The Journal in 1914—A Retrospective

HISTORICAL STUDIES ARE OFTEN SERENDIPITOUS VENTURES as this essay attests. Shortly after succeeding former Illinois State Historical Society president Ray Hauser as the full-time history professor at Waubonsee Community College, I inherited his collection of vintage issues of the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (JISHS). Over the past two years, I returned these to the society at the annual Conference on Illinois History in Springfield. However, recalling that the American Historical Review in the 2010s published a series of articles entitled “In Back Issues,” I decided to keep the complete set of journals from 1914 to commemorate our publications over a century later.No real historical-proven methodology governed my decision. Once again, happenstance came into play. Our editorial staff is finalizing material for the 2024 publishing year, so issues from early in the twentieth century seemed apropos. In addition, the journals I had on hand from the 1910s through the 1930s had only one year in toto—1914. Finally, despite the fact that the forces of modernity had been in play for a few decades, the year in which the Great War began is often considered a historical watershed, particularly in the ascension of the United States to global prominence, which contributed to the expansion of the American historiographical lens from the centrality of local and regional history to more worldly perspectives.An interesting note from the year of 1914 is that while there are four issues spaced three months apart, these issues represent the conclusion of one volume and three of the next. Beginning publication in 1908, the JISHS concluded volume 6 with the January 1914 issue and began volume 7 with the April 1914 issue. It would certainly make an interesting research project to survey the back issues of the JISHS to see when and perhaps why the publication schedule changed to its present status.In addition to changes in publication dates and schedule, the JISHS, like the society, has witnessed other significant transformations. Founded in 1899 to assist the Illinois State Historical Society and circulate public and private historical accounts of the state and its citizens, the leadership of the society and editorship of its journal have undergone various changes through the years. Most notable was the emancipation of the society and its journal in 1997 from state control. For over twenty-five years, the JISHS has been edited by fine Illinois historians, including Robert McColley, Kay Carr, Mark Hubbard, and presently Robert Sampson. Each has brought their own style and leadership to make the JISHS perhaps the most outstanding independent publication today in the field of midwestern state history.The most notable change in the JISHS that I have witnessed as both a subscriber and editorial staff member has been the inclusion of special projects to supplement the conventional research articles and book reviews. Originally intended to provide reviews of exhibits, films, and media of state historical significance, pandemic-induced disruption of the publication schedule shifted that focus to what readers have seen the past few issues—interviews with scholars and teachers, reviews of publications in the field, and historiographical essays. The editorial staff hopes to offer more such insights as well as features on “doing” state history.This essay reviewing the 1914 issues of the JISHS represents a one-time retrospective on our changing publication. The American Historical Review feature on back issues ran several years and highlighted articles from one hundred, fifty, and twenty-five years previously. The AHR editors wrote that their purpose was to encourage “readers to dip into the long history of scholarship contained in the pages” of that publication.1 So, too, is one of our intentions in publishing this essay. While the JISHS's digital archive is not as broad as that of the AHR, university, college, and public libraries throughout the state, as well as state and local history libraries, museums, and archives have access to both print and digital volumes of the journal. The editors of the JISHS also hope that readers of this essay may appreciate that historical context and change may be witnessed not only in the events of society and its peoples but also the records and narratives of those lives and events.At first glance, the most noticeable differences between the JISHS in 1914 and today are the cover and the masthead. A century ago, the journal's cover was a light brown—perhaps midway between moss and taupe—with printing only on the front cover. The copies I have seen from this era only have handwritten notations of the month and year along with volume and number issues, presumably recorded by a librarian. As shown in the photograph below, the cover is a simple representation of the journal title, publication information, and the state seal. That information is replicated on the first page of the issue followed by the masthead, table of contents, and officers of the society. A glimpse at our most recent JISHS issue reveals a much more colorful and illustrative cover with printing on all sides (attesting to changes in the technology and affordability of periodical printing) and advertising space on the back cover.One of the most interesting facets of the two versions of the journal may be found in the list of society officers. In 1914, the JISHS lists six officers: president, four vice presidents, and a secretary-treasurer, along with an honorary president and honorary vice presidents (i.e., presidents of local historical societies in the state). Fifteen directors are also named. Geographically, the state is well represented with mid-state representatives, especially Springfield and Urbana-Champaign, particularly so, and only two leaders from the Chicago-Evanston area. Leadership included only one woman, Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber, a director from Springfield also serving as the secretary-treasurer. Six academics are specifically listed along with their institutions, representing the University of Illinois, Illinois College, Southern Illinois Normal University, Northern Illinois State Normal School, and Northwestern