Images of Des Plaines: An Interview with David Whittingham

If you saw our post on the Positively Ellinwood blog recently, you'll know that David Whittingham, one of our Reader Service's staff, just published a book about Des Plaines with Arcadia Publishing. Part of the Images of America Series, the book is a pictorial guide to Des Plaines's history.

I sat down with David recently and spoke with him about the book. We talked about his motivation for writing the book and some of the dominant themes in Des Plaines's history. You can watch the video here or on the library's Youtube channel.

Something that I found very interesting is the ongoing tension between Des Plaines's dynamism (the "capacity to surprise" that David mentions) and the enduring presence of the river and the railroads. Miner Street, for instance, looks very different today than it did in the 1910s or 1920s, and yet we still deal with floods every few years.

14th at our book launch party. More details David also makes the case for engaging with Des Plaines's history, particularly the historical resources that the Des Plaines History Center curates. Their collections provided most of the images found in the book. Incidentally, we recorded the interview in the Kinder House. They host a number of programs like book discussions there. And, yes, that's a piano behind David's head.

Don't forget that you can pick up copies of the book at the History Center (or from other book retailers, ahem). Also, you can meet David this coming Friday, December here.

Bonus!
A special bonus for PlainTalk readers. Listen to the complete, unedited interview with David or download it below.



Download (mp3, 22 mb)