Illinois Trails and Traces: Portraits and Stories along the State’s Historic Routes

Overturf’s co-author Gary Marx wrote the following introduction to their project. “Every town has a route of origin. It might be an old Native American trail, a wagon road, a stagecoach route, or an interstate highway, and technically, it might not even be a road. It could be a railroad line. Our rivers and canals had landings and ferry crossings that became fertile ground for taverns and stores and blacksmith shops, many of them seeds that sprouted into villages and towns. Eventually, enough had sprouted to form the state of Illinois.” 

Daniel Overturf will discuss the people and places explored in the book Illinois Trails and Traces, as well as the previous Marx and Overturf book entitled A River Through Illinois. His personal anecdotes about meeting people across the state, from Galena to Cairo and from Chicago to Alton provide the unpublished backstory to the portraits and places he photographed. A photographer since 1974 and a 30+ year college educator, Overturf will also provide insights into his craft and the nature of collaboration when creating a book project.