Archives & Special Collections

A few months ago, the Archives and Special Collections began working with the Digitization Unit and others in the Library on a project to digitize all of our Sequel yearbooks. Published from 1905-2006, the Sequel documents the history of student life at WIU, our evolution from a Normal School to a University, the activities of faculty and administrators, and much more. The first six yearbooks (1905-1910) are now online, keyword searchable, and available for viewing here. We’ll be sure to alert you as more yearbooks go up!

Special thanks go out to Julia Forrester, Linda Wade and the students in the Digitization Unit, Hunt Dunlap, and T.J. Urbanski! Thank you everyone!

A question for our readers. What do the following men and women all have in common?

Sir Winston Churchill
President Lyndon B. Johnson
Muhammad Ali
Pope John Paul II
Bob Hope
Babe Ruth
Bob Barker
Johnny Depp
Betty White
John Glenn
Elvis Presley
Tiger Woods
Richard Petty, and
our very own Dr. Lillian Snyder

Seems like a random collection of politicians, entertainers, and athletes. But they do have (at least) one thing in common. Can you guess what it is?

Here’s a hint: Harlan Sanders was one, too.

Give up? All of the above named men and women were commissioned a Kentucky Colonel by the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Dr. Snyder was bestowed with the honor on August 31, 1998 by Governor Paul E. Patton.

What exactly is a Kentucky Colonel? It is an honorary title betstowed upon individuals “in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to a community, state or the nation.” That sounds like Lillian “Last of the Icarians” Snyder to us.

You can read more about the award at:

http://sos.ky.gov/executive/kentuckycolonels.htm

Dr. Snyder fascinates us more and more every day. We can’t wait to learn more about her amazing life and share this information with our patrons.

-JH

On Tuesday, January 5th, Heather and Jeff went to Dr. Lillian Snyder’s home in Nauvoo to begin the process of transferring many materials from the Snyder home to the Archives.

For those of you who didn’t know Lillian, we like to call her ‘the Last of the Icarians.’ She was a retired WIU faculty member (Social Work) and a true champion of preserving the Icarian ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity. She lived an amazing life, and these materials will help tell her story.

When her collection arrives and is processed it will add considerably to our Icarian Studies materials. There are also a great number of items documenting her career as a social worker and her interest in Hancock County history.

We can’t wait to share these materials with you. While we miss Dr. Snyder every day, we know she would be happy that her precious materials are safe and available to researchers in the Archives at Western.

Heather Looking Through Some Boxes

Lillian's Attic

Lillian's Music Room

Congratulations, December 2009 graduates!

In particular, we’d like to congratulate Lane Evans student worker Jillien Zudell, who is graduating with a BA in History and Music, and IRAD Intern Sally Adams, who is graduating with an MA in History. Jillien and Sally have both been excellent workers in the Archives, and we’re going to miss their energy, enthusiasm, and hard work. That said, we know they’ll go on to do great things. Sally has an interest in museum work, and Jillien will be pursuing her interest in Russian history. We wish them both the best of luck!

Currently I’m reading “Caught in the Middle: America’s Heartland in the Age of Globalism” by Richard Longworth. I recommend it highly to our patrons. Longworth writes eloquently about what is happening around us in the Midwest: why our middle class is shrinking, why our small towns are dying, and who’s to blame for our struggles. His conclusions may anger you, but they will definitely make you think.

While Longworth aims to look at the Midwest as a single, unified unit (something not many researchers have done), he does include many case studies of individual communities. Numerous cities in and around Western’s core focus area are mentioned in the book, including Beardstown, Peoria, and Galesburg.

Check this book out. What Longworth writes can be difficult to hear for those of us who love the Midwest and its unique culture, but it was long overdue.

I consider his work a challenge to make our region better and more vibrant. After you read it, let me know what you think.

-JH

As the Fall 2009 semester winds down, we would like to give a special thanks to all of the volunteers, interns, and student workers who helped out in the Archives and Special Collections this semester. They’ve all done a fantastic job!

Our Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD) interns have been hard at work as usual, researching requests from patrons as far-flung as Norfolk, England and as close to home as Macomb, Illinois.

Sally Adams looks up a record for an IRAD patron.

Eric Willey works on an IRAD index.

In addition to our  IRAD interns, we also had two academic interns and two volunteers this semester. History Graduate Student Eric Willey (yes, he’s also an IRAD intern) has been doing an academic internship with Heather Richmond, and English Graduate Student Luke Thompson has been doing an academic internship with Jeff Hancks. Eric (pictured above) has fully arranged, processed, and created a finding aid for the Scott M. Jones Industry School District Anti-Redistricting papers. This is a fascinating collection that documents the consolidation of rural schools in Illinois in the 1980s and the efforts to fight it.

Luke worked on several projects while interning, including inventorying and converting oral history tapes to digital format, helping to process the McDonough District Hospital records, and processing and creating a catalog record for the McDonough County League of Women Voters records.

Luke Thompson talks with Jeff Hancks about Special Collections.

We’ve also been lucky to have two volunteers working with us this semester. Kristine Stilwell, who recently graduated from library school, is assisting in the processing of the Lane Evans papers; her expertise in history and government documents has aided greatly in this. Kristine returned to us after doing a processing practicum in Summer 2008 in which she arranged, fully processed, and created a finding aid for the Frank A. Beu papers.

