Browse By Collection Title | Illinois History and Lincoln Collections

This collection contains biographical material, Wade's correspondence with colleagues, published and unpublished writings, research files, organizational papers, and a large collection of reference files, mostly containing professional literature. Subjects covered in the reference files include conservation education and theory, ecology, forestry, population control, prairie preservation and restoration, soil and water ...

This collection contains a single ink drawing, 15 1/2" x 21 1/2," signed "T. V. Wadskier, Architect, 112 Dearborn Street, Chicago, Ill." It shows the front elevation of a residence as well as details for one of the dormer windows and the main cornice. Found among the drawings of the ...

The collection includes Wadsworth's memorandum of a letter to Judge Mark Skinner, another Chicago businessman. Written in November 1841, during the depression that followed the Panic of 1837, Wadsworth lamented the nation's credit, which had sunk lower, in his view, than that of Texas. He urged that Illinois in particular ...

This collection contains the papers of the Thomas H. Walker family of Brownsburgh, Rockbridge County, Virginia, including correspondence, commercial papers, and a petition to release one of Walker's sons, James, from service in the Confederate army due to bad health. The correspondence is mostly personal, written largely among relatives within the Walker family, but the papers also include some business correspondence.

Helen (Nellie) Walker, an 1878 graduate of Geneseo (Ill.) High School became a teacher in nearby Munson Center. For Christmas 1880, Walker's students gave her this 40-page scrapbook, which she filled with unidentified and undated newspaper clippings, 1878-89, holiday illustrations, maps, and her high school reunion program. The clippings concern ...

John Hunter Walker (1872-1955) was an Illinois labor leader and politician, whose positions included President of the Illinois Federation of Labor (1913-30); President of District 12 (Illinois); United Mine Workers of America (1906-13 and 1931-33); and International Secretary of the United Mine Workers of America, Reorganized (1930-31). Walker also served ...

This collection contains two pocket notebooks belonging to Pinckney H. Walker, a judge in the Illinois Supreme Court. Walker used the two notebooks to record notes for his judicial opinions in 1860 and 1861.

Thomas Walton, who graduated from the University of Illinois in 1911, became Education Director of the campus Y.M.C.A. in 1914. This collection contains his handwritten draft (on 70 half-size sheets of paper) of "The Spending of Home Mission Money in Illinois." He based his paper on interviews with church officials ...

This collection includes tax receipts, bids for the county court house, and numerous other business papers. In 1872 and again in 1876, Warner was elected to the State Board of Equalization. The collection also contains family and political corespondence, including a number of letters from Isaac N. Arnold, Thomas G. Bryant, ...

This document, filed with the circuit clerk of Warren County on June 5, 1842, is a copy of the pleadings in the case of [i]Cicero Hamilton v. Samuel Johnson[/i], the defendant having failed to repay the plaintiff $202.50, which he borrowed at 6% on June 1, 1840.

This collection contains two handwritten letters and one original print of a speech written by Elihu B. Washburne.

This collection consists of stories and radio scripts related to Illinois history and Abraham Lincoln, written by journalist and professor Elmo Scott Watson.

This collection consists of a transcript of letters from James G. Watson, a soldier in the 25th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, to his father during the Civil War.

This collection consists of Watson's political correspondence from 1875 to 1930. Correspondents include Ray N. Anderson, Joseph N. Carter, Schuyler Colfax, Shelby M. Cullom, Charles S. Deneen, L. L. Emmerson, Charles P. Gillett, H. D. L. Grigsby, Frank O. Lowden, Medill McCormick, Col. Robert R. McCormick, Ruth Hanna McCormick, William ...

This collection contains letters of Jan. 23 and Apr. 14, 1853, from William W. Webb in Belvidere, Ill., to Chester Orvis, who had recently moved from Belvidere to Champion, New York. Webb wrote about marriages of their friends and other news, including the burning down of the Belvidere hotel, talk ...

This collection consists of the papers and correspondence of Thomson Rhodes Webber, an early settler of Champaign County, Illinois. Its contents relate to Webber's business dealings as well as his personal life and family.

