Browse By Collection Title | Illinois History and Lincoln Collections

This collection contains personal papers and a journal belonging to Reverend Benjamin Applebee, a Methodist Episcopal minister in central Illinois. Benjamin Applebee was born in Tranesville, Ohio in 1820 and grew up near Canton, Illinois. He served as a minister in central Illinois for over thirty years. He died in 1897. The ...

Sgt. Robert G. Ardry, Co. B, 11th Ill. Vol. Inf., recorded in this 29-page diary his experiences in Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's army from Nov. 15, 1864, to Mar. 1, 1865. Ardry describes the army's attacks on Fort McAllister, Ga., Savannah, Ga., and Columbia S.C., as well as its ...

Dubbed "the premiere pork baron" by one biographer, Philip D. Armour owned numerous successful slaughterhouses throughout the United States during the late nineteenth century. Correspondence from Armour (all but three letters in the collection) includes business letters to Frank F. Miles, a business associate at the Omaha plant, personal letters to ...

This collection consists of transcripts of letters written between 1834 and 1845 to James Armstrong of Dumfriesshire, Scotland, by his two sons Robert and James, who emigrated from Scotland to Peoria County, Illinois. James and Robert Armstrong were the sons of James Armstrong. The two brothers were originally from Scotland but ...

Writing on Apr. 1, 1852, John T. Arnall of Waynesboro, Va., ordered one hundred pounds of candy from Simon Bonavita in Richmond.

Lee Ann Arnold's letter of Aug. 23, 1933, explains the origin of the name of Opdyke, Jefferson County, Ill., as well as characteristics of the town during the Depression. The original letter is in the possession of George Opdyke, Jr., great-great-grandson of Wilbur F. Opdyke, after whom the town of Opdyke, ...

The Ashmore Family Papers document five generations of one Illinois family in Jo Daviess and Stephenson Counties, and contain materials related to Joseph Ashmore (1787-1868), a farmer; his children, Charles (1829-1925); Henry (1842-1908); and Arthur (1882-1969), also farmers; Henry's wife Belle (1850-1925) and son Walter (1879-1960); Arthur's wife Jessie (1887-1972), ...

Rufus Atherton served in Co. I, 77th Ill. Vol. Inf. during the Civil War. A resident of Elmwood, Ill., Atherton enlisted on Aug. 14, 1862, and served until June 17, 1865. The collection contains six letters written by Atherton to family members between Dec. 12, 1862, and Feb. 10, 1865. ...

Jacob Atkinson, writing to his parents in Maine, on June 7, 1846, describes his life in Dixon, Ill. Wilbur Duncan of Decatur, Ill. donated the letter to the Illinois Historical Survey.

This collection includes a scrapbook inventory of Mrs. E. E. Atwater's collection of artifacts. Artifacts include architectural and cultural remnants from around the world, botanical specimens, mineral fragments, and Civil War battlefield relics. Elizabeth Emerson Atwater was born in Norwich, Vermont on August 8, 1812. She went to boarding school in ...

John Atwood of Alton, Madison County, Ill., was active in the purchase and sale of land near Sioux City, Iowa. His transactions involved land that had been set aside for the benefit of the Iowa Agricultural College and Farm (now Iowa State University). The collection includes original land grant certificates ...

Phineas Orlando Avery (1838-1916), of Earl, LaSalle County, Ill., enlisted as a private in Co. I, 4th Ill. Cav., on Sept. 4, 1861, and mustered out as a corporal on Nov. 4, 1864. His unit served in Tennessee and Mississippi, including at Shiloh, Apr. 6-7, 1862. After the war, Avery ...

The Allen Avner Oral History Interview Collection consists of nineteen interviews with Richard Allen Avner conducted by Alexander Scheeline between December 2022 and January 2023. Richard Allen Avner was born on March 1, 1937 in Fort Sheridan, Illinois, to Sim N. Avner and Laura Mae Moore Avner. Avner received a Bachelor ...