University. Currently, the JISHS lists society officers on the inside back cover with four officers, fifteen directors, and twenty-one advisory board members, along with three staff members, and fifteen living past presidents. Presently, leadership is more diverse, especially with women comprising more than 40 percent of the board. Like a century ago, the board is a mix of academics and various professionals, although archivists and public historians are more visible today. While the current society leadership does not have the political connections it did in 1914, with a former governor and lieutenant governor of the state, both are represented by various officers of local historical societies.2As contemporary subscribers are aware, our masthead lists editors, staff, and the editorial advisory board; the masthead of 1914 is a bit different. While advisory board members are not listed, the masthead features six associate editors, who, presumably served as contributing and advisory editors to editor-in-chief Jessie Palmer Weber. The editor-in-chief warrants especial attention since she not only edited the journal but also served as an officer and director. Her father, John McAuley Palmer, was a Civil War general and Illinois governor and US senator. After serving as secretary to her father during the senatorial years, she served as librarian of the state library as well as her roles in the society.3 Her background reflects that of many of the society leadership of the era—connections to Civil War veterans and leaders in state politics. Our editorship in recent years reflects more of an academic bent, with JISHS editors often serving formally on the ISHS board as well as various committees.Just as leaders of the society and editors of the JISHS in 1914 represented a different type of individual from those of recent years, the slate of contributors also proved distinct from contemporary ones. In my nearly three decades as a society member and dozen years as review and special projects editor of this journal, the majority of our article authors have been academics, graduate students, and other history professionals, including secondary school teachers and writers. Occasionally, authors from local historical societies or interested “laypeople” contribute to the journal. For the four issues from 1914, those contributors identifiable through cursory research show a bias toward the former category. The only truly academic authors I discovered were Milo Milton Quaife, who, with Thomas Ford, coauthored a two-volume state history; Oliver Morton Dickinson of Western Illinois State Normal School; Edward J. James, University of Illinois president, 1904–1920; Clifford D. Chamberlin, a professor at McKendree College (and son of the college's former president); and William W. Sweet, a prolific scholar of American religious history at DePauw University who later moved to the University of Chicago.Several nonacademics had published books, including J. Seymour Currey, Chicago: Its History and Its Builders (multivolume, 1912); Howard F. Dyson, Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois (1905) and an earlier biography of Abraham Lincoln; and John M. Lansden, History of the City of Cairo, Illinois (1910). A few celebrated personalities appeared among contributors, including Felicie Cottet Snider discussing the life of her father Jules Leon Cottet, a leader among Illinois's Icarians; General Fred D. Grant reminiscing on his father; and the Most Reverent John Ireland, archbishop of Minneapolis-St. Paul, addressing the services of Civil War general James Shields. Many of the remaining contributors identifiable through research appear to be relatives providing brief biographies, prominent individuals (especially attorneys and physicians) interested in state history, and leaders of local historical societies, such as Mrs. Edwin S. Walker, who regularly provided updates on newly discovered gravesites of veterans of the War for American Independence. Overwhelmingly, contributors were male (twenty-nine to six female). A fuller portrait of contributors warrants more research since only half could be identified through Internet searches.The types of contributors, in part, is reflected by the types of content the JISHS published in 1914. Unlike recent volumes featuring the de rigueur three scholarly articles and ten book reviews, issues in 1914 reflected several characteristics of the society and its journal at that time. First, as an affiliate of the Illinois State Historical Library, the society often received gifts that were regularly reported in each issue. In April, for example, the society reported the library's receipt of probate records of Lincoln County, Maine; a marble bust of Payson Tucker; and three copies of the August 11, 1913, Chicago Examiner women voter's edition, among various items.4 Another standard feature was “Necrology,” or obituaries of outstanding state figures or individuals significantly involved in the society and/or state history. That same issue reported the deaths of Letitia Green Stevenson (called, as was the custom, Mrs. Adlai E. Stevenson), wife of the former vice president; and former governor and senator Shelby M. Cullom.5 While the society at the time published various reports and historical pamphlets (the journal regularly included a “List of Publications” at the conclusion of issues), it appears that the journal was the principal conduit for communicating society news and meetings. Each issue contains an “Editorial” section that combined society meeting minutes, secretary's report, and various state and local historical events. The final issue for 1914 in October reported a particularly robust variety of state and local events, including “Mr. John F. Steward and a Party of Friends Make Visit to Indian Battle Ground”; “‘The Military Tract’ Celebration of the Battle of Plattsburg”; “Portrait of George Rogers Clark Unveiled at Banquet by the Indiana Society, Sons of the Revolution,” and “Centennial Celebration of St. Clair County, Illinois, September 1914,” and similar occasions.6The remainder of the contents of the journal's 1914 issues might simply be described as “history”—a collection of scholarly articles, biographical sketches, public addresses, and primary