Browse By Collection Title | Illinois History and Lincoln Collections
(12.0 items)The Ladies' Education Society of Jacksonville, Illinois, is believed to be the oldest women's organization in continuous existence in the United States. In 1833, a small group of Jacksonville women, mainly Illinois College faculty wives, created the Society to identify and support young women who were studying to become teachers. ...
(3.0 items)On November 29, 1854, when Abraham Lincoln first ran for U.S. Senator, he sought the support of Hugh Lamaster [Lemaster] (1798-1870), editor of a short-lived newspaper in Fulton County, Illinois.[sup]1[/sup] On November 29, 1860, when Lincoln was President-elect, Lamaster wrote his son Joseph, believing that "now is my time" to ...
(1.0 volume)The Lamoille Valley Railroad Company, in northern Vermont, entered an agreement on July 18, 1876, to merge with the Montpelier and St. Johnsbury Railroad and Essex County Railroad Companies in a chartered corporation. The purpose was "to connect and run together forming a through line from a point on or ...
(1.0 item)Ward Hill Lamon (1828-93) became a close friend of Abraham Lincoln when, as a lawyer in Danville, Ill., they were often associated in Vermilion County cases. Lamon accompanied Lincoln on his journey to Washington in 1861, and served thereafter as Marshall of the District of Columbia. After the assassination, Lamon ...
(1.0 item)Edward P. Lander, born in England in 1843, enlisted in 1861 at Belvidere, Ill. as a bugler in Co. I, 9th Ill. Vol. Cav. This collection contains a 65-page typescript of his diary, July 28, 1863 to July 17, 1864. in which he noted the skirmishes, battles, marches, and daily ...
(1.0 item)In this letter to George T. M. Davis, editor of the [i]Alton Telegraph[/i], "Hawkins Landrum" describes his upbringing and offers his opinions on tariffs, trade, banks, and low wages for labor. It is apparent that the semi-literate Landrum is the folksy alter-ego of an astute political observer. The original of ...
(3.0 items; 1 folder)This collection contains letters to the Lang family who moved from Urbana, Ill., to Melrose, Mass., in 1940. Two of the letters are from a family named Raikes in Great Britain, who mention some of the effects of the war on their lives, while the third is a Christmas greeting ...
(0.2 cubic feet)Laurence Marcellus Larson (1868-1938) served on the History faculty of the University of Illinois from 1907 to 1938. This collection includes the typescript of an incomplete memoir of 22 pages, including insightful recollections of his faculty colleagues when he came to Illinois; an inventory of Larson's personal papers made by ...
(1.0 volume)Pasted into this volume are clippings, mainly from the [i]Ottawa Republican[/i], relating to the construction of La Salle County's fourth court house. Although most of the clippings are not dated, the Board of Supervisors authorized the building in 1880, and it was completed in 1883. George W. Armstrong chaired the ...
(45.0 items)This collection includes transcripts of various sources relating to LaSalle (1643-87), particularly during the period of his early explorations. It also includes lists used to locate the originals of those documents and related correspondence, 1912-15. Finally, it includes translations of selected documents in Pierre Margrey, [i]Decouvertes et etablissements des francais ...
(1.0 item)This collection contains a 20-page manuscript of an article entitled "The First Crossing" written by Agnes C. Laut (1871-1936) for [i]Harper's Magazine[/i] in 1908. The article concerns Maj. Gen. Abraham Wood's 1670-1674 expedition to the Mississippi Valley. Laut, a Canadian historian, found Wood's narrative, "Supposed to be the Carolina Colonies' ...
(1.0 item)This collection contains a letter written by W. T. Lavinia in Ottawa, Illinois. On November 4, 1837, he writes to the Board of Illinois and Michigan Canal Commissioners concerning the status of his payment on a land purchase. He writes that the lack of a response to his earlier communication ...
(8.0 items; 1 folder)This collection contains photostats of letters from Peter Lavis of Milwaukee, Wisc., to his wife and family. The letters, written in German, discuss the Know-Nothing movement and Lavis's service in the Wisconsin legislature, 1854-56. The Wisconsin Historical Society holds a duplicate set of these letters For the context of this correspondence, ...
