Because the past is another country, but sometimes you can visit it through pictures:
The CARLI Digital Collection, “established in 2006 as a repository for digital content created by member libraries of the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI) or purchased by the consortium for use by its members.”
You can find all sorts of stuff in there, from a photo of the 1908 Pinckneyville Fire Department to a shot of the interior of the Voss Brothers Bicycle Shop in Peoria, Illinois, circa 1920. They’ve also got Civil War era letter collections, an archive of material dealing with the 1933-34 Chicago World’s Fair. a collection of plans and drawings for Pullman passenger cars, and lots and lots of campus newsletters and alumni magazines.
It’s the sort of place you can wander around in for hours.
Dr. Doyle's Blog 
Reblogged this on Madhouse Manor and commented:
Doyle and I often use research to write our stories. Recently we’ve had to learn exactly what Victorian streetwalkers said to their would-be clients to entice them, who was the Bishop of Denver in 1934, and what color was the General Electric Pavilion at the “Century of Progress” fair in Chicago.