The Illinois people are the focus of this module. Text, artifacts, archaeological information, and historical records are used to describe various aspects of their lives. The history section contains a timeline and a narrative of events from the 1650s to today, as French explorers and fur traders and English and other settlers came into contact with the Illinois. The paintings and drawings that illustrate the text are part of the historical record. They may be read for details that tell us about the clothing, body adornment, tools, weapons, and other aspects of Native American life at the time they were painted.
Maps made by explorers are part of the historical record, too.
Artifacts from the collection are also an historical record of the life of Native Illinoisans. Most of the post-European contact artifacts are not on displary at the current museum in Springfield. The artifacts at the Dickson Mounds Museum are from a much earlier time period. Quotations from early explorers, missionaries, and traders are examples of eyewitness accounts and of attitudes about Native Americans and the Illinois country. They show a connection across time with people in the past.