Past Presentations – Lansing Historical Society

Collecting Family Oral Histories – Workshop

by Grace Bazylewski and Linda Swisher

Monday, April 28, 2025 ~ 6:00 p.m.

Hosted by Grace Bazylewski and Linda Swisher. Urban planner Grace Bazylewski will discuss the best ways to elicit oral histories to save your family’s story. Linda Swisher of the South Suburban Genealogical Society will share her knowledge of researching family history.

Lansing Fallen Heroes Memorial Day

Tuesday, April 8, 2025 ~ 9 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.

The Lansing Historical Society Museum will host a vigil to honor Officer Ken Novak, Jr., End of Watch 4-8-92, and LCPL Phil Martini, KIA 4-8-06.

We invite the public to come and learn about these brave and dedicated young men who gave their lives in service to our country and community. In addition we will honor the members of our armed forces that made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

Please come and join us as we honor these brave men!

Casting a Historic Vote: Suffrage for Women in Illinois

by Jeanne Schultz Angel

Monday, March 24, 2025 ~ 6:00 p.m.

Hosted by the Illinois Humanities Road Scholars Speakers Bureau 2025

Prior to 1920, women were denied the vote in the majority of elections in the United States. The struggle for enfranchisement began with the birth of our nation and was strategized differently in our local, state, and federal elections. Despite what people today believe to be a straightforward goal, the path to women’s suffrage was infused with sexism and racism and triggered a fear of feminism whose roots are still seen today.

While wealthy women advocates played a vital role in the suffrage movement, they were not the only ones seeking enfranchisement. From attorney Ellen Martin, the first woman to vote in Illinois, to Ida B. Wells, a woman who did not let racism silence her voice, women’s suffrage has been a battle hard fought by a diverse group of activists in Illinois.

The presentation takes approximately 45 minutes, with extra time at the end for Q&A, making it approximately one hour.

The Chicago Black Renaissance

February 24, 2025 ~ 6 p.m.

Hosted by the Illinois Humanities Road Scholars Speakers Bureau 2025

In this presentation, Dr. Davis will guide participants through the Chicago Black Renaissance from the early to mid-20th century. The presentation will include a Q&A and an interactive component where audience members share their migration stories.

The presentation takes approximately 60 minutes, with extra time at the end for Q&A, making it approximately 90 minutes.

Illinois Humanities is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy Demands Wisdom and the Illinois General Assembly [through the Illinois Arts Council Agency], as well as by contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations.

Shifting Sands by Kenneth Schoon

October 28, 2024 ~ 6 p.m.~

Library presentation area is under construction.

Ken Schoon, a Northwest Indiana native and professor emeritus of science education, has a bachelor’s degree in geology, a master’s in secondary education, both from Indiana University Bloomington, and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from Loyola University of Chicago.

He began his science teaching career in 1968 during which time he was selected as an Indiana finalist in NASA’s ill-fated Teacher in Space program. In 1990, after 22 years as a middle and high school teacher, he joined the faculty at Indiana University Northwest, semi-retiring 23 years later as a full professor and Associate Dean. His book, Shifting Sands, is a companion to the Midwest Emmy-nominated Shifting Sands PBS documentary.

Earlier works include his 2003 Calumet Beginnings, Munster, Indiana: A Centennial History, which he and Dr. Lance Trusty had published in 2006, City Trees, which came out in 2011, and his 2013 Dreams of Duneland.

Dr. Schoon is a founding board member and past president of the Dunes Learning Center, an advisor to the Shirley Heinze Land Trust, and still a member of the IU Northwest Science Olympiad steering committee.