Local History Program Coordinator at the Pekin Public Library. I oversee the library’s local history room collection, write a weekly local history column/weblog for the library, and present local history programs at the library and in the community.

Author's Articles

In advance of Pekin’s 50th Marigold Festival (to be celebrated 8-11 Sept....

Jared L. Olar

September 2, 2022

Last month a group of vintage late-19th-century Pekin business advertising cards, featuring...

Jared L. Olar

September 1, 2022

Recently Fred Massaglia brought an old photograph to the Tazewell County Genealogical...

Jared L. Olar

August 18, 2022

Three weeks ago we reviewed Dr. W. E. Schenck’s 1905 list of...

Jared L. Olar

August 11, 2022

One of the most prominent of Pekin’s community leaders in the earliest...

Jared L. Olar

July 28, 2022

This is a reprint of a “From the Local History Room” column...

Jared L. Olar

July 22, 2022

In September 2013 and January 2014, we recalled a dramatic story that...

Jared L. Olar

July 14, 2022