Scope and Contents:
This collection contains a scrapbook created by Lydia F. Pease. The scrapbook is comprised of clippings from a series of articles by General John J. Pershing and his history of World War I and the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), published in the Chicago Daily News.
Lydia F. Pease was born in November 1875 in Brooklyn, New York, to Thomas Huntington Pease (1837-1900) and Carrie Anderson (1849-1918). She had two brothers, Albert and Theodore. The family lived in New York City where her father worked as a journalist before relocating to Illinois. Lydia’s younger brother Theodore worked as a professor of History at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, serving in World War I as a 1st Lieutenant in the 32nd Division of the American Expeditionary Forces from 1917-1919. Later in his career he would go on to become the director of the Illinois Historical Survey (predecessor to the Illinois History and Lincoln Collections). Lydia’s older brother Albert was a banker at the First National Bank of Chicago. Both he and Lydia lived in Oak Park, Illinois. Lydia Pease lived in Oak Park for over twenty years until her death in 1937.
The scrapbook contains clippings from General John J. Pershing’s published history of World War I and the American Expeditionary Forces. These clippings include General Pershing’s accounts of leading 2 million American military personnel. After his leadership in World War I, Pershing became the first General of the Armies in United States history. The clippings include his perspectives on key battles and navigating diplomatic relationships with England and France.
Pease’s scrapbook is representative of scrapbook practices of the time. Pease’s scrapbook was produced by the Chicago Tribune with the intention of being filled with newspaper clippings. Scrapbooks like these provided individuals in the 19th and 20th centuries with means of documenting and organizing information, often in the form of newspaper clippings.
The Library acquired this collection prior to 2015. It was likely donated by Lydia Pease or a member of the Pease family.
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