USA > Illinois > Hancock County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Hancock County, Volume I > Part 129
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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
at the river levee, at some distance below the old town of Cahokia. The east side of the district will consist of the uplands and bluffs outside of the lowlands upon which the cities and villages are situated. The drainage water from this high land, and also from the old bed of Cahokia Creek, will be carried in a southerly direction near the line of upland, away from most of the area of the cities, draining some of the lakes and sloughs and having its lower end near the southwest corner, where will be situated the great pumping machinery. This ditch or canal starts at the northwest corner near where the Cahokia Creek is thrown outside of the north- east corner of the district. It will be 80 feet wide, and will carry all the surface water of the enclosed district, and will have lateral ditches and connections with the sewers, unless the dif- ferent cities have separate sewer connections near their several old outlets. The estimated cost of this immense undertaking is over $6,000,- 000, and the work is one of untold importance to the region benefitted. The cities and villages included already contain a population of over 100,000 and are growing with great rapidity. The importance of this grand improvement can not at present be fully estimated.
J. H. BURNHAM.
ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Beginning with 1827, various attempts were made to establish a state historical society in the state of Illinois, but all were short. lived, however, until 1899, when the present Illinois State Historical Society was organized. In re- sponse to a call signed by Judge Hiram W. Beckwith, Dr. Edmund Janes James and George N. Black, then trustees of the Illinois State His- torical Library, and J. H. Burnham, E. M. Prince, George P. Davis, David McCulloch, and other citizens interested in historical work, a preliminary meeting was held at the University of Illinois. On May 23, 1900, the Illinois State Historical Society was chartered as a corpora- tion under the laws of the state. The objects of the society were thus set forth in the articles of incorporation : "To excite and stimulate a general interest in the history of Illinois; to encourage historical research and investigation and to secure its promulgation; to collect and preserve all forms of historical data in any way connected with Illinois and its peoples." Hon. Hiram W. Beckwith of Danville, Ill., served as president of the society from 1899 to
1903. He was succeeded by Dr. J. F. Snyder of Virginia, Ill., who served until 1905, when he resigned and was succeeded by Gen. Alfred Orendorff, of Springfield. On the death of General Orendorff in 1909, Col. Clark E. Carr oť Galesburg, Ill., was elected as president and served in that capacity until 1913, when, on account of ill health he was made honorary president for life, and Dr. Otto L. Schmidt was elected president. The society has been served by the following as secretary: Evarts Boutell Greene, J. W. Putnam, J. J. McCan Davis, and its present secretary, Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber.
By an act of the legislature approved May 16, 1903, a new section was added to the origi- nal act by which the State Historical Library was organized in 1SS9. By the provisions of this section (60) the State Historical Society is declared to be a department of the Illinois State Historical Library and the board of trus- tees is authorized to pay certain expenses of the society out of funds appropriated by the legislature to the library for this purpose. In accordance with the provision of this statute the General Assembly has, from time to time, made special appropriations for expenses for the State Historical Society.
The first annual meeting of the society was held in Peoria, Ill., June 5-6, 1900. These an- nual meetings, which were comparatively small at the beginning, have grown in attendance and general interest until they now constitute an im- portant means of bringing together the scat- tered workers in this field from various parts of the state. The membership in the society now numbers over sixteen hundred and in point of membership and interest it ranks as the largest historical society in the United States. When the society was first organized the three trustees of the library were made directors and the president of the board was also made the president of the society. The society as now organized has a board of officers consisting of an honorary president, a president, four vice presidents and a board of directors of fifteen members, elected at the annual meeting of the society. The present officers of the society are : honorary president, Hon. Clark E. Carr, Gales- burg; president, Dr. Otto L. Schmidt, Chicago; first vice president, W. T. Norton, Alton ; second vice president, L. Y. Sherman, Springfield ; third vice president, Richard Yates, Springfield ; fourth vice president, George A. Lawrence, Galesburg ; secretary-treasurer, Mrs. Jessie
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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
Palmer Weber. The board of directors are: Edmund J. James, Urbana-Champaign; J. H. Burnham, Bloomington ; E. B. Greene, Urbana- Champaign; Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber, Spring- field ; Charles H. Rammelkamp, Jacksonville ; J. O. Cunningham, Urbana ; George W. Smith, Car- bondale; William A. Meese, Moline; Richard V. Carpenter, Belvidere; Edward C. Page, De- Kalb; J. W. Clinton, Polo; Andrew Russel, Jacksonville; Walter Colyer, Albion; James A. Jaines, Evanston; H. W. Clendenin, Springfield.
The publications issued by the society are its "Transactions," which contain the papers read at the annual meetings and contributions to state history, and the Journal of the society, which was begun in April, 1908, and it is now issued quarterly under the management of a committee. Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber is chair- man of this committee and editor-in-chief of the Journal, being also secretary of the Histori- cal Society and librarian of the Illinois State Historical Library. Mrs. Weber has been ex- tremely helpful in maintaining a vital relation between the two organizations.
JESSIE PALMER WEBER.
