Lincoln Library's Sangamon Valley Collection

On March 24 Curtis Mann, Division Manager for Reference Services at Lincoln Library and Springfield City Historian, gave Rotary an overview of the Library's digital archives and the Sangamon Valley Collection.  Curtis focused on work the library staff and volunteers have done to make Springfield's historic newspapers available electronically.  Rotarians with a library card can access the files from home by going to www.lincolnlibrary.info and clicking on the Historical Newspapers link.

 

Curtis showed the club early stories from the IL State Journal and IL State Register including the formation of the Rotary Club of Springfield from the 1913 issues.  The Sangamon Valley Collection contains old city directories, business records, city records, cemetery records and local author collections.  The collection contains over 100,000 photographs and other information from the 11 central Illinois counties that were originally part of Sangamon County when it was formed in 1831.  More information on the collection is available at the City of Springfield's public library, the Lincoln Library.