Amazing downtown attic find yields
Lincoln’s earliest history
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[April
25, 2018]
LINCOLN
Life can be full of pleasant
surprises. During the monthly
meeting of the Logan County
Genealogical and Historical Society,
historian Bill Donath told the
society about one that occurred to
him recently.
Mark Shew from the recently closed
MKS Jewelry store on the square in
Lincoln stopped by last September to
tell Bill that while cleaning out
the space for a new owner, a small
room had been discovered that was
boarded up. When it was opened,
there was a pile of what looked like
old newspapers. Shew wanted to know
if the LCGHS wanted this seeming
pile of dirty trash.
After checking out the contents of
the secret room, Bill’s response was
an enthusiastic “Yes!”
“It looked like some waste paper
that someone had forgotten to throw
away,” said Bill Donath. What it
turned out to be was a treasure
trove of newspapers and
advertisements from the original
Lincoln newspaper, The Lincoln
Herald.
The Herald was founded in 1856 and
was a weekly distributed on Thursday
mornings. The offices and printing
operation were located in the space
eventually occupied by MKS. The
paper ran until it merged with
another, The Evening Courier, in the
early 20th century.
Donath, author of several books on
Logan County history, was just the
person to go through this material
and find out what it was worth
historically.
The aged papers turned out to be an
invaluable find in the history of
the city of Lincoln.
Much of the material consists of
actual newspapers from the late 19th
century that are in flat condition.
The original paper was printed on
acid free paper made of rags and was
eight columns wide. The papers are
flat and seem to be in good
condition.
“The Lincoln Herald changed to a
smaller format in the 1890’s and
used a different paper stock made of
wood pulp that has not held up as
well,” said Donath. These editions
are not in good condition, some a
bit ragged and fragile.
So far Donath has found 698 issues
of the paper. In total there are
over sixteen hundred pieces of paper
in what has now been christened the
Shew Collection of The Lincoln
Herald. But the actual newspaper may
not be the most interesting part of
the collection.
In order to make money, The Herald
also had a printing business. They
printed advertisements for Lincoln
businesses and community events.
There are ads for The Horse Collar
Factory, the Lincoln Business
College, and the original Methodist
Church. There is also an ad for a
local restaurant complete with menu
and prices. The Herald printed
political posters and ballots for
elections.
These historical gems are all part
of the Shew Collection, a window
into 19th century Lincoln, Illinois.
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As with most archaeology, there is a
wrinkle in this story of the
historical treasure found in the MKS
building. Many of the items are not
in a flat condition as if they had
just come hot off the press. Much of
the collection is in tight rolls of
paper that resemble nothing so much
as a fireplace log. These rolls of
paper are covered in black filth
requiring special care.
Donath uses hand protection when
touching them and tries not to
breath in whatever the muck is on
the outside. Under the tutelage of
Lincoln Heritage Museum director
Anne Mosely, an expert in handling
old paper documents, Donath is
slowly unrolling these papers and
treating them with a special
humidifying and cleaning process so
that they can be flattened out.
More treasure has been found in
these rolls, some with printing on
the outside indicating what is held
within. There are complete records
of court cases, information about
events at Lincoln University, and a
few copies of The Charitable
Observer, the monthly newspaper of
the Lincoln School for the Feeble
Minded, forerunner of The Lincoln
State School and Colony. The Lincoln
Herald printed this paper. There are
also names of residents of Lincoln
and what their position was in the
city and county, and what they were
up to.
The Shew Collection of The Lincoln
Herald discovered in an old building
and forgotten room in downtown
Lincoln could not have found a
better home than The Logan County
Genealogical and Historical Society,
nor could it have found a better
curator than Bill Donath.
Donath has taken to the job of
interpreting and preserving this
rare find of Lincoln history with
delight. He is photographing each
piece of paper as he recovers it,
thus keeping a digital record in
case the original papers degrade. He
has developed a classification
system of each advertisement, 310
ads so far, in order to have an
easy-to-use filing system for what
he has found. And of course, he has
taught himself the painstaking
process of unrolling and preserving
the logs of papers.
Donath is planning the long-term
safe storage of the papers in
approved boxes that will help
preserve the collection.
This collection of The Lincoln
Herald provides a glimpse into 19th
century Lincoln and Logan County, a
part of town and county history that
had disappeared. There have been
many surprises so far and no doubt
more to come as Bill Donath slowly
unearths this precious history, much
as an archeologist would unearth a
historic site. When Donath is at the
LCGHS offices, you might stop by and
look at this relic of days gone by.
The Logan County Genealogical and
Historical Society holds a regular
monthly meeting on the third Monday
of the month at 6:30 p.m. at their
collection facility at 114 N.
Chicago Street, Lincoln. The
meetings are open to the public and
always have an interesting program.
The LCGHS also has a research
service for those doing genealogy on
family history in Logan County.
[Curtis Fox]
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