Are You Smarter Than an 8th Grader?

Recently, the news feeds featured a 1912 8th grade exam from Kentucky.  Many were trying to take the test to see if they could pass.  If you missed that, click here to view the 1912 exam.  Well, if you think that is hard, see if you could pass the 1932 8th grade exam.  In our archives, we have an exam taken at Adams School, a one room schoolhouse in rural Peoria County, IL.   Adams School was located on Streitmatter Road between Princeville Cemetery Road and Duncan Road.  The exam is in 2 sections, one was taken in the morning and the other in the afternoon.  In the morning, the students completed the arithmetic, geography and reading sections.  The afternoon sections were history, physiology, grammar and orthography.

Get your pencils ready, put away the calculator (it wasn't invented until the 1960s) and get ready to take the test.

 

The next set of photos is the rest of the booklet for the morning exam.  Get ready to test your knowledge in math, reading and geography.  No cheating, the 8th grade students of 1932 had to study without the help of the internet and take this all by themselves.

 

 

 

 

That concludes the morning testing session.  Take a break, grab lunch and don't worry about what you got wrong in the morning.  You need a relaxing lunch so you can get tested on U.S. History, Physiology, Grammar and Orthography. The next set of photos contains the afternoon testing booklet, starting with U.S. History.

 

 

That concludes the exam.  How did you do?  If you wish to view the exam, please stop in the museum which is open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 am to 2 pm or by appointment. 

Lillie M. Evans Library

Tonight the Lillie M. Evans Library is hosting an Open House to celebrate their recent remodeling projects.  Many of you may remember the original library building before the much needed addition.  The Lillie M. Evans Library is one of the best libraries in the area.  Thank you to the staff, board and Friends of Library for all you do for the library and the community.  Let's take a step back in time and view the original library.  The photos are from the Bouton family.

Before there was a library at the corner of Walnut and Evans (formerly Main St.) Street, there was the Hitchcock Building which eventually became Weavers Hatchery.  The Hitchcock Building was originally a hotel, and after the hatchery was an implement business.  The building was torn down in 1954. 

The Lillie M. Evans Library building was built on this same corner after the hatchery building was torn down.  The original building was built in the late 1950s.  In 2000, ground was broken for the addition to the library on the west side.

The next photos are of the interior of the library during National Library Week.  To celebrate the week, there was a historical, art, craft and hobby exhibit.  We don't know the identity of the people in the unlabeled photos below.   
If you know the identity of any of the people in the photos, please email us with the information at phmarchives@frontier.com.

Emily Bouton, Library Director and Norma Lee Long.  

(Most likely) Norma Lee Long. 

Emily Bouton, library director and Norma Lee Long. 

The framed portrait shows the library's namesake, Lillie M. Evans. 

Woman on the left is most likely Norma Lee Long. 

Norma Lee Long