Preserving Railroad History: An Invitation
Since 2017, The Urbana Free Library has hosted an event called the Archives Bazaar, where cultural heritage organizations from the Champaign-Urbana area—including special collections libraries, historical societies, archives, museums, and independent collectors—congregate to exhibit materials found in their collections. Archives bazaars exist to promote the preservation of our cultural heritage and to promote the use of archival collections by highlighting popular, “hidden,” or interesting collections within an institution. Bazaars are a chance for organizations and repositories to leave the stacks and connect with people in the community (not just the scholarly researchers one may think of when one thinks of archives!). It’s a way for us to say, enthusiastically, “Isn’t preserving history neat?” and “Please come use our collections!”
This year, The Urbana Free Library’s Archives Bazaar has a central theme on the history of the Illinois Central Railroad. 2024 marks the 100-year anniversary of the Illinois Central depot in Champaign, Illinois. The Illinois Newspaper Project, jointly administered by HPNL and the University Library’s Preservation Services Unit, will table at the Bazaar to showcase the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections (IDNC) and to promote our newly-published (and very first!) research guide featuring articles about the Illinois Central Railroad found in the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections.
What is the Illinois Newspaper Project?
The Illinois Newspaper Project (INP) is an initiative of the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library (HPNL, whose very blog you are reading!) and the University Library’s Preservation Services Unit. The Illinois Newspaper Project (INP) identifies, preserves, and digitizes Illinois newspapers. We also help researchers locate Illinois newspapers they need. With an early focus on preserving print newspapers by microfilming, the INP’s current efforts center on digitization projects of historical newspapers from microfilm, and contributing the digitized newspapers to Chronicling America, the national digital newspaper database hosted by the Library of Congress, and the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections, UIUC’s digital newspaper database.
Why Preserve Newspapers?
Newspapers are ephemeral by nature. They are printed on highly acidic paper that, in the preservation world, is considered an inherent vice. Over time, newspapers will turn yellow and brittle. Although libraries preserve some print newspapers, every instance of handling a print newspaper poses a risk to the overall condition.
In the 20th century, efforts by the United States Newspaper Program (USNP) encouraged cultural heritage organizations, including the Illinois Newspaper Project, to preserve print newspapers in their collections by preservation microfilming. Microfilm can last much longer than physical newspapers (up to 500 years!). Similarly, using microfilm keeps the physical copy untouched, thus limiting handling risks. (To read more about INP’s filming phase, please see here.)
Newspaper Outreach and Access
Another component of our project focuses on promoting the use of historical newspapers for research. What’s the point of preserving material if people don’t realize they’re available for use, or don’t know how to use the database in order to access the information they seek? The INP often hosts workshops or webinars on how to find newspapers, what can be found in historical newspapers, and how to use the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections (IDNC).
New INP Feature: Topical Research Guides
A goal of ours is to provide topical research guides on specific historical events or themes using articles found in the IDNC. We decided to create our first guide in time for this year’s Archives Bazaar. Given that the Illinois Central Railroad has a strong history in Champaign, Illinois, we knew that the Daily Illini, a newspaper digitized and available in the IDNC, would have a wealth of articles about the line.
The guide comprises select articles that are freely available for research in the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections (IDNC) and are on the following Illinois Central Railroad topics: Early History; Depots of Champaign, Illinois; Labor and Industry; Tourism and Recreation; Advertisements and Visual History; and Commemorations and Reflections. Also included in the guide are suggested newspapers and search keywords for conducting newspaper research on the Illinois Central Railroad.
You can explore the Illinois History Research Guide here: https://go.library.illinois.edu/IDNC-guides
Interested in attending the Archives Bazaar? The 2024 Archives Bazaar will take place this Saturday, October 12, from 12-4pm. At 2pm, Mike Matejka, a historian, writer, and community organizer, will give a talk titled “What’s Coming Down the Line? The Railroad in the American Mind.” Come discover how you can research the Illinois Central Railroad using photographs, newspapers, ephemera, and other records from local cultural heritage organizations!