THE ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL LI- BRARY was created by an act of the General Assembly of May 25, 1889. The first board of trustees, consisting of Hiram W. Beckwith of Danville, Dr. Arthur Edwards of Chicago, and Edward F. Leonard of Peoria, organized Novem- ber 25, 1889, by electing Mr. Beckwith president, Mr. Leonard, secretary, and Miss Josephine P. Cleveland, librarian. Complying with a request made at the first meeting of the board, the Secretary of State, as ex-officio state librarian, transferred from the Illinois State Library, 442 volumes relating distinctively to the history of the state. The books formed the nucleus of the State Historical Library of today, which now contains 39,700 volumes, besides an inter- esting collection of manuscripts. It has a large and rare collection of books, pictures and manu- scripts relating to Abraham Lincoln, Illinois' greatest citizen. It has a fine collection of newspaper files which are constantly in use by all classes of citizens. The library is building up a fine collection of genealogical material which is of great assistance to, and much used by, persons interested in the study of ancestry and by those seeking admission to patriotic hereditary societies. The library collects ma-
terial along all lines of state history, natural history, histories of counties, towns, cities, vil- lages, churches, travels, biographies of prom- inent citizens, and the part taken by the state in various wars, in short any material that in any way touches upon the history of the state or its people. The purpose of the library as defined by the act creating it is "to procure from time to time, books, pamphlets, manuscripts, monographs, writings and other material bear- ing upon the political, physical, religious or social history of the state."
The labors of the trustees have resulted in the collection of a well selected library relating to Illinois, the Mississippi Valley and the old Northwest Territory. In 1899, there began a series of sınall volumes designated as "Publica- tions of the Illinois State Historical Library." They were prepared largely under the super- vision of Dr. Edmund J. James, then a pro- fessor at the University of Chicago, and in- cluded a bibliography of Illinois newspapers and two volumes dealing with the "Territorial Rec- ords of Illinois." In 1903 a more ambitious series was undertaken under the title of the "Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library," the first volume of which was edited by Judge H. W. Beckwith. In the year 1905, the work of publication was given a new im- petus by the more liberal action of the General Assembly, Prior to that date, beginning with 1899, small appropriations had been made to the library specifically for publication. In 1905, this amount was increased and in addition an appro- priation was made for procuring documents, papers and materials and publications relating to the Northwest and the State of Illinois. This appropriation made possible for the first time that examination of archives within and with- out the state without which a comprehensive policy of publication could not be carried out. For the purpose of securing the services of historical students in shaping this larger plan of publication, the library board appointed an Advisory Commission, and acting on the advice of this commission, the board accepted a plan of publication in series, each series to consist usually of material belonging to a particular period in the political history of the state, as, for instance, the Virginia series, dealing with the period when the sovereignty in the Illinois Country was claimed by the State of Virginia. In some cases, however, a topical arrangement
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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
is also provided as in the Lincoln series. Nine volumes of the collections have been published as follows :
Historical Collections of the Illinois State His- torical Library. Ed. by H. W. Beckwithı ;
Virginia Series. Vol. I. Cahokia Records, 1778- 1790. Ed. by Clarence Walworth Alvord ;
Lincoln Series. Vol. I. Lincoln-Douglas De- bates. Ed. by Edwin Earle Sparks;
Executive Series. The Governor's Letter Books, 1818-1834. Ed. by Evarts Boutell Greene and Clarence Walworth Alvord;
Virginia Series. Vol. II. Kaskaskia Records, 1778-1790. Ed. by Clarence Walworth Alvord ; Executive Series. The Governor's Letter Books,
1840-1853. Ed. by Evarts Boutell Greene and Manfred Thompson ;
Virginia Series. III. George Rogers Clark Papers, 1771-1781. Ed. by James Alton James ;
Biographical Series. Vol. I. Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois 1814-1879. Ed. by Franklin William Scott;
Bibliographical Series. Vol. II. Travel and Description, 1765-1865. By Solon Justus Buck.
The volumes so far published have attracted favorable notice from the general public and from scientific historians as well. In carrying forward the work of publication the trustees have had the cooperation of some of the leading educational institutions of the state. This has been done chiefly through the agency of the Ad- visory Commission, which was organized by the board in 1905, and included, at that time, Prof. E. E. Sparks, of the University of Chicago; J. A. James of Northwestern University; Charles H. Rammelkamp, of Illinois College; E. C. Page, of the De Kalb Normal School; Henry Johnson, of the Eastern Illinois Normal School and
Evarts B. Greene, chairman. Since the organiza- tion of the commission changes in the personnel of the board have taken place, Prof. Sparks leaving to accept the presidency of the Pennsyl- vania State College, his place being taken by Professor A. C. Mclaughlin, head professor of history in the University of Chicago. On the resignation of Professor Henry Johnson, of the Eastern Normal School, this vacancy was filled by the appointment of William A. Meese, of Moline, a well known writer and speaker on Illinois history. The annual Transactions of the Historical Society are issued as publications of the library ; these volumes contain the papers read at the annual meeting of the society and additional contributions to state history. The publications of the library and society are used by students and clubs throughout the state and in many schools they are used as text books for students in state history. During the years of its existence the library board has had but four presidents. Judge Lambert Tree occupied the position for four years, Judge Beckwith until his death in 1903. Dr. Edmund Janes James resigned, and Dr. Evarts Boutell Greene was elected. The present board of trustees consists of three members.
Dr. Evarts Boutell Greene, Urbana,
President,
Dr. Otto L. Schmidt, Chicago, Secretary.
Charles H. Rammelkamp, President Illinois College, Jacksonville.
But two librarians have been appointed, Miss Josephine P. Cleveland, who served in that capacity for eight years or until her death in 1897, and Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber, the pres- ent librarian.
JESSIE PALMER WEBER.
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