Browse Items (65 total)

Everett C. Block (1921-2000) was born in Champaign County to Hilbert and Ella Lehmkuler
Block. He was the great-grandson of August Block for whom Block Station was named. Besides collecting
and curating an extensive collection of glass plate…

John Wrisk (1857-1926) was
born in Madison, Indiana, but lived in the vicinity of Sidney nearly all his life. He owned a farm near the
corporate limits of Sidney. In 1897, he married Lettie Burnes (1870-1915) of Sidney and they had five
children,…

One of the three original negatives developed by the University of Illinois photo lab.

After the Sidney Spring Festival, Block continued to display the photographs and speak to local community groups.

Everett Block believed this was a self-portrait of J.J. Fisher. Note that the individual is holding a camera.

House of Luther Fisher, farmer and
owner of a real estate and insurance office in Sidney, Illinois. Luther Fisher (1850-1925) married Eunice
Guard (1853-1941). They had four children. Their daughter Leah (1884-1975) and husband Clyde…

Cut for the C&EI railroad. What is special
about this photograph is the photographer has etched his name in the emulsion on the back of the
plate. If you look in the upper right corner you can see the mirror image of ‘J.J. Fisher [space] Sidney.’

This is the only picture in the original 210 negatives developed by Block that features snow. Lighting and exposure times became trickier in snowy conditions. The house is still standing (2016) at 101 West Prairie Street, Sidney, Illinois but has…

The glass negative for this picture as well as 200+ others were found in the house’s attic in 1946, by Everett Block. Archibald Thompson and his family lived in the house in the early 1900s. The Kammin family lived in the
house from the 1920s-1930s,…