AN APPEAL TO THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC.

Objects of Collection Desired by the Illinois State Historical Library and Society.

(MEMBERS Please read this circular letter.)

Books and pamphlets on American history, biography, and genealogy, particularly those relating to the West; works on Indian tribes, and American archæology and ethnology; reports of societies and institutions of every kind, educational, economic, social, political, cooperative, fraternal, statistical, industrial, charitable; scientific publications of states or societies; books or pamphlets relating to all wars in which Illinois has taken part, especially the collection of material relating to the present great war, and the wars with the Indians; privately printed works; newspapers; maps and charts; engravings; photographs; autographs; coins; antiquities; encyclopedias, dictionaries, and bibliographical works. Especially do we desire

EVERYTHING RELATING TO ILLINOIS.

1. Every book or pamphlet on any subject relating to Illinois, or any part of it; also every book or pamphlet written by an Illinois citizen, whether published in Illinois or elsewhere; materials for Illinois history; old letters, journals.

2. Manuscripts; narratives of the pioneers of Illinois; original papers on the early history and settlement of the territory; adventures and conflicts during the early settlement, the Indian troubles, or the great rebellion, or other wars; biographies of the pioneers; prominent citizens and public men of every county, either living or deceased, together with their portraits and autographs; a sketch of the settlements of every township, village and neighborhood in the State, with the names of the first settlers. We solicit articles on every subject connected with Illinois history.

3. City ordinances, proceedings of mayor and council; reports of committees of council; pamphlets or papers of any kind printed by authority of the city; reports of boards of trade and commercial associations; maps of cities and plats of town sites or of additions thereto.

4. Pamphlets of all kinds; annual reports of societies; sermons or addresses delivered in the State; minutes of church conventions, synods, or other ecclesiastical bodies of Illinois; political addresses; railroad reports; all such, whether published in pamphlet or newspaper.

5. Catalogues and reports of colleges and other institutions of learning; annual or other reports of school boards, school superintendents and school committees; educational pamphlets, programs and papers of every kind, no matter how small or apparently unimportant.

6. Copies of the earlier laws, journals and reports of our territorial and State Legislatures; earlier Governors' messages and reports of State Officers; reports of State charitable and other State institutions.

7. Files of Illinois newspapers and magazines, especially complete volumes of past years, or single numbers even. Publishers are earnestly requested to contribute their publications regularly, all of which will be carefully preserved and bound.

8. Maps of the State, or of counties or townships, of any date; views and engravings of buildings or historic places; drawings or photographs of scenery, paintings, portraits, etc., connected with Illinois history.

9. Curiosities of all kinds; coins, medals, paintings; portraits, engravings; statuary; war relics; autograph letters of distinguished

persons, etc.

10. Facts illustrative of our Indian tribes-their history, characteristics, religion, etc., sketches of prominent chiefs, orators and warriors, together with contributions of Indian weapons, costumes, ornaments, curiosities and implements; also stone axes, spears, arrow heads, pottery, or other relics.

It is important that the work of collecting historical material in regard to the part taken by Illinois in the present great war be done immediately, before important local material be lost or destroyed

In brief, everything that, by the most liberal construction, can illustrate the history of Illinois, its early settlement, its progress, or present condition. All will be of interest to succeeding generations. Contributions will be credited to the donors in the published reports of the Library and Society, and will be carefully preserved in the Statehouse as the property of the State, for the use and benefit of the people for all time.

Your attention is called to the important duty of collecting and preserving everything relating to the part taken by the State of Illinois. in the present great World War.

Communications or gifts may be addressed to the Librarian and (MRS.) JESSIE PALMER WEBER.

Secretary.

STANFORD LIBRARY

ILLINOIS-THE LAND OF MEN.

Illinois Centennial Address, April 18, 1918.

EDGAR A. BANCROFT.

We are here tonight to celebrate with joy and pride both the growth and achievements of our State during its first hundred years. But we do not forget-we can not forgethow much back of that century, and how much now in this world-shattering and saddening war we owe to France. As America has recalled proudly her debt to her in the days of LaFayette, so Illinois should remember what she owes to the France of nearly a century before-France the bravest, most generous and liberty loving of nations.

