Kenneth Harold Berglund (1917-2003) was born on October 18, 1917 in Racine, Wisconsin. Early in his career, Berglund worked at local photography company Camera Craft where he assisted in the creation of the annual yearbook produced by Illinois State Normal University. After his marriage to Elizabeth Burdette in 1941, Berglund joined the Navy during World War II as a photographer. Upon his return to Normal in 1945, Berglund and his brother, Robert, purchased local photograph company, United Photo and started their new photography business, Ken-Way Studio.
As a commercial photographer, a great deal of Berglund’s work was done in the local and regional Central Illinois business community, many of which had national significance including Prairie Farms, Standard Oil, State Farm, Nestle Beich, and others. Berglund was also hired by local clubs, churches, and schools to take annual headshots and group photographs their members. The most notable of these groups was the local theatrical group the American Passion Play, one of the oldest continuously performing passion play groups in the United States.
Kenneth Harold Berglund died on October 24th, 2003 and is buried next to his wife in East Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Bloomington, Illinois. In 2011, the JoAnn Rayfield Archives at Illinois State University obtained the collection from the Berglund’s children.
The physical collection encompasses 120 linear feet and holds thousands of prints and negatives that document the history of Bloomington, Normal, and the Central Illinois region. Due to its size and to limited Archives staffing, the collection is currently unprocessed. However, the materials are sorted into subject groups and can be accessed by Archives staff. For additional information, please contact Archives staff at archives@IllinoisState.edu.