This collection reflects the varied nature of law practice in Champaign County during the last half of the nineteenth century, with materials pertaining to real estate, wills and estate administration, schools, and local government. The largest segment of the papers relate to debtor-creditor collections. Other materials reflect Webber's interest and ...

William T. Webber (1785-1838) was an early settler of Champaign County, Ill., having moved his family there from Shelby County, Ky. in 1833. By the time of his death, Webber was one of the area's most prominent land owners. The collection mainly contains photocopies of documents relating to his real ...

In 1887, Charles and Leverett Webster took over their father's general merchandise and farm supply store in Shelbyville, Ill. Named Webster Brothers, the business lasted until 1906, when Leverett acquired sole control of the firm. Active in the stock market and real estate transactions, Leverett also owned land in California ...

This collection contains three essays, including “A Critique,” “On Human Greatness,” and “On Emerson,” written by Remigens Weiss in the early 1800s.

This collection consists of photostats of correspondence between Gideon Welles and various statesmen, sent between 1865 and 1878.

In this letter of Apr. 14, 1841, Joseph B. Wells seeks to rally his correspondent's "Democratic friends" to subscribe to the [i]Rock Island Banner and Stephenson Gazette[/i], edited by Henry C. McGrew. Wells wrote from Stephenson, Ill., which had officially been renamed Rock Island the previously month.

On July 26, 1800, "Sir John" Wentworth wrote to Dr. Lyman Spalding for a "substitute" front tooth for his wife, which had been broken in an accident and "discomposed" by a traveling dentist. He also noted the return of his own rash, medicine for which Dr. Spalding had prescribed. Another, ...

This collection mainly contains material relating to the research of Raymond C. Werner (1893-1952) on the Pennsylvania Loyalist Joseph Galloway (1731-1803). It also contains Werner's notes on American history and some other fields for his courses in the Department of History of the University of Illinois, 1927-52. The materials are ...

This collection contains a transcript of Silas Dexter Wesson's Civil War diary, as well as a copy of the Wesson family genealogy, which includes transcripts of letters from Silas Wesson to his family during the Civil War.

This collection consists of correspondence involving members of the Westcott and White families, as well as mailed envelopes and other enclosed ephemera. Mary White of Butler, Illinois, and her husband, Jacob B. White, maintained correspondence with relatives and friends from Cleveland, Ohio; Hillsboro, Illinois; Providence, Rhode Island; and other locations in the Northeast United States.

This collection contains printed questionnaires and handwritten replies, sent out by the Cincinnati office of the Western Methodist Book Concern to various Methodist educational institutions throughout the nation, especially in the Midwestern states, and returned by them, 1865-69 and 1871. The returns, at least 70 each year, give statistical information ...

The bills, receipts, and correspondence in this collection illustrate the business relationship between Western Wheel Works of Chicago, maker of Crescent bicycles, and one of the company's agents, Tarter Brothers of Rural Retreat, a small community in southwestern Virginia.  The collection, which the Library acquired in 1978, also includes a ...

This collection contains undated photographs in or near Westfield, Illinois. Woods, cornfields, farm animals, town events, and scenes along the North Fork of the Embarras (or "Embraw") River are pictured. About 350 photographs are mounted in two large volumes, many with notations as to their location. About 40 additional photographs are ...

This collection, drawn from originals in several repositories, contains photostats and transcript of pamphlets, maps, and a memorial by Samuel Wharton and Benjamin Franklin. The pamphlets, by Wharton, support the land claim for the formation of a colony while the five maps illustrate, in part, the boundaries of the claimants' ...

This collection contains handwritten and typed transcripts of papers, the originals of which are in the Wharton Papers of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Certain papers are printed in Clarence Walworth Alvord and Clarence Edwin Carter, eds., [i]The New Regime, 1765-1767[/i], and [i]Trade and Politics, 1767-1769[/i], Collections of the Illinois ...

Almeron Wheat was a prominent Quincy attorney and an associate of Orville Hickman Browning. The letters in this collection are addressed either directly to Wheat or to law firms in Quincy, Illinois, of which Wheat was a member. The letters pertain to legal issues in Quincy, Nauvoo, Warsaw, Carthage, Charleston, ...

