How does the existence of an active historical society make a
positive impact on McHenry County? This organization has an
enviable 47 year-old track record of educational, entertainment,
resource and preservation contributions. Each year county wide
school systems bus about 3500 students to the Society’s museum
in Union. Educational programs at the museum foster the type of
thinking that can see the realities of today as being part of a
continuing historical process. Computers, for example, didn’t
just arrive on the scene. Generations previous to this had their
versions of modern technology which they both questioned and
ultimately trusted to make their lives and their children’s
lives easier. If people logically understand that progress is
part of a historical process, change may be easier to deal with.
The award-winning (voted best small Institution in Illinois by
the Illinois Association of Museums in 1998) McHenry County
Historical Society continues to collect and hold among its
collection the three dimen