(0.2 cubic feet)William B. ("Ben") Lawrence, of Bloomington, Ill., served in Co. A, 94th Ill. Vol. Inf. during the Civil War. Enlisting as first sergeant, he reached the rank of first lieutenant and was quartermaster of the 2nd Battalion Convalescent Camp in New Orleans, 1862-64. This collection mainly contains letters to Lawrence ...
(19.8 cubic feet)This collection is comprised of records from the League of Women Voters of Champaign County (LWV), located in Urbana, Illinois. Records include scrapbooks, minutes, reports, newspaper clippings, correspondence, newsletters, and other materials. The League of Women Voters of Champaign County was formed in 1922. As noted in their website in 2016, ...
(0.9 cubic feet)This collection contains materials reflecting the operations and activities of the Charleston, Ill., League of Women Voters (LWV). Materials include reports on the annual meeting as well as minutes and agendas for the Board of Directors meetings from the early 1960s through the mid-1970s; copies of the organization's monthly newsletter, ...
(1.0 item)In this letter, Clark Leal reports to his cousin, William B. McCrea, "all Manner of Bad Roads" on his wagon trip of "about 500 miles" from Christiansburg, Champaign County, Ohio, to Fountain Green, Hancock County, Ill. Wilbur Duncan of Decatur, Ill., gave the letter to the Library.
(2.0 microfilm reels; 5 volumes)Waldo G. Leland, historian and editor, made many contributions to both the historical and archival professions. Of the many works which he wrote, edited, or compiled, his complete[i] Guide to the Materials for American History in the Libraries and Archives of Paris[/i] has proved a very useful tool for historians ...
(1.0 folder)Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) was an influential forester and environmental writer, most famous for his [i]A Sand County Almanac[/i] (1949). After graduating from Yale University's school of forestry, Leopold worked for the U.S. Forest Service and, from 1933 to 1948, was Professor of Game Management at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In ...
(1.0 item)This document concerns the auction of 72 acres in Wabash County, Ill., which was mortgaged by Stephen C. Golden on Apr. 11, 1859, and foreclosed by John J. Lescher on Mar. 28, 1864. The sale, for $272.52, was recorded at the court house in Mount Carmel on May 23, 1864.
(6.0 microfilm reels)In 1815, French naturalist and artist Charles Alexandre Lesueur (1778-1846) joined geologist William Maclure on an expedition to the West Indies to collect specimens and make notes and drawings. Lesueur stayed in the Americas for 21 years, including eight years in Philadelphia, 1817-25, and twelve years at New Harmony, 1825-37. ...
(9.0 items)This collection contains a few letters of James H. and Charles P. Leverich, New York merchants, engaged in the Southern trade. The letters concern business matters such as the charter of ships to transport goods, the sale of property and goods in the South, and bills of exchange. The Leverich ...
(4.0 microfilm reels)This collection contains biographical material, speeches, reports, union records, personal documents, memorabilia, clippings, and photographs dealing with John L. Lewis (1880-1969). The Wisconsin Historical Society microfilmed the papers in this collection and created the finding aid.
(0.2 cubic feet)This collection contains an account book of sales transactions, first of an unidentified general store, 1877-88, and then of the Library Clearing House, Chicago, Dec. 1901-Aug. 1902. Entries for the store (pages 1-217) often give the customer's name. A few entries also specify what was sold, everything from groceries and liquor ...
(1.4 cubic feet)This collection is composed of black and white photographs of train cars and locomotives for over five dozen different railroad, railway, and trolley lines in Illinois during the early and mid-twentieth century. Some of the major lines and systems represented include the Chicago, Aurora, & Elgin; Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy; ...
(3.0 folders)This collection consists of political ephemera including trade cards and ballots, as well as various other printed ephemera from the 1880s and 1890s collected by George W. Lienesch, a farmer in St. Clair County, Illinois. George Washington Lienesch (1866-1922) of St. Clair County, Illinois, was the son of George Philip Lienesch ...
(0.2 cubic feet)This collection consists of copies of items, largely letters, from various repositories and private collectors that were written by Abraham Lincoln, his associates, and others in the mid-nineteenth century, primarily during the Civil War. Topics discussed in the letters include political and military affairs and war-time financing. The materials were acquired ...
