HIST 290 Student Display

Bailey Shimmin, a student in HIST 290 Archives Practicum with Technical Services librarian, Lynn Daw, has produced a display featuring the history of Grier Hall. 

As part of the theory and practice of archival methods, students in the course will be creating displays throughout Hewes Library this semester. Bailey utilized materials from the college archives (photographs, newspapers and documents) for the display available by the west entrance to the library.  

Students in the course were featured earlier this semester by Monmouth College while they inspected materials from Monmouth's First United Methodist Church time capsule.

The Great Book Move to Hewes Library

50 years ago - on January 21, 1970 - the Monmouth College community moved an entire library in one day! 

Over 120,000 volumes were carried from the Carnegie Library (Poling Hall) to the college's newest facility: Hewes Library. Classes were cancelled while over 800 volunteers marched up and down the hill carrying books against negative windchill. The new library opened for business the next day! What an extraordinary accomplishment!

Visit the west lobby of Hewes Library on Tuesday, January 21st to see this slideshow, and be sure to venture to the upper level display cases (west wall) to enjoy an archival exhibit of memorabilia celebrating the history of Hewes Library. 

New Exhibits: Qur'an and Bookmaking

Hewes Library has several new exhibits to view on the main floor.

West entrance: 1788 Handwritten Qur'an


This exhibition case will rotate often to showcase materials from the Monmouth College Special Collections & Archives. Currently on display is a handwritten copy of the Qur'an donated to Monmouth College by Reverend Gulian Lansing, who also donated the college's copy of the Conopus Stone.












East entrance: "Books as Art"


Currently on display are handmade books created in Professor Stephanie Baugh's ARTD 231. Examples of accordian, coptic, and stab binding are displayed throughout the two cases. This exhibit will be available throughout the month of January.

Black Classicists Display

Currently on display in Hewes Library:  influential black classicists researched by Dr. Michele Valerie Ronnick of Wayne State University and brought to Monmouth College by the Department of Classics.

The display, featuring scholars on posters throughout the main and upper floors of the library, is free and open to the public now through the end of Fall term. 

Learn more on the Monmouth College website.

Black Classicists Display

Currently on display in Hewes Library:  influential black classicists researched by Dr. Michele Valerie Ronnick of Wayne State University and brought to Monmouth College by the Department of Classics.

The display, featuring scholars on posters throughout the main and upper floors of the library, is free and open to the public now through the end of Fall term. 

Learn more on the Monmouth College website: https://tinyurl.com/y5wxncrz

Arte Público Hispanic Historical Collection

Hewes Library provides access to two digital archives of U.S. Hispanic history: Arte Público Hispanic Historical Collection. 


This collection "draws its content from the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project, the largest national project ever to locate, preserve, and disseminate Latino-Hispanic culture of the United States in its written form, from colonial times to 1960."

Accessible on the EbscoHost interface, the databases are located on the Hewes Library homepage "Databases A-Z".

Series 1 "presents a digital collection of historical content - 17th century to 1960 - pertaining to Hispanic history, literature, political commentary, and culture in the United States. This collection conveys the creative life of U.S. Latinos and Hispanics – shedding new light on the intellectual vigor and traditional values that have characterized them from the earliest moments of this country’s history through contemporary times. The Latino-Hispanic American Experience offers a unique approach, focusing exclusively on the Latino-Hispanic history in the U.S." 


Series 2 "presents thematic content - 18th century through 20th century - focusing on the evolution of Hispanic civil