The Tracy Duran Collection
Here are some of the items that are in my collection.
How it all started::
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| The beginning of the Tracy Duran Collection |
Back in 2018 I started to find Leland Hotel postcards and matchbooks on Ebay. Since I was writing a Historical Fiction book that centered on Leland, I thought it would be a great hobby to find Leland items. Then I started to find other items that interested me. There were times I would see posts on local Aurora history pages on social media about certain books by local authors and I would look up to see if they were available to buy. Lo and behold, a good majority were available to purchase.
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| Vintage Books by Aurora Authors |
Vintage Book Collection by Local Authors:
- 1891 "Hill's Album of Biography and Art - World's Fair Edition" by Thomas E. Hill
- 1905 "Twentieth Century Edition Hill's Manual Illustrated" by Thomas E. Hill
- 1906 "Lives of Famous Indian Chiefs" by Norman B. Wood
- 1906 "Hill's Manual of Social and Business Forms" by Thomas E. Hill
- 1909 "The Doctor's Daughter" by William W. Walter
- 1920 "With the Colors From Aurora-1917-1918-1919" by J.W. Greenaway
- 1920 City of Aurora Municipal Code Book - owned by C.B.&Q Law Dept - {donated}
- 1920 City of Aurora Municipal Code Book - owned by Mayor Paul Egan
- 1925 "Lincoln Prophet and Patriot" by B.J. Cigrand
- 1937 "Aurora Centennial Historical Program"
- 1937 "Centennial Biographical and Historical Record of Aurora for One Hundred years 1834-1937 and The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad for Eighty-Six years 1850-1937" by Charles S. Battle - Similar to the "Aurora Story" but better.
- 1952 "Record of Aurora, ILL in World War II"
- 1953 "The Copley Press"
- 1976 "The Aurora Story" Aurora History Book by Vernon Berry
- 1987 "Upon a Rock" A history of the founding years of the Aurora University
- 1991 "The Aurora Life" featuring Bruce and Claire Newton - Garfield Goose
- 1996 "Faces and Places of the Fox Valley Area"
- 1999 "Raising Kane: The Fox Chronicles"
- 2000 "Bank at the Corner of River and Downer" The history of Old Second Bank
- 2005 "From Slavery to Glory" by Dennis Buck
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| Vintage Books from the Tracy Duran Collection |
Vintage Yearbook Collection:
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| East Aurora Yearbooks and West Aurora Yearbooks Tracy Duran Collection |
East Aurora High School Yearbooks (not for sale)
1910s
- 1915 {donated}
- 1916
- 1917
- 1919
1920s (complete collection)
- 1920 {donated}
- 1921 {donated}
- 1922 {donated}
- 1923
- 1924
- 1925
- 1926
- 1927
- 1928 {donated}
- 1929
1930s
- 1930
- 1931
- 1932
- 1934
- 1935
- 1936
- 1937
- 1939
1940s
- 1940 {donated}
- 1941
- 1942
- 1943
- 1944
- 1946
- 1947
- 1948
- 1949
1950s (complete collection)
- 1950
- 1951
- 1952
- 1953
- 1954
- 1955
- 1956
- 1957
- 1958
- 1959
1960s
- 1960
- 1961
- 1962
- 1964
- 1965
- 1966
1970s
- 1971
- 1977 {donated}
- 1978 {donated}
- 1979
1980s
- 1980
- 1989
1990s
- 1993
West Aurora High School Yearbooks (not for sale)
1910s
1920s
- 1921
- 1925
- 1926
- 1927
- 1928
- 1929
1930s
- 1930
- 1931
- 1932
- 1934
- 1937
- 1938
- 1939
1940s
- 1940
- 1942
- 1943
- 1945
- 1946
- 1947
- 1948
- 1949
1950s
- 1950
- 1951
- 1952
- 1953
- 1954
- 1959
1960s
- 1960
- 1961
- 1962
- 1964
- 1965
- 1966
- 1967
- 1969
1970s
- 1977
- 1978
1980s
- 1984
- 1985
- 1987
- 1988
1990s
- 1990
Stillman Freckle Cream and Ephemera:
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| Stillman Freckle Cream Collection Tracy Duran Collection |
- Stillman Freckle Cream (1920s-1930s collection shown)
- James Hulme Bereman was an entrepreneur and businessman. While employed as a pharmacist at Grimm Drug Store (59 Fox, now Downer Place).
- He developed a formula for a skin-whitening cream that he named "Stillmans's Freckle Cream".
- He began commercial production of the cream and the business grew. It became a huge success worldwide in a time period where pale skin was the mark of a lady. During the early 1900s, most ladies wanted the clear complexion, clear of any blemishes and freckles. This product was very appealing and is why it was so successful at the time.
- One ingredient of the cream is mercury and assisted in bleaching skin. This product is no longer being manufactured.
- Stillman's Freckle Cream was located at 466-74 Loucks.
City of Aurora Phone Directories:
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| 1937 City of Aurora Directory Tracy Duran Collection |
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| 1946 City of Aurora Directory Tracy Duran Collection |
Paul Egan Collection
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| Just a part of the Paul Egan Collection |
Mayor Paul Egan is now part of the Tracy Duran Collection! (sans the telephone and radio... that's my personal collection but it fits!) Several letters between Mayor Egan and his wife Patricia and a few others. The orange campaign cards read "A Message from the Sky... Don't let them fool you again!" Paul Egan for Mayor". I had found that these little orange cards were dropped from an airplane flying over Aurora Downtown and the surrounding area of downtown. The fellow never did anything small, that's for sure!.
The center photo is of Mayor Egan calling from a Chicago hotel phone trying to get a hold of President Eisenhower when he was in town (never got through).
The newspaper on top of the radio is one that Mayor Egan personally published even before he was Mayor of the City of Aurora. "The Economist" is filled with many interesting opinions of Mayor Egan of how the city should be run and calling out others on how bad of a job they were doing... his opinion of course.
Lastly, his datebook from 1957... mostly filled with bridge game dates.. nothing extraordinary but hey, who doesn't like a good game of bridge? LoL!
I hope you enjoy this little snippet of my Mayor Paul Egan collection. More to come soon!
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