During the first several decades of its existence the American National Business Hall of Fame maintained a physical museum, in partnership with the Illinois Business Hall of Fame, in Stipes Hall at Western Illinois University ( Shown above). Originating in a large room in that classroom building, the museum soon moved out into the hallways of the first three floors of the building. Those three floors were all devoted to classrooms and the museum exhibits thus provided students with daily exposure to the names and accomplishments of the laureates.
During those first decades the ANBHF museum also housed a small research library where interested students and faculty from anywhere in the world could find background information on many of the laureates. Printed biographies of many of the laureates were also available to the public in that library.
Once the world wide web became available the board of directors moved the museum on-line . However, it did retain the capability to provide physical displays for university classroom buildings. This service was named ‘ The Hallways of Fame’ program. Several examples appear on this web page.
When the ANBHF museum moved to the world wide web, the archives were divided into two separate collections. One collection was moved to the archives department in Western Illinois University's library. A second collection was moved to the new ANBHF executive office at Ohio Dominican University. Students, faculty or other interested parties can contact Western Illinois University Libraries (WIU Libraries) at 309-298-2762 to gain access to archive materials.