This collection contains the diaries for 1870, 1872-76, and 1876-78, of Christopher August Wheeler (1835-1882), a farmer in Kendall County, Ill. The diaries mainly document Wheeler's farm activities and purchases in town, the life of his family, and the notable speakers and events in the area.

On May 1, 1844, Joel Wheeler of Galena, Ill., gave an account of his ministerial activities for the preceding quarter to the Rev. Benjamin M. Hill, the corresponding secretary of the American Baptist Home Missionary Society. Wheeler requests overdue payment for his work and describes various difficulties that he has ...

This collection contains letters sent by Ray Stephen White, a prison inmate, to Reverend Newton Nesmith. The letters cover a wide range of topics but primarily focus on White’s health, family, religion, and concerns over parole and his sentence length.

Henry Clay Whitney was an Illinois Lawyer on the 8[sup]th[/sup] Circuit. The collection relates to civil litigation handled by Whitney, illustrating routine legal procedures in his day.

This collection consists of a diary belonging to James Henry Wiggin, a Unitarian minister and editor.

This collection contains a typed English translation of the Swedish work, [i]Abraham Lincoln, den store amerikanen[/i] (1940), written by Sven Wikberg. The volume was translated as [i]Abraham Lincoln: The Great American [/i]by Adam Julius Strohm circa 1940-1950.

This collection contains the personal papers of Frederick S. Wild. Materials include military papers, correspondence, and other documents.

Benjamin Ladd Wiley (1821-90) , enlisted in Co. B, 1st Ill. Vols. in the Mexcan War, becoming acting quartermaster of the unit. This collection contains a carbon typescript (35 pages) of his diary during ther regiment's march from Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fe, July 8-Dec. 27, 1847. The original diary ...

Benjamin Ladd Wiley (1821-90) , enlisted in Co. B, 1st Ill. Vols. in the Mexcan War, becoming acting quartermaster of the unit. This collection contains a carbon typescript (35 pages) of his diary during ther regiment's march from Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fe, July 8-Dec. 27, 1847. The original diary ...

This collection consists of two letters and one note written by suffragist and educator, Frances E. Willard. Willard was the president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) from 1879-1898.

This collection includes a map and manuscript written by Delores Williams circa 1930s. Her school paper is entitled "George Rogers Clark's March from Kaskaskia to Vincennes," describing Clark's nineteen day trip in 1778. Delores Williams used a variety of bibliographic sources for her paper, including a letter from Clark, his ...

This collection consists of a letter from Assistant Adjutant General Seth Williams to Colonel R. N. Batchelder about storing election forms for Civil War soldiers from New York at the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac.

This collection consists of letters from Williams to his family. Eight letters, 1839-49, are to his son John Wesley Williams, of Bourbon County, Kentucky. Subsequent letters are to "children," "grandchildren," or simply "daughter." The letters relate to farming, crop prices, family news, the Mormons, the Methodist Church, an 1849 cholera ...

The collection contains the business, personal, and financial papers of Amos Williams, his son-in-law Dr. William W. R. Woodbury, James A. D. Sconce, and L. A. Sconce. Materials also include the correspondence of the Williams and Woodbury families.

In this answer to a bill in chancery, William Willson of Rushville, Ill., asserts that he already paid off Daniel S. Shacklett's note for $150. for "a quantity of lime," and that Shacklett's action against him is therefore a "cheat & fraud." On Sept. 9, 1842, after filing this pleading ...

This collection contains the court financial ledger from Wilson & William Law in Rock Island, Illinois. The ledger includes brief descriptions of court cases in Rock Island with details such as the plaintiffs, defendants, and expenses throughout the case. The ledger documents 115 court cases spanning from 1842 to 1849. Most ...

This collection contains biographical materials; personal correspondence; education, organizational, and professional papers; manuscripts of academic articles; and papers related to Wilson's service in Operation Crossroads. The Operation Crossroads portion of the collection contains numerous photographs of the atomic tests; "The Voyage of the Panamint," Wilson's 123-page diary from the experience [also ...