(1.0 item)This collection consists of a governing document of the Lincoln and Johnson Club of Washington City with signatures of club members. The Lincoln and Johnson Club of Washington City was established in 1864 in Washington, D.C. Its purpose was to promote the fair and legal election of Abraham Lincoln and Andrew ...
(2.0 items)This collection consists of two cartes de visite commemorating the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Popular in the mid-19th century, particularly during the American Civil War, cartes de visite were small, inexpensive photographs commonly exchanged among friends and family members. People often purchased cartes de visite that depicted prominent figures, such as ...
(9.0 items)This collection contains three Lincoln forgeries: a letter of June 1, 1852, and two legal papers dated June 1, 1858. Although all are purportedly written or signed by Abraham Lincoln, they clearly are not in his hand. The letter is addressed to J. Edwards to whom Lincoln in fact wrote on ...
(2.0 folders)This collection contains programs and related material from several Lincoln-related plays, including: Benjamin Chapin's [i]Lincoln[/i] (postcard, 1906) Al and Ray Rockett's [i]Abraham Lincoln[/i] (1924) [i]Abe Lincoln in Southern Illinois [/i](1951)* Luigi Creatore,[i] The Man Who Shot Lincoln[/i] (1989) Robert E. Sherwood, [i]Abe Lincoln in Illnois[/i], starring Sam Waterson (1993) D.M. Coleman, [i]Our Brothers[/i] (undated)* Lawrence Coghlan's [i]The ...
(1.6 cubic feet; flat file folders and framed items)The Lincoln Prints and Ephemera collection is comprised of several hundred depictions of Abraham Lincoln and other people, places, and topics related to his life and legacy. The collection includes materials created from 1854 to the present day, such as prints, photographs, posters, broadsides, periodicals, newspapers, political cartoons, postcards, envelopes, ...
(3.0 items)This collection brings together a number of scrapbooks and albums of clippings relating to Abraham Lincoln. The collectors of these materials usually did not note the particular newspaper in which each item appeared or its exact date. Similarly, they usually did not limit themselves to particular topics but rather clipped ...
(0.2 cubic feet; 1 oversized folder)Pursuant to a joint resolution of the Illinois General Assembly, the Board of Trustees of the Illinois State Historical Library undertook to determine the exact point at which the family of Abraham Lincoln entered Illinois and the route they took in traveling to Macon County. Based on research of Charles ...
(18.0 items)Most of the following items are available in [i]The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln[/i] and its [i]Supplements[/i], ed. Roy P. Basler et al. (1953,ff). In this list, CW = [i]Collected Works.[/i] A few are included, and numbered, in Jay Monaghan, comp., [i]Lincoln Bibliography, 1839-1939 [/i](2 vols., 1943-1945) [Monaghan]. To view any ...
(1.0 folder)This document is the formal commission appointing Jesse W. Fell, a businessman and land owner from Bloomington, Illinois, as a paymaster for the Union Army. The commission is signed by Abraham Lincoln and Edwin Stanton, Lincoln's Secretary of War. Jesse W. Fell, born in 1808, was a businessman who moved to ...
(1.0 folder)This document is the formal commission appointing Thomas W. Cheyney, a farmer from West Chester, Pennsylvania, as an Assessor of Internal Revenue for the Seventh District of Pennsylvania. Thomas W. Cheyney was the grandson of Thomas "Squire" Cheyney, a Revolutionary War-era politician and farmer from Chester County, Pennsylvania, who was ...
(2.0 items)This collection contains an invitation requesting the company of George C. Bestor, a businessman and civil servant from Peoria, Illinois, and his wife, Sarah, at Abraham Lincoln's second inauguration ball on March 4, 1865. It also includes a note written by Lincoln concerning a visit from Bestor on March 21, ...
(1.0 folder)This document is a legal declaration written in 1858 pertaining to the case of [i]Robert Dean[/i] v. [i]Bernard Kelly[/i], in which Abraham Lincoln served on the legal team representing Dean. In early 1858, Robert Dean pursued a case against Bernard Kelly, claiming that Kelly had charged him $5.00 per acre for ...
(1.0 folder)These documents are two papers that were drafted by Abraham Lincoln, stemming from his involvement in the 1855-1856 legal case between Charles Chiniquy and Peter Spink. Charles Chiniquy was a French-Canadian priest who had been sued by Peter Spink, a Catholic layman from Kankakee, Illinois. Chiniquy had accused Spink of perjury, ...
