The Prairie Landscape

The Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award - 2006


Don Peasley

Nominated By The Honorable Brian Sager, Ph.D.


Woodstock


Don Peasley

For nearly 60 years, photojournalist, writer, and historian Don Peasley has been documenting Woodstock's journey from a small, agricultural community to a growing, vibrant suburb. His tens of thousands of photographs and countless newspaper stories on the events, times, and people of Woodstock and McHenry County are, as Mayor Brian Sager puts it, "testaments to the dynamic character of our community, as well as [Mr. Peasley's] own commitment to historic documentation." From 1947 to 2003, Mr. Peasley served as reporter, photographer, and editor of The Famers' News, the monthly publication of the McHenry County Farm Bureau. He has made significant contributions to the Woodstock Public Library, such as donating the Fran Peasley Audiovisual Room in honor of his wife and volunteering with his wife for the Friends of the Woodstock Library, for which Mr. Peasley covers and photographs every annual meeting. Mr. Peasley has worked to ensure that his documentation of Woodstock's history will be available to the public by donating his photographs of the 1952 Woodstock Centennial celebration and the All-America City presentation and celebration to the library. He has also provided a significant portion of the photographs comprising the Woodstock Sesquicentennial History Project, which have been scanned and are available digitally to the public at the library. In addition, he donated his collection of historical photographs and negatives to the McHenry County Historical Society and this year published A Collection of Memories by Don Peasley: 58 Years of Woodstock and McHenry County History, a collection of his historical photographs and recollections.

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