Kristine Stilwell prepares for another day processing the Lane Evans papers.

English Graduate Student Craig Finlay has been volunteering for us and assisting with the University Archives. With energy and enthusiasm, Craig is helping us finish a large filing project, as well as helping create a brochure for a historic walk around campus.

Craig Finlay works with Eric on an indexing project.

Craig, Luke, and Eric are all looking into attending library school for Archives and/or Special Collections. We are privileged to be a part of their early interest in the field, and we wish them the best of luck in their future careers!

We’ve also had three fantastic undergraduate student workers in the Archives this semester. Jillien Zudell has continued to help with the processing of the Lane Evans papers — thanks to Jillien, the project has been moving along at a brisk pace.

Jillien Zudell surrounded by the many boxes of the Lane Evans collection.

Amy Randall and Amanda Gray are our Archives and Special Collections student workers. They’ve processed several University Archives collections, as well as assisting with the daily operations of the unit. They’re both excellent workers, and we’re lucky to have them.

Amanda Gray makes preservation photocopies in the Archives.

Amy Randall updates the vertical file.

Thank you Sally, Eric, Kristine, Craig, Luke, Amanda, Amy, and Jillien!

Just in time for both Archives Month (all of October) and Homecoming (October 16-17), we have a new display up in the Archives. The display celebrates the career of Ray “Rock” Hanson, Western’s beloved football coach and athletic director from the 1920s through the 1960s. Ray was not only responsible for bringing the Leathernecks moniker to Western’s sports teams, he was also the basis for our mascot — “Rocky” the bulldog. The display represents a fraction of the materials available in the newly-processed Ray Hanson collection, which includes documents and artifacts from throughout his life, covering both his personal life and his career at WIU. Ray is still remembered by many in the community as a man of extraordinary charisma, energy, and drive.

Over the summer, the library completed its latest digital project: the digitization of the full run of newsletters from the Hancock, McDonough, Rock Island, and Schuyler County Historical Societies. The newsletters are now all online through CARLI’s Digital Collections website.

These newsletters, which are all keyword searchable, are a wonderful asset to anyone studying the history of this region, looking for clues into their family history, or just looking for some interesting trivia. Thanks go out to Bill Thompson for initiating the project, Kylene Davenport for doing the scanning, Marty Fisher for donating the scanner, and Hunt Dunlap for getting the newsletters onto the Web.

The recent decision to eliminate the name Westerwinds (1977-2009) prompted me do some digging on WIU and use of the various monikers for its sports teams. First, a little history on Western…

Western began life as the Western Illinois State Normal School (WISNS) and the first students entered the new building (later Sherman Hall) on September 23, 1902. On June 3, 1921, the name was changed to Western Illinois State Teachers College (WISTC). The next (and current) name, Western Illinois University(WIU), was adopted on July 5, 1957.

Prior to Ray “Rock” Hanson’s arrival in 1926, Western’s monikers are rumored to have been the Pedagogs, the Teachers, and my personal favorite…The Howling Teachers.

After “Rock” Hanson was hired, he took it upon himself to find a more appropriate and perhaps aggressive name for WISTC. Having been a decorated Marine during World War I, “Rock” knew there was a name that would encompass courage, loyalty, and fierceness; all rolled into two words…”Fighting Leathernecks”. Although the Marine Corps held copyright to the term, “Rock” knew it was the name for Western. After a series of inquires and a long-distance telephone call to Washington, DC (which at the time was tantamount to calling the moon) permission was obtained from the United States Navy (remember, the Marines are a branch of the Navy) for use of the name “Fighting Leathernecks”. Which we’ve been ever since.

Although WIU women’s athletics will now go by the name ” Leathernecks”,the moniker “Westerwinds” and its important role in WIU history will live on here in the Archives…and even with this change I somehow I think ‘ol “Rock” would be proud!

For more on  the Westerwind name and an excellent overview of the pride asociated with the name, see former Westerwinds Head Softball Coach Kathy Veroni’s commentary here

K A C

I want you to be aware of an excellent new regional history book, “Hero Street, U.S.A.: The Story of Little Mexico’s Fallen Soldiers”. Author/journalist Marc Wilson tells the story of a single block in Silvis, Illinois (Rock Island County) in the city’s “Little Mexico” neighborhood.  This small street of 35 houses (including some  converted railroad boxcars) contributed 78 soliders to the U.S. military during World War II and Korea.  Eight of these soliders gave their lives in service to the United States, creating reportedly the highest casualty concentration of any street in the entire country.

Wilson tells a wonderful story of the early Mexican immigrant experience in the US and Illinois.  He also conducted countless interviews of friends and relatives of the deceased soliders and pieced together an excellent tale of what it means to be Mexican American and the many contributions the Mexican American community made to the Quad City community and beyond.

We have added this book to our collection in the WIU Archives, and it is available from the University of Oklahoma Press in bookstores and in online book outlets.  Check it out; it tells an important story that few people have ever heard about.  I grew up in the Quad Cities and knew a little about Hero Street, but I am much more informed about this important story now.  Hopefully a book from a major academic press like Oklahoma will help get the word of Hero Street out to a much larger audience.

-JH