Scope and Contents:
Thomas Lippincott (1791-1869), who settled in Edwardsville in 1818, was a strong foe of slavery and active in opposing the adoption of a pro-slavery constitution for Illinois in 1824. In 1825-26 he edited, in association with Hooper Warren, the Edwardsville Spectator. He then became a minister of the Presbyterian Church and associated himself with its activities throughout Illinois.
This collection contains transcripts of essays by Lippincott that were published in the Alton Courier, Alton Telegraph, and the Henry Weekly Courier. The topics include "The Conflict of the Century," an account of pro-slavery agitation in Illinois during the 1820s (57 pages) and "Early Days in Madison County" (194 pages).
The collection also includes the "Annotations" of George Churchill (1789-1872) on Lippincott's "Early Days in Madison County" (62 pages). Churchill's career paralleled Lippincott's. He assisted Hooper Warren in editing the Edwardsville Spectator, 1819-25; actively opposed the pro-slavery movement in Illinois; and served in the General Assembly, 1822-32, and 1844. His "Annotations" appeared in 15 installments, as comments on each of Lippincott's 47 papers.
The Library's transcripts were made in 1912-1913 from a scrapbook made by Lippincott, then owned by W. T. Norton of Alton, Ill., and from sets of the Telegraph articles in the possession of Norman Flagg of Moro, Ill.