Illinois State Museum Seeking Route 66 Stories

Ahead of the Mother Road’s centennial celebration, the Illinois State Museum seeks people who can share their personal experiences with the original Route 66 in Illinois – including travelers, individuals connected to businesses that operated along the route, workers who built the highway, and anyone else who had a personal connection to the legendary roadway.

Route 66 will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2026, which has prompted historians from the Illinois State Museum to record and share oral histories of people who can recall their connections to the historic roadway, which operated from 1926 until its decommissioning in 1985.

“These interviews will help illustrate the significance of this important transportation achievement,” said Erika Holst, the museum’s curator of history.

In a news release, the museum historians spotlighted the following types of people they hope to schedule interviews with: people who have memories of driving on Route 66 or traveling the highway with family or for business. Those who were involved or whose families were involved in operating restaurants, hotels or auto-service businesses along the route. Anyone who participated in the building, maintenance or rerouting of the Mother Road. First responders who worked along Route 66. Those who have any other firsthand experiences with Route 66 to share.

“This project also gives us an opportunity to preserve memories of Illinois citizens for posterity,” said Amanda Bryden, registrar for the history collections of the Illinois State Museum and Illinois historic sites.

Anyone who has experienced Route 66 in one or more of these ways and would like to be part of the project can contact Route 66 project coordinator Judy Wagenblast at jwagenblastp@gmail.com. The oral history project is funded, in part, by the National Park Service.

Interview participants will be asked to sign a permission form granting legal rights to conduct and preserve the interview. Monetary compensation is not offered. Video recordings of the interviews and transcriptions will be made available to the public in an online database as part of the 100th anniversary celebration of Historic Route 66 in 2026.

Established in 1877, the Illinois State Museum is a dynamic institution that inspires the exploration of Illinois’ past and present to inform and enrich everyday life and promote stewardship of cultural and natural resources. Headquartered in Springfield, with branch facilities in Lewistown and Lockport, ISM is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and a proud member of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience.

Located just a short drive from historic Route 66, the ISM Lockport Gallery is housed in the historic Norton Building near the historic Illinois & Michigan Canal. The Lockport Gallery is a popular destination and convenient docking point to access other local attractions. Extend your stay in Lockport, and explore the diverse array of historic, cultural and recreational opportunities nearby.

Current exhibitions on view at the ISM Lockport Gallery include:

Glen C. Davies: Moments of Mystery – Davies explores human desire and frailty through the lens of the circus sideshow. This exhibition of 11 paintings, drawings and sculpture covers a 50-year span in his career. After fulfilling a childhood dream of traveling with the circus, Davies worked for a short time as a billboard artist and sign painter, eventually opening a mural painting business. After receiving a master’s degree in painting from the University of Illinois, Davies has divided his time between his studio pursuits and a variety of alternative employments, including circus/carnival show painter, sideshow banner artist, professional muralist, curator and educator. He currently lives in Urbana.

Picture Consequence: Barbara Rossi and Evelyn Statsinger – Barbara Rossi (1940-2023) and Evelyn Statsinger (1927-2016) tested the possibilities of depicting the human form through experiments in geometry, pattern and inventive processes. Statsinger and Rossi were contemporaries, separated by 13 years of age. Both are associated with a loose grouping of artists known as the Chicago Imagists. From the 1950s through 1980s, these artists used the figure to narrate the human condition with startling, strange images. The 30-plus-year period was an exciting, inventive time when friendships and dialogue between artists left an indelible impression on each other and on our state’s art history.

The ISM - Lockport Gallery is located at 201 W. 10th St., Lockport, and is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

For more information on the Illinois State Museum campuses, be sure to visit illinoisstatemuseum.org and follow the Illinois State Museum on Facebook and Instagram.