Union County Farmstead project records, 1983-1984 | Southern Illinois University Special Collections Research Center

Collection Overview

Title: Union County Farmstead project records, 1983-1984

ID: 1/6/MSS 389

Primary Creator: Adams, Jane

Extent: 5.0 Boxes

Arrangement: Organized into three series: (1) Oral histories, (2) subject files, and (3) photographs.

Date Acquired: 00/00/1985

Subjects: Illinois - History, Local, Oral history - Illinois, Union County (Ill.) - History

Forms of Material: Negatives (photographic), Union County (Ill.) - History - Photographs

Languages: English

Abstract

This collection consists of oral histories, historical records, prints and negatives related to rural life in Union County, Illinois. The images relate to the transformation of rural life, including rural conditions, social life and customs, in Union County, Illinois in the twentieth century.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

The Union County Farmstead Project collection consists of the negatives, photographic prints, oral histories and copies of original documents of Jane Adams, who investigated late nineteenth and early twentieth century rural life in Union County. Adams was an SIUC anthropology faculty member who, at the time of the research project, was a student in anthropology and social history at the University of Illinois. This 1983-1984 research was done in conjunction with her doctoral dissertation entitled, The Transformation of Rural Social Life in Union County, Illinois in the Twentieth Century (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois, 1987). Adams’ book, The Transformation of Rural Life: Southern Illinois, 1980-1990 (University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1994), is based upon her dissertation research. Adams worked on the project with the Union County Historical Society.

Adams sought contributions of materials and reminiscences from local citizens through a column she wrote for the Dongola Tri-County Record. Her column, “Not So Many Years Ago,” recounted various historical facts and stories which Adams uncovered during the course of her investigations.

Biographical Note

Jane Adams grew up on a Jackson County (Illinois) farm, attended University School, and graduated from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She received her Ph.D in anthropology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. As a high school student she helped desegregate Carbondale's restaurants and, in 1964, went to Mississippi as part of the Civil Rights Movement's Freedom Summer. She taught anthropology at Southern Illinois University for 24 years, retiring in 2010 as a full professor. She was active in the Arbor District Neighborhood Association and served on the City's Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee and Carbondale City Council.

Subject/Index Terms

Illinois - History, Local
Oral history - Illinois
Union County (Ill.) - History

Administrative Information

Repository: Southern Illinois University Special Collections Research Center

Access Restrictions: Unrestricted access.

Use Restrictions: To quote in print, or otherwise reproduce in whole or in part in any publication, including on the World Wide Web, any material from this collection, the researcher must obtain permission from (1) the owner of the physical property and (2) the holder of the copyright. Persons wishing to quote from this collection should consult Special Collections Research Center to determine copyright holders for information in this collection. Reproduction of any item must contain the complete citation to the original.

Acquisition Source: Gift

Related Materials: Jane Adams papers, VFM 1574

Related Publications: Jane Adams. The Transformation of rural life: Southern Illinois, 1890-1990. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolinda Press, 1994.

Preferred Citation: [Item], Union County Farmstead project records, Special Collections Research Center, Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Oral histories],
[Series 2: Subject files],
[Series 3: Photograph negatives],
[All]

Series 2: Subject files

These genealogic materials were supplied by the interviewees and are all photocopies of originals. It includes family correspondence, ledgers, diaries and newspaper clippings.

Box 1

Folder 12: Hoffner collection: Includes copy of 1837 land deed, surveyor's map from 1858, land grant 1857 and 1838 from Marion and Union counties.
Folder 13: Kimber collection, 1860-1950: Copies of correspondence, funeral programs, marriage license, wills, deeds related to the Kimber family; also include Civil War correspondence
Folder 14: Kimber collection, 1887-1928: Newspaper clippings and correspondence copies
Folder 15: Kimber collection, 1891: promissory note
Folder 16: Kimber collection, 1858-1898: Tax receipts
Folder 17: Benjamin Fish Pease ledgers: Medical ledgers
Folder 18: Benjamin Fish Pease ledgers
Folder 19: Benjamin Fish Pease ledgers
Folder 20: Ned Walton diary, 1935-1939
Folder 21: Walton diary book, newspaper clipppings
Folder 22: Lloyd Allen household ledger, 1920-1921: contains housekeeping items purchased when Lloyd got married and set up a household.
Folder 23: McCabe business journal, 1880
Folder 24: Claire Murrie collection: Loose pages from day book
Folder 25: Claire Murrie collection
Folder 26: Thelma Degarmore collection: receipts and ledger pages related to Isaac Axley and Joseph Badgley
Folder 27: Jane Adams columns, 1983-1984

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Oral histories],
[Series 2: Subject files],
[Series 3: Photograph negatives],
[All]