learn more with this article: CLICK
President Biden’s Presidential Proclamation for 2023 Indigenous Peoples’ Day: CLICK
OCTOBER 6 is German-American Day, an important day for German heritage and the story of German immigration statewide. German-Americans helped shape Illinois history through the Civil War, as well as two world wars against the old country.
SEPTEMBER 24, 2023
Lecture: “The Reconstruction Amendments (13th,14th, 15th) and their effect on African-American Migration to Illinois and Industrialization of the Illinois Economy”
Speaker: Alonzo Ward (Associae Professor, History, Eastern Illinois University)
Time: 2 p.m.
Location: Oglesby Mansion, 421 W. William Street, Decatur
SEPTEMBER 21, 2023
Lecture: “Excavations at Two Free-Black Civil War Era House Sites in Springfield, Illinois”
Speaker: Floyd Mansberger (the renowned PI of Fever River Research Archaeological Firm)
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Urbana Free Library Lecture Hall (downstairs)
AUGUST 4, 2023
Governor J. G. Pritzker signed a law requiring Illinois public schools to teach Native American history. The new law is intended to help students learn about the Indigenous people who originally occupied this land as well as recognizing that there are contemporary Native American communities in the state. Read the article about this law here: CLICK
JULY 22-23, 2023
The National Park Service’s Network to Freedom 25th anniversary program at the Harriet Tubman site in Maryland (CLICK) and screening our project’s film, “Path to Freedom. Traveling the Underground Railroad in Alton, Illinois”(CLICK)
July 2, 2023
One of American history’s most violent race riots took place in East St. Louis on July 2, 1917. Hundreds of citizens were brutalized in a day of death and destruction. White rioters murdered between 39 and 150 innocent Black men, women, children, and burned homes to the ground. Thousands were left homeless and fled the city, never to return. This event is being commemorated on-site with the dedication of an official Illinois State Historical Society marker in East St. Louis.
May 18, 2023
LECTURE: “People, Bison and the Prairie”
SPEAKER: Joe Wheeler (Chicago Tribal Liason, Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, Illinois)
TIME: 7 p.m.
LOCATION: Urbana Free Library
April 30, 2023
April 28, 2023 and every April 28th 
April 26, 2023
March 17, 2023
March 16, 2023
LECTURE: “Dickson Mounds Museum: Native Perspectives Looking to the Future”
SPEAKER: Logan Pappenfort (Interim Director, Dickson Mounds Museum)
TIME: 7 p.m.
LOCATION: Urbana Free Library
March 13, 2023
Unveiling of historical marker honoring Frederick Douglass’ visit to Champaign – right here! 
March 8, 2023
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
Let’s remember these two great labor leaders, one famous and one who should be: Mother Jones and Agnes Wieck: Jones ,who fought for working people – including her beloved coal miners – everywhere, and Wieck, who created the Women’s Auxiliary of the Progressive Miners of America.
FEBRUARY 16, 2023. National Park Foundation Inclusive Storytelling grant to support design of the first-ever exhibits for the Julius Rosenwald Boyhood Home, located within the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield. Rosenwald, the son of German-Jewish immigrants, was born a block from the Lincoln Home in Springfield, Illinois in 1862. His family moved to a house across from the Lincoln Home in 1868 and lived there until 1886. In 2019, the house became the first building named for a Jewish- American in a National Park Service (NPS) unit. Rosenwald is perhaps best known for his leadership of Sears, Roebuck, and Company and for his role in the creation of thousands of “Rosenwald Schools” built in partnership with African American communities throughout the segregated south to provide education for Black youth. While his efforts to improve the well-being of humankind through philanthropy and access to education have had a transformational effect on notable individuals and the nation, few people outside of his faith community or hometowns know his story. This project will result in the first core exhibit about a Jewish American in a NPS unit.
2018 (before the project began):