CLINTON ­­— Locked away in a museum in Paris, France, are four art objects associated with the Native peoples of Illinois. This November, the Vespasian Warner Public Library District in Clinton will host an event to explore the mystery behind these objects.

Illinois Hieroglyphics: A Detective Story from Early Illinois Indigenous History will take place on Saturday, November 10 from 10-11 a.m. at the library. Among the most stunning examples of Native American art from any period, these painted hide robes are especially valuable because of their age. Collected sometime in the late 1600s or early 1700s, the large robes are decorated with geometrical and abstract designs, tantalizing clues about the people who made them – yet, in many respects, the hides have long been a mystery. Consequently, historians have not been able to discern precisely what sorts of stories these hide robes can tell us about the past.

Historian Bob Morrissey will discuss these remarkable objects in the light of the historical record. He will try to show how they can indeed provide a window into the past, revealing important and often overlooked themes in the Native history of this region. As the State of Illinois celebrates its Bicentennial, it is fitting that we reconsider the history of the indigenous peoples who shaped the region during the colonial and early National periods. Aimed at a general audience, this presentation will introduce artworks that deserve much wider recognition among Illinoisans, even as it makes a case for the special importance of the Illinois Country in early American history.

The event is being produced in part by a grant from the Illinois Humanities Road Scholars Speakers Bureau, a program that provides organizations statewide with affordable, entertaining, and thought-provoking humanities events for their communities. A roster of speakers, hailing from 20 different towns and cities across Illinois, present topics in history, culture, literature, music, politics, law, science, and many more.

Road Scholar Bob Morrissey, the speaker for this event and an associate professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, specializes in the history of early America and the Atlantic world, American frontier and borderlands history, ethnohistory, and environmental history. His first book is Empire by Collaboration: Indians, Colonists, and Governments in Colonial Illinois Country (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015). He is now working on a project entitled “The Illinois and the Edge Effect: People, Environment, and Power in the Tallgrass Prairie Borderlands.”

This special event will also serve to celebrate both the Illinois Bicentennial and Veteran’s Day. In addition to the presentation, local military history items from the library’s archives will be on display during the event and veterans in attendance will be recognized. This event is free and open to the public, but advance registration is appreciated. For more information or to register, please call Marie at (217) 935-5174.