Baker Family Papers, 1861-2019 | University of Illinois Archives

Papers (1861-2019) of the Baker Family, including Lois Benson Baker (AB LAS 1928), her father James Chamberlain Baker (1879-1969) and mother Lena Benson Baker ( 1901-1966); and her grandfather Benjamin "Webb" Baker (1841-1908).

Benjamin "Webb" Baker was a prominent Methodist minister from Coles County, Illinois who served in the Civil War.

James C. Baker, his son, was a prominent American Methodist Bishop who earlier in his career served as pastor of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church in Urbana, Illinois from 1907-1928.  During this time (1913), he founded the first Wesley Foundation in the United States at the University of Illinois at Urbana.

Series includes correspondence (typescripts and copies), photographs, newsclippings, publications and diplomas concerning Benjamin Baker's service in the Civil War (1861-1864); James C. Baker's career as Methodist pastor including travel and work in Korea and Japan; the founding of Wesley Foundation at Urbana, Illinois; and Lois Benson Baker's graduation from grammar and high school.  Also included are James C. Baker's book, The First Wesley Foundation (1960); celebrated author Benson Bobrick's book about his great grandfather Benjamin, Testament: A Soldier's Story of the Civil War (2003); and Bobrick's memoir, Returning from Afar: A Memoir (2019).