Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-04-11
RECORD THE PAST
State Historical Society Appeals
to the Public for As
sistance
IN THE COLLECTION OF DATA
Stories of Events That TRANSFERRED. In
Early Days Especially
Desired.

| The board of trustees of the Hi
nois State Historical society which is
composed of H. w. Beckwith, presi-
dent; Il. H. Jones, vice president, and
George N Black, secretary, has is
sued the following appeal to the peo-
pie of the state to aid in the collec-
ton of data that will be of use in
compiling the detailed story of the
growth of the Prairie state:
The Illinois State Historical Ii
brary was organized blythe general
Iassembly of the state in 1889 for the
Purpose of collecting, preserving and
publishing the history of the 'istate
and its people. 1t is an easy MATTER
for the board of trustees of the IL
brary to purchase the current books
relating to the history of Illinois and
of the other states and countries, the
histories of which are so1intertwined
with the history of Illinois that they
| can not be separated without taking
| away from the thrilling story of the
colonization and growth of the Mis-
sisSippi valley-but the books pub
| lished a generation or more ago, the
local histories, accounts of the dedi-
cations of early churches, school
hoHscs, old settlers reunions, and
things of "a like nature-these are not
easily found. u
Local History Desired
1T is the local and domestic his
tory of our people that the board of
| trustees of the historical library is
earnestly seeking, and it now makes an
appeal to the people of the state for
assistance in the collection of such
precious and obscure material.
There is hardly family which
would be unable to furnish valuable
data. 1t is by no means necessary
that the matter be in print to be yalu-
able to the historical library. Old let
ters relating to persons, places and
events in the history of the state. or
any part Of it, record books, reminis-
cences of old settlers, pictures of
| buildings, persons or places promi
nent in the state at large, or locality,
indentures of slaves. certificates of
| freedom. correspondence with our
early governors and senators, or let
tiers descriptive of early times, all
these are of great value.
EARLY newspapers furnish much
historical material of great worth; in
fact everything that is of interest to
any county or neighborhood of Hi
nos is of interest to the board of
trustees of this library, as forming
links in the great chain of the whole
history of the state.
Encourage Recording of Facts ,,-,
If you have an old person-in your
family or neighborhood 1wh9, has
borne some part in the buildiHgepp of
| his town or county, encourage him to
write his recollections. II, eAeyis un-
able to write with comfort, persuade
him to dictate the story to some
young person. These plain and home
ly narratives may in time to come fur
nish the best and most characters
/ tic history of the times and of the
people who are rapidly passing away.
| There are but few remaining who can
tell of the trip by OK cart, or river
and canal from Kentucky or the east.
Very few are the pioneer mothers"
who can tell of the spinning wheel
and loom, and of the dutch oven"
and those veterans who can tell us of
the Black Hawk war, must say my,
father" or my grandfather, for the
fight of seventy years has carried
away the contemporaries of Lincoln
| in the military oiories of the Black