(1.0 folder)These documents are letters sent from Abraham Lincoln to Dr. Daniel A. Cheever, an abolitionist and political figure in Pekin, Illinois. Dr. Daniel A. Cheever, born in 1827, was an abolitionist and a conductor on the Underground Railroad in Pekin, Illinois, and was politically involved throughout Tazewell County. He served as ...
(1.0 item)This document is a letter sent by Abraham Lincoln to Joseph O. Cunningham, a lawyer and civil servant from Urbana, Illinois, on August 22, 1858. Joseph Oscar Cunningham, born in Lancaster, New York, in 1830, moved to Urbana, Illinois, in 1853. He published the [i]Urbana Union[/i] newspaper from 1853-1858 and was ...
(1.0 folder)This letter was sent from Abraham Lincoln to Jesse A. Pickrell, a farmer living near Mechanicsburg, Illinois, and friend of Lincoln's. During the presidential election of 1856, Abraham Lincoln had put his support behind John C. Fremont, the Republican candidate. Fremont's competition were the Democratic candidate James Buchanan and the American ...
(1.0 item)This document is a note offering a pardon, signed by Abraham Lincoln on February 10, 1864. On February 10, 1864, Abraham Lincoln reviewed more than thirty court martial cases, giving his decision on pardoning, approving, commuting, or remitting sentences. This note is likely Lincoln's response to one such case, though the ...
(1.0 folder)This note, written on September 22, 1845, indicates a payment made by Abraham Lincoln to Joseph Gundy, a farmer from Danville, Illinois. Joseph Gundy was a legal client of Abraham Lincoln's in the 1840s and 1850s, and the two developed a congenial relationship. Gundy had given Lincoln a sum of money ...
(1.0 folder)This note, written February 6, 1841, indicates a payment made by Abraham Lincoln to Thomas T. Gantt, a lawyer based in St. Louis, Missouri. In early 1841, Abraham Lincoln was singlehandedly operating the law office he shared with John T. Stuart while Stuart served his term in the United States House ...
(0.2 cubic feet)In 1978, the Illinois State Historical Library (now the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library) acquired from Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith the letter books of his grandfather, Robert Todd Lincoln (RTL). James T. Hickey, curator of the Historical Library's Lincoln Collection, was instrumental in this major acquisition--some 46 volumes of RTL's outgoing ...
(0.2 cubic feet)These material relate to the centennial of the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1958. They were collected by Florence White and donated to the Library in 2003 by the Macon County Conservation District.
(1.0 volume)Beginning in 1837, some 30 friends of Martha Lindsey inscribed sentiments of friendship in this album. They usually only initialed their contributions, which were generally poetical and accorded with the words embossed on the cover, "Flowers of Loveliness." In 1858, Martha Lindsey had married John Lindsey. He made entries in his ...
(0.6 cubic feet; 2 boxes)Ralph G. Lindstrom, born in Illinois in 1891, was a prominent attorney in Los Angeles. A frequent contributor to the [i]Christian Science Monitor[/i], he was also a frequent speaker on Lincoln topics. President of the Lincoln Fellowship of Southern California and of the Lincoln Sesquicentennial Association of California, he wrote ...
(1.0 item)Writing on Dec. 29, 1881, to John H. Burnham, G. A. Linton of Ellsworth, Ill., describes the location of a fort and battle site in McLean County. Reference is made to the uncovering in 1858 of graves and a gun barrel and the later investigation of Indian Mounds. The site ...
(0.2 cubic feet)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 [i]Edwardsville Spectator[/i]. He then became a minister of the Presbyterian Church ...
(1.0 item)Born in Harrison County, Ind., John B. Littell (1859-1915) was a well-known preacher and evangelist in central and southern Illinois and neighboring Indiana counties. While Wayne County, Ill., was his home base, Littell occupied more than two dozen pulpits in Illinois and Indiana during his ministerial career, and was also ...
(0.3 cubic feet)Henry G. Little (1813-1900) , born in Hollis, N.H., moved in 1835 from Wethersfield, Conn., to Illinois, where he served on the "Committee of Purchase" for the Wethersfield Settlement in Henry County. As an agent of the Connecticut Association, he surveyed the future site of Wethersfield and prepared it for ...
