The North Central College Archives opened an exhibition of photographs by Robert Shoemaker that documents Naperville community life from 1975 through 1985. The show, "Robert Shoemaker’s Images of the Naperville Community, 1975-1985," is on view in the Oesterle Library Gallery at 320 E. School Street and will remain available during library hours through Sept. 25, 2026.
What the exhibition contains
The display features a curated selection drawn from the Caroline Shoemaker Memorial Collection, a trove of more than 3,000 35mm slides that document local people, public events and civic life in Naperville across a decade. The images were digitized in part in 2025 through an archival award administered by the Illinois State Historical Records Advisory Board, funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission of the National Archives and Records Administration.
- Location: Oesterle Library Gallery, North Central College, 320 E. School St.
- On view: During library hours through Sept. 25, 2026
- Public reception: Thursday, Aug. 20, 12:30 p.m.–1:30 p.m.
Local history through a photographer’s lens
Shoemaker’s slides offer a visual cross-section of Naperville during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The images include civic gatherings, performances and everyday scenes captured on film at a time when 35mm slides were a common archival medium.
One photograph highlighted by the archives shows the Elmer Koerner Bandshell and its audience in July 1977 (catalog number 084-074 in the Caroline Shoemaker Memorial Collection). That and other selections give visitors an opportunity to compare past public life and places with the city today.
Access and public programming
The North Central College Archives has arranged a one-hour reception on Aug. 20 to mark the exhibit. The event is scheduled during the noon hour to allow students, faculty, staff and community members to attend without conflicting with evening activities. The archives encourages visitors to view the digitized materials and accompanying captions that explain context and provenance.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Exhibition title | Robert Shoemaker’s Images of the Naperville Community, 1975–1985 |
| Venue | Oesterle Library Gallery, North Central College |
| Dates | Through Sept. 25, 2026 |
| Reception | Aug. 20, 12:30–1:30 p.m. |
"An ombudsman is Scandinavian in origin dating back to Viking times; and refers to a community representative; usually acting independently on behalf of an organization, body of elected officials, or civic group."
The exhibition builds on the archives’ recent digitization work, which makes these primary-source images more accessible for researchers, students and residents interested in Naperville’s civic and cultural past. Digital surrogates help preserve fragile slides while allowing the college to share high-resolution images online and in-gallery.
For residents, the show offers both nostalgia and research value. Longtime community members may recognize familiar locations and events, while genealogists and local historians can use the captions and archival metadata to trace people and places in the collection.
North Central College’s archives team has not announced extended programming tied to the exhibit but the public reception on Aug. 20 will be an early opportunity to view the slides and speak with staff about the collection. Those planning a visit should consult the Oesterle Library’s posted hours to confirm gallery access.
The exhibition is free to the public as part of the college’s civic and educational mission. It presents a compact but meaningful survey of a decade of community life, preserved through the photographic work of Robert Shoemaker and now made available for a new generation of Naperville residents to examine and enjoy.
