Videos

Excerpt from "Macomb's Historic Places"

A History of Western Illinois University [videorecording] / with University Historian John Hallwas ; produced by University Television, a broadcast service of the College of Fine Arts and Communication at Western Illinois University. 

Published: [Macomb, Ill.] : Western Illinois University, c2008. 
Physical Description: 2 videodiscs (464 min.) : sd., col. & b&w ; 4 3/4 in. 
DVD. 
  
This video chronicles many accomplishments and developments from the decision to locate a normal school in Macomb through the following century that make up the Western Illinois University story. The eight-part series portrays a host of memorable figures and notable developments in the story of high educational ideals and institutional transformation in response to social change. 
Contents: Episodes: One: The early years -- Two: The World War I era & the Twenties -- Three: The Depression years -- Four: Western in the Forties -- Five: Western in the Fifties -- Six: The Knoblauch Years -- Seven: The Bernhard & Malpass Era -- Eight: Recent years. 
Western Illinois University. University Television. 
Performer: Interviewer: Gordon A. Taylor. 
Production Credits: Producer/director, Roger Kent. 
Notes: Photographic materials provided by the Archives and Special Collections Unit of Malpass Library at Western Illinois University. Additional photographs were provided by Visual Production Center at Western Illinois University.

      Books and Reading: An Historical Overview. 

      The program, created for an adult-education class, briefly covers the development of books and reading over many centuries, and reflects as well the coming of libraries. The DVD is one hour and 38 minutes long, and includes visuals. 

      The DVD is available for viewing at Archives and Special Collections, Malpass Library, Western Illinois University (ph. 309-298-2717) and can checked out as well from the library’s media section. The library call number for that video is LD5941.W45H33 2013.

Looking into Other Lives: Local History and Meaningful Community.

     This is a talk created for the McDonough County Historical Society, on November 9, 2015, and which was prompted by the appearance of a Hallwas book titled On Community: A Crucial Issue, a Small Town, and a Writer’s Experience. The video also includes footage of Hallwas receiving Macomb’s first “Cultural Achievement Award, “In honor of decades of inspirational work as a writer, speaker, and cultural leader.” As the award mentions, “John Hallwas has been a proponent of community and social commitment with an impact on our region. He has broadened our local understanding and fostered awareness of the meaning of the Macomb experience.”

     The DVD is available for viewing at Archives and Special Collections, Malpass Library, Western Illinois University (p. 309-298-2717) and can be checked out as well from the library’s media center. The library call number for that video is F 549.M3H347 2015.

Voices and Visions: Nineteenth-Century Illinois Poetry.

     In this 2017 videotaped program, Hallwas reads aloud and discusss a variety of nineteenth-century Illinois poets,including such figures as Chicago's Eugene Field, Warsaw's John Hay, Nauvoo's Eliza Snow, Princeton's John Howard Bryant, and frontier Springfield's John Hancock.

     The DVD is available for viewing at Archives and Special Collections, Malpass Library, Western Illinois University (p. 309-298-2717) and can be checked out as well from the library’s media center.

  A Sense of Place in Illinois, with Writer John Hallwas   

     This program was produced by University Television, at Western Illinois University, and was subsequently broadcaset many times on the university's television channel. Published: 2019. Duration: 1 hour, 34 minutes.

     This is a career overview  by WIU Distinguished Professor Emeritus John Hallwas, and it is set in the Archives and Special Collections unit of Malpass Library at WIU, where he worked for twenty-four years. By providing commentary on many Illinois literary figures--such as Edgar Lee Masters, Carl Sandburg, and Vachel Lindsay, among dozens of others--and various historical topics--such as small-town life, Illinois Civil War history, regional outlaws, the Mormons, and Macomb's heitage--it helps viewers realize how awareness of the state's history provides a meaningful sense of place in Illinois. Indeed, the crucial value of remembrance, or awareness of the past--on local, regional, and state levels--is a major theme in the production, which is addressed in a variety of ways. Also, the program refers to many collections that are available at Archives and Special Collections, at Malpass Library, and uses many photographs of people, places, books, and manuscripts from that archives, so it promotes the holdings at that facility.

     Program credits: producer, director, and editor Roger Kent, of University Television; coordinator at the Archives and illustrator of the program Kathy Nichols, of Malpass Library. 

     Copies of the DVD are for sale through Univesity Televison at WIU (309 298-1880), and the DVD can also be viewed at Archives and Special Collections, Malpass Library (309 298-2717) or checked out from the library.

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     Other videos that record talks and interviews by John Hallwas are also available at and Special Collections, Malpass Library, Western Illinois University. Call 309-298-2717 for more information.