British Archives and Depositories Papers, 1547-1858 | Illinois History and Lincoln Collections

Scope and Contents:

This collection consists of photocopies, transcripts, and microfilm of documents from various British archives and depositories related to the study of American colonial history. Materials were copied from the Public Record Office, the British Museum, the Devonshire Collection, the Royal Institute of Great Britain, among others, and are arranged by depository. The materials were collected while preparing two series of Illinois history, The Centennial History of Illinois and Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library, from about 1906 through 1939. Materials are particularly focused on the trans-Allegheny West and the Mississippi Valley and reflect some of the research interest of faculty and graduate students from the University of Illinois at the time the documents were reproduced.

Acquisition Source: The contents of this collection were collected by the Illinois Historical Survey, a predecessor of the Illinois History and Lincoln Collections, under the leadership of Clarence W. Alvord and Theodore C. Pease in the early twentieth century. Additional materials were also acquired in the 1950s and 1960s.