James Sterling Ayars was a successful writer for young people, an editor of scientific and religious publications, and an activist for civil liberties and human rights. Ayars also served as a technical editor at the Illinois Natural History Survey from 1937 until his retirement in 1965. In addition, Ayars authored ...

Thomas Babb was born in 1841 in Staffordshire, England, but moved to the United States in 1860. Settling first in Ohio, where he was married, Babb moved to Mahomet, Champaign County, Ill., in 1861. Babb spent the next two decades acquiring and farming several hundred acres of land throughout the ...

This collection contains a typed manuscript providing a narration of the 1864 Charleston Riot, a typed copy of a talk on Abraham Lincoln’s career as a surveyor, and a handwritten letter sent from distant Lincoln relative Adin Baber to Lincoln scholar and collector Henrietta Calhoun Horner in 1946. Adin Baber (1892-1974), ...

This collection contains a typed manuscript providing a narration of the 1864 Charleston Riot, a typed copy of a talk on Abraham Lincoln’s career as a surveyor, and a handwritten letter sent from distant Lincoln relative Adin Baber to Lincoln scholar and collector Henrietta Calhoun Horner in 1946. Adin Baber (1892-1974), ...

The Bailey collection contains 52 letters written to Josiah Bailey in Maine by various members of his family in Illinois. The majority of the letters are from Isaac Bailey, Josiah's brother. Isaac Bailey spent a large portion of his life working with the Illinois railroad companies. In the letters he ...

This collection consists of two letters belonging to E. M. Bails. It includes a letter written by H. L. Bosworth describing Abraham Lincoln’s attendance of a church service in Washington, D.C., during the Civil War and a letter from Carl Sandburg commenting on the historical value of the first letter. Ellwyn ...

Samuel Baird, a Presbyterian clergyman and author, was known for his study of the Presbyterian form of government. These letters, written during his time as a pastor in Woodbury, N. J., discuss Baird's beliefs on the role of the clergy in the Civil War. These items are photocopies of the originals ...

The Ira Baker Papers focus on his [i]Semi-Centennial History of the College of Engineering of the University of Illinois[/i]. The work was prepared by Professor Baker between 1920 and 1923 at the request of President David Kinley. The manuscript contains a significant amount of material on the early history of ...

This collection consists of personal papers from the Baker-Busey-Dunlap family. The materials relate primarily to Kate Baker Busey (1855-1934), but materials from George W. Busey (1861-1944), Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie" Baker (1836-1913), Ellen "Nellie" Dunlap (1840-1891), and Hiram J. Dunlap (1841-1919) are also included. The collection contains personal family items, including ...

This collection contains correspondence, diaries, pamphlets, advertisements, receipts, and illustrations related to Henry Baldridge. The correspondence includes personal letters from young women in Macon County and Decatur, Illinois, and business letters concerning Baldridge's activities as a salesman of Darby Gas Burners. In his diaries, he discusses courtship, social behavior, church programs, ...

On Jan. 22, 1803, William Ball of Frederick County, Va., sold an enslaved 13-year-old boy named Wilson to James Powers, for 80 Pounds U.S. money. The sale was witnessed by William Patton and Charles Bakley or Barkley. Paul Hardin, University of Illinois Office of Instructional Resources, donated this item to the ...

The Bancroft-Bliss collection contains photocopies of official and personal correspondence of Leiutenant Colonel Alexander Bliss. It also contains photocopies of three letters sent to Bliss's mother, Elizabeth Davis Bliss Bancroft. Leiutenant Colonel Alexander Bliss (1827-1896) was assistant quartermaster general of the Union forces and a colonel of the United States Army ...

The collection includes fifteen letters, 1866-71, from Henry Brown to Jacob H. Barnes. In the earliest letter, Brown instructs Barnes on how to travel to Bement, Ill., from Youngstown, Ohio, while later letters are written from Brown's homestead in Buffalo, Kansas, and urge Barnes to move to Kansas. Brown's letters ...

This collection contains correspondence, documents, and manuscripts written by and relating to Reverend George Johnson Barrett (1818-1876), an itinerant Methodist clergyman from Pittsfield, Illinois. George Johnson Barrett (1818-1876) was born in Washington County, New York. He moved to Morgan County, Illinois, in 1837, where he began traveling as a Methodist preacher. ...