source material and related commentary (see table 1 below). Most of the articles are general reflections, personal accounts, or local history chronicles. Understandably, due to the nature of local and state history and the historiographical perspectives of the times, the great majority of topics covered are nineteenth century. With few large-scale migrant streams until after the American War for Independence and territorial and early-state-making during the first two decades of the nineteenth century, it is not surprising that contributors’ content focuses on the early antebellum period through the Gilded Age; however, two articles do treat Indigenous history at Cahokia and along the Mississippi (i.e., the Piasa legend). Unsurprisingly, three topics appear most frequently: first, the settlement and development of county and municipal polities and societies; second, the Civil War and its veterans; and third, the life and times of Abraham Lincoln. The scholarly articles are as meticulously conceived and developed as those of today but not as replete with citations or bibliographic attribution. Those of greatest interest, include Professor William W. Sweet's “The Methodist Episcopal Church and Reconstruction” (a synopsis of his published book), where he finds that the church “was practically a unit in favor of the radical or Congressional reconstruction policies . . . [particularly] because they had felt strongly on the question of slavery and the war.”7A more poetic note is seen in H. A. Rhoads's “Legends of Starved Rock Country.” The author begins his essay on an almost transcendentally universal note, stating: “The old world does not stand alone in the universe of legendary lore; nor is it the only source of our romantic inspiration. Our own country is filled with those phases of human activity which stimulate the imaginative, both in history and poetry. . . . One of the many spheres or areas of romantic inspiration in the United States is the Starved Rock region of the Illinois.”8 In assessing the history of the new state park, the author explores the geological and human history of the region from Indigenous occupation through White exploration and settlement. His final assessment is that while historians have accomplished satisfactory histories of place and peoples, there still needs to be attention to the literary and aesthetic setting of the region.9 While not a historian, jurist Orrin N. Carter, justice of the Illinois State Court, provided a well-researched address to the society in May that was reprinted in the July issue of the journal. While lamenting the lack of an “adequate history of the courts of Illinois,” Justice Carter concluded, “I have seen justice administered on the prairies of Illinois, without pomp or high ceremonial, everything from simple to rudeness, yet justice has been administered before judges as pure, aided by lawyers as eloquent, if not as learned, as any whoever plead or gave judgment in Westminster Hall.”10 And perhaps the article most similar to modern scholarship was John P. Senning's reprinted address “The Know-Nothing Movement in Illinois, 1854–1856,” a well-cited analysis with maps and appendices. Senning argued that a “new political phenomenon” in the American Party had appeared at an opportune moment to challenge the principal parties weakened by sectional and slavery argumentation. Surveying both election data and narrative accounts in the state leading up to the 1856 presidential election, the author concluded that Illinois Know-Nothings did not share the fundamental xenophobic leanings of their East Coast allies but rather found the movement a convenient political raft amid the deluge of late antebellum floodwaters.11This retrospective has proven a bittersweet experience. Attempting to read intensively for analytical purposes materials already brittle and falling apart with tight bindings proved a physical challenge. As I write, I see that my desk is littered with particulates from publications over a century old. Imposing a template of sorts on a fairly new publication still evolving its editorial content and organization so as to evaluate quantitatively its contents proved frustrating, and I do not know whether the analysis above really provides due credit for the very different purposes and technological realities of that publication era. The anonymity of many JISHS contributors is vexing but not one that could not be addressed with more time and resources, and I would suggest that a fruitful research project would be more intensive research into journal contributors over time to see how the cultural and demographic profiles of authors changed from the beginnings of the journal through the world wars and then into the more recent eras of social, cultural, and transnational historiographical traditions.At the same time, while not in any ways a definitive look at 1914 as a year in the life of our journal, this has been a rewarding experience. After nearly twelve years helping edit this publication, I have acquired a bit of a proprietary feeling, and beginning to understand how the journal has changed over time and how those changes reflected the nature of the ISHS has been very beneficial. On a personal note, this experience also provided a joint project in which I was able to work with my research associate and youngest son, who is concluding his undergraduate career and anticipating graduate work in US history in the fall (perhaps in our state). Finally, this essay serves as yet another chapter in the evolution of the journal's special project section, which, I believe, not only strengthens the overall presentation of historical subjects we offer our subscribers but also aligns our publication with contemporary trends in scholarly publishing. This I believe is essential in a time when the number of states publishing historical publications is diminishing; constant revitalization of not only our historical perspectives, and of our society and journal to the fine that we may in the of the Journal of the Illinois State Historical issues in 1914 and of for 1914 of the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Those articles in are more scholarly in nature with and/or appendices

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