Scope and Contents:
This collection includes the original copy of the legislative act of Feb. 16, 1865, incorporating the "Mount Zion (Illinois) Male and Female Seminary" on Feb. 16, 1865. It names Alexander W. Bell, Samuel K. Smith, Robert T. Marlow, John Scott, and John C. Smith as trustees, and specifies that the seminary be "under the control and patronage of the Decatur Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church." It also includes Bell's report on Sept. 8, 1866, as treasurer of the seminary, and two photographs of the building.
In addition, there is a picture of the building on a souvenir button of the Mt. Zion Academy "Students' Reunion" on Aug. 14, 1913, as well as a photograph of those in attendance that day, as published on Aug. 2, 1962, in the Mr. Zion Region News. According to paper, the academy was built in 1856, and accommodated students until 1871.
[Histories of Lincoln College, chartered in Lincoln, Illinois, in 1865, indicate that a commission of the Cumberland Church divided over the location of the denomination's college, three favoring Lincoln (Logan County) and two favoring Mt. Zion (Macon County). The division probably led to the demise of the Mt. Zion seminary.]
The collection also includes three items reflecting student life at Monticello College in Godfrey, Illinois about 1880: "Charcoal Sketches of Frantic Females" (a 14-page manuscript), a printed "April Fool's Amusement," and a playbill for A Cup of Tea.
Dorothy Mynard of Urbana, Illinois, donated the collection to the Library in 1980.
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