This collection consists of correspondence between Oliver R. Barrett and Carl Sandburg, as well as letters sent to each of them. Oliver Barrett (1873-1950) was a Chicago lawyer and Lincoln collector. Carl Sandburg, an Illinois writer best known for his poetry, was also a Lincoln scholar who wrote several biographies on ...

This collection documents the publication of Carl Sandburg and Paul M. Angle's [i]Mary Lincoln, Wife[/i] [i]and Widow [/i](New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1932). In particular, it documents the role of Oliver R. Barrett in the publication of the book. In 1930, Logan Hay, a lawyer in Springfield, Illinois, and president ...

This collection consists of copies of letters from Captain Wilson Barstow to his sister, Elizabeth Drew Barstow Stoddard, and her husband, Richard Henry Stoddard. Wilson Barstow (died 1869) was a captain in the Union Army and aide-de-camp to General John A. Dix, who commanded the Department of Virginia and the Department ...

During World War I, Louis Bartels served as a private in Co. D, 308th Machine Gun Battalion, 78th Division. The 78th was composed largely of men from northern New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. Bartels went "over the top" twice during the Meuse-Argonne offensive (Sept. 26 - Nov. 11, 1918), ...

The sculptor Truman H. Bartlett was an instructor in modeling at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for twenty-one years. This collection includes three letters from Bartlett to Professor Robert Tait McKenzie, physician, sculptor, and Director of the Department of Physical Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Two letters concern Bartlett's ...

Samuel Bartley, a graduate of Delaware College (Ohio Wesleyan University) in Delaware, Ohio, taught school at Murphysboro, Ill., from 1858 to 1859, before becoming principal of a school in Ohio. In 1870 he moved to Edgewood, Ill., to continue working as a school principal. Bartley, an amateur botanist, later ran ...

This collection consists of the personal and research papers William E. Barton, as well as the research papers of his son, Robert S. Barton. Both Bartons were Lincoln scholars who wrote extensively on Abraham Lincoln. William E. Barton (1861-1930) was a minister and Lincoln biographer. Born in Sublette (Lee County), Illinois, ...

This collection consists of research materials compiled by Fonda D. Baselt and Josephine F. Moeller related to cemeteries in Champaign County. Materials include copies of maps, articles, notes, and photographs. In the early 1980s, Fonda D. Baselt and Josephine F. Moeller made copies of the maps created by Godfrey Sperling during ...

Mark M. Bassett, from West Point, Ill., served in Co. E of the 53rd Ill. Vol. Inf. Enlisting as a sergeant on Jan. 1, 1862, Bassett was a first lieutenant when he was taken prisoner on July 12, 1863, during the Union assault on Jackson, Miss. He escaped from Libby ...

This collection contains one album dating from 1833-1837 that likely belonged to Emily Caroline Bates, daughter of Fredrick Bates, who was the second Governor of Missouri. Emily Caroline Bates was born in St. Charles, Missouri, in 1820 to Fredrick Bates and Nancy Opie Ball Bates. Emily Bates married her first cousin, ...

Born in Massachusetts in 1828, Erastus Newton Bates moved to Ohio in 1836, and later attended Williams College and Union Theological Seminary. In 1859, after practicing law in Minnesota for three years, he moved to Centralia, Ill. In 1862, he mustered into the 80th Ill. Vol. Inf. as a major. ...

Born in Massachusetts in 1828, Erastus Newton Bates moved to Ohio in 1836, and later attended Williams College and Union Theological Seminary. In 1859, after practicing law in Minnesota for three years, he moved to Centralia, Ill. In 1862, he mustered into the 80th Ill. Vol. Inf. as a major. ...

Born in Massachusetts in 1828, Erastus Newton Bates moved to Ohio in 1836, and later attended Williams College and Union Theological Seminary. In 1859, after practicing law in Minnesota for three years, he moved to Centralia, Ill. In 1862, he mustered into the 80th Ill. Vol. Inf. as a major. ...