A little piece of Illini history, from a remarkable year.
The 1945 Illio, the official University of Illinois yearbook, captures campus life in one of the most fascinating years in the university’s history. Published as World War II was drawing to a close, it offers a wonderfully intimate glimpse into the people, places, and traditions of the University of Illinois in 1945.
Inside are photographs and memories of students, faculty, campus organizations, fraternities and sororities, athletics and the graduating class - along with all the wonderfully ordinary details that make an old yearbook so captivating decades later.
There’s something especially wonderful about looking through a yearbook from 1945: the clothes, hairstyles, campus buildings, handwritten notes, faces, and little glimpses of everyday life feel like a time capsule from another America.
A beautiful find for an Illini, an Illinois history lover, a collector of vintage ephemera - or anyone who enjoys getting lost in the details of another era.