Doctor Finley-whose absence, compelled by a distant and important mission, we all regret-has told with rare poetic insight the romantic story of the earlier explorations of this region in his lectures before the Sorbonne, which he has collected in a book entitled, "France in the Heart of America." In the preface, written since the war began, he gave this title a sentimental as well as a geographical turn. How truly was France in the heart of America! And with what profound satisfaction we recognize tonight that America is in the heart of France in fact no less than in sentiment! Precious as are our past obligations to this heroic people, our future ties to them should be ever sacred.

When General Pershing laid a wreath of roses on LaFayette's tomb he raised his hand in salute and said with soldierly brevity, "LaFayette, we are here!" So, we may say, "France, you have long been here; we rejoice that we are now there; for we both know that our cause is the same.”

When the vanguard of America's army marched through the rejoicing streets of Paris last June, little French children knelt down at the curb as Old Glory passed. They felt and

expressed it:all: Since then the heart of America has been in France:

Let us first recall briefly that earlier time of picturesque and chivalrous adventuring.

It was the French who first explored this region and made it known to the world-soldiers seeking new domains for the lilies of France; missionaries seeking converts to the Christian faith; voyageurs seeking profit and adventure in this wild land. LaSalle, Marquette, Joliet, Hennepin, and their associates were the real discoverers of this vast expanse along the Upper Mississippi, with its fertile soil, natural beauty, abundant game and peaceful Indians. They mapped and named the water courses and other natural landmarks and the Indian villages. They established forts, founded missions, marked the trails and the sites for trading which they learned from the Indians. They were everywhere the forerunners of the pioneers. But it is a curious fact that the French established no enduring settlements. Cahokia, Kaskaskia and Peoria, Fort Saint Louis (now Starved Rock) and Fort Creve Cœur, founded by the French fathers and soldiers, and nearly all their other outposts of civilization languished unless and until they were taken over by American or English pioneers.

It is to the intrepid missionary, Pere Marquette, that the State owes its name. Exploring the Mississippi, he came upon the footprints of a large band of Indians. Overtaking them, he asked who they were. They thrilled him with their answer: "We are the Illini-the tribe of men." Thus, this great land of prairies and wooded water courses between the rivers, and the lake became the Illinois territory, and nearly a century and a half later the, State of Illinois. And the whole significance of our hundred years must be found in the deeper meaning of our name-Illinois, the land of men. For, no matter how much we exalt quantities and values and incomprehensible numbers, we know that their origins and significances are, and must always be, in men. Back of all deeds is the doer, and back of all accomplishment is individual character.

When the Congress authorized the formation of this State, and President Monroe signed the Enabling Act one hundred years ago today, it was the result of a very brief campaign here and was not regarded elsewhere as of special significance. Relatively little discussion had preceded the presentation of the memorial from the territory or delayed the passage of the bill through House and Senate. This had been a separate territory only ten years. Its population was then less than thirty thousand, mostly from slave-holding states, and all its settlements, without important exception, lay along the water courses near and south of the mouth of the Illinois River. Though this was a part of the Northwest Territory, from which slavery was excluded by the famous ordinance of 1787, yet slavery existed here from the days of French control; the census of 1818 reported 829 "servants or slaves."

* Daniel Pope Cook, the very young and energetic editor and proprietor of the Territory's chief newspaper, the Western Intelligencer, published at Kaskaskia, is to be remembered as the main factor in bringing forward and pressing the question of statehood at that time, when the territory had scarcely half of the sixty thousand population required for a state under the ordinance of 1787.

Nathaniel Pope, our territorial delegate, in preparing the bill, fixed the northern boundary first at ten miles and finally at fifty miles north of the line through the south bend of Lake Michigan that had been indicated in the ordinance as the boundary of a new state. This change of boundary, in order to give Illinois access to Lake Michigan, seemed of small importance at the time, but it gave the State its entire lake frontage with its great metropolis and its fourteen northern counties which now have a population greater than that of all the rest of the State.

Here was a truly royal domain-with more acres of arable land than all England. It was, indeed, a new and fairer Mesopotamia, with leagues on leagues of verdant prairies, brilliant with wild flowers and fringed with forests along the streams. Beneath the riches of its deep black soil

He was defeated as a candidate for the State's first representative in Congress, but he was appointed its first Attorney General.