The Wingard-Forney-Vaky Papers relate primarily to the Wingard family of Champaign, Ill., but also contain materials on the Forney family of Waynesboro, Pa., and the Vaky family of Champaign. The bulk of the collection dates from the 1860s and 1870s, and features detailed accounts of life in Civil War Waynesboro ...

This 260-page ledger book contains customer accounts of Winter & Waggoner, a general store in Athens, Ill., which sold hardware, lumber, and fresh produce. The store was also engaged in horseshoeing, hauling of goods, and repairing tools.

This collection contains an original letter dated September 20 and October 10, 1847, and its transcription. The letter mentions the dissolution of Philadelphia Industrial Association, a Fouriertist community near South Bend, Indiana, which had been incorporated in 1845. The letter was written in different hands, mostly by A. E. Winter, to ...

This collection contains forty cartes de viste portraits of soldiers in the Wisconsin 42[sup]nd[/sup] Volunteer Infantry and two brass uniform buttons with raised eagle emblems, circa 1864-1865.

This collection contains the diary of James E. Withrow of Macomb, Illinois.

This collection consists of one 1902 envelope from Wm. Wrigley Jr. and Company, the manufacturer of Wrigley Chewing Gum.

This collection consists of records from the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) of Illinois at the state, county, and local level. Bound volumes of records, mostly containing meeting minutes, comprise the bulk of the collection. Also included are two dozen handbooks that were published by the Illinois or National W.C.T.U. between 1907 and 1965.

This volume contains a record of the Annual Conventions of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) of the 10th Congressional District in central Illinois, later redistricted as the 14th District. The volume also includes records from executive committee meetings for the organization in select years. The Annual Conventions for the district ...

This collection consists of minute books, financial records, correspondence, programs, and miscellaneous notes, publications, and other materials documenting the meetings, membership, and activities of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) in Putnam County, Illinois, both on the county and local level from the late 19th through the mid-twentieth century.

This collection consists of a stock certificate that sold ten Woman's Federal Oil Company of America shares to Mrs. E.H. Brockway in 1917. The Woman's Federal Oil Company of America was established in 1915 by Harriet Benham (Mrs. Harry H.) Honore of Chicago, Illinois, and several other wealthy Chicago women. Honore ...

This collection contains a profit sharing investment bond issued to Mrs. J.E. Humphrey and an envelope from the Woman's Land Syndicate in Chicago, Illinois, addressed to Dr. Martha A. Anderson. The envelope is postmarked July 22, 1892, and the bond is dated 1893.

This collection is comprised primarily of publications from the Woman’s Relief Corps Department of Illinois and National Headquarters along with a few documents from the Grand Army of the Republic. These documents include General Orders, Circulars, Rosters, and Rules and Regulations. Additionally, the original binding of the volume and the stubs on which the papers were mounted are included.

This collection contains ledger books of the Women's Town Club, a group which provided housing for women in Champaign, Illinois.

This collection contains papers and memorabilia documenting Wood's decades of governmental service, especially records of his time in the Justice Department. The collection also reflects Wood's involvement in numerous legal and cultural organizations, such as the Illinois Crime Investigating Commission and the Abraham Lincoln Association, and also his work on ...

This collection consists of a eulogy written by Reverend Nathaniel Milton Wood three days after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

This collection consists of World War II ration books and related items that belonged to Elsie Louise and Richard H. Guthrie of Chicago, Illinois.

This collection consists of five stereograph cards (or "stereoviews") from the World's Fair Columbian Exposition held in Chicago, Illinois, in 1893.

This collection contains prints of 17 watercolor paintings depicting scenes from Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair before or during construction and during the fair. All but two prints are signed by 13 different artists.

This collection contains a portrait of Robert G. Ingersoll by Grant Wright. Wright inscribed the portrait to "[his] old friend," B.C. Bryner.

Writing from Edwardsville, Ill., on Jan. 10, 1820,  J. C. Wright informs his brother, Nathaniel Wright of Cincinnati, about the difficulty of selling bounty lands in Illinois.

This collection contains two photograph albums and one panorama photograph following John Briscoe Wright (1919-1991) career in the US military during World War II. John Briscoe Wright (1919-1991) was an African American Navy soldier during World War II and jazz musician from Chicago, Illinois. Wright began his naval career at Great ...