(0.2 cubic feet)Joseph Litzelmann of Newton, Ill., operated a boarding house called the American House. This collection contains letters, business papers and other documents pertaining to Joseph Litzelmann and his family. These include a bank book, receipts, an election notice, income tax forms, and an affidavit concerning an injury Litzelmann suffered during ...
(1.0 item)Writing on Mar. 9, 1922, Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge thanks Charles M. Woodbury for some cigars and for his approval on an unmentioned project. The letter was evidently separated from the Williams-Woodbury collection.
(5.3 cubic feet)William Edward Lodge (1834-1901) was a prominent attorney, real estate dealer, newspaper publisher, and active spokesman for the Democratic party. He spent his adult life in Monticello, Piatt County, Illinois, where he built a successful law practice specializing in collections, loans, and land sales. Lodge also served as an attorney ...
(1.0 item)In this letter of April 30, 1880, John A. Logan encourages Mortimer C. Edwards of Pinckneyville, Perry Co., Ill., to support Ulysses S. Grant's nomination as the Republican Presidential candidate.
(3.0 cubic feet)Stephen Harriman Long (1784-1864), born in Hopkinton, N.H., was a U.S. army explorer and topographical engineer. From 1816 to 1823, Long led a number of scientific expeditions to the western frontier, exploring the Arkansas, Fox, Illinois, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Red, and Wisconsin Rivers, as well as the Rocky Mountains. ...
(6.0 items)This collection includes ephemera and memorabilia related to the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition. The coalition began as a cooperative effort by local communities and historic sites in central Illinois to promote their connections to Abraham Lincoln. In 2008, the coalition gained the responsibility of managing the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage ...
(0.2 cubic feet)This collection contains the personal papers of William Lorimer. Materials include correspondence, newspaper articles, and publications. The majority of the collection focuses on Lorimer's political career during the early twentieth century. William Lorimer (1861-1934) was born in Manchester, England and immigrated to the United States in 1865. His family moved ...
(26.0 folders; 1 item, transcript and microfilm copy)This collection, mainly photostats of the originals in the Huntington Library, contains the papers and correspondence of the Campbells, the Earls of Loudoun, especially of John Campbell, Fourth Earl of Loudoun. It is separated into two divisions: the French Colonial Manuscripts, the Vaudreuil Papers; and the English Colonial Manuscripts. The French ...
(82.0 microfilm reels)This collection, mainly photostats of the originals in the Huntington Library, contains the papers and correspondence of the Campbells, the Earls of Loudoun, especially of John Campbell, Fourth Earl of Loudoun. It is separated into two divisions: the French Colonial Manuscripts, the Vaudreuil Papers; and the English Colonial Manuscripts. The French ...
(0.2 cubic feet)This collection mainly contains materials related to Samuel Love's time as a student at the Illinois Industrial University, 1872-74. Love's diary describes course work, instructors, social events, visits home, and Sunday lectures by John Milton Gregory, first University Regent. The collection also includes an itemized account book, compositions, veterinary medical ...
(0.6 cubic feet)In 1995, the Revs. William F. Moore and Jane Ann Moore formed the Owen Lovejoy Society to advance the study of Owen Lovejoy (1811-1864) of Princeton, Illinois, a leader in the anti-slavery cause. This collection contains the papers that they wrote, presented, and published--the harvest of their sustained research into ...
(1.0 item)Writing to his wife on Apr. 6, 1860, Owen Lovejoy briefly described the tumultuous reaction to "The Barbarism of Slavery," his speech the prior day in Congress. The original letter is in the University of Michigan's Clements Library. In 1912, Lovejoy's son, Elijah Parish Lovejoy II, gave the Illinois Historical ...
(7.0 items)Scott W. Lucas (1892-1968) was born in Cass County, Ill., graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1914, and practiced law in Havana, Ill. He was active in politics as a Democrat, serving as State's Attorney of Mason County, 1920-25, and as chairman of the State Taxes Commission, 1933-35. He served ...
(1.0 item)This typescript of Lyman family notes, given to the Illinois Historical Survey in 1915, is largely based on John Carroll Power, [i]History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois [/i](1876), 467-69. .