Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of a letter from Josiah S. Currey to Evarts B. Greene and a newspaper clipping, both of which are related to Currey's 1908 address given to the Illinois State Historical Society.
Josiah Seymour Currey was born on October 2, 1844 near Peekskill, NY and moved to Illinois in 1857. He was engaged in various business activities around Chicago and Evanston, and became a historical writer in later years. He was president of the Evanston Public Library and the Evanston Historical Society. He also served 22 years on the Board of Directors for the Library. In 1908, Currey gave an address entitled "Chicago's North Shore" to the Illinois State Historical Society. He died in Vancouver, Canada on December 25, 1926.
The collection includes a letter from Currey to Evarts B. Greene, professor of American history and Dean of the College of Arts and Literature at the University of Illinois. In his letter, Currey notifies Greene that he was sending two copies of his "Chicago's North Shore" address, one annotated copy to Greene and another copy to a Mrs. Weber in Springfield. Currey told Greene he could make any adjustments to the text he deemed necessary. The collection also contains the aforementioned annotated copy of an Evanston newspaper clipping with the text of the address.
This collection was acquired by the Illinois Historical Survey, predecessor of the Illinois History and Lincoln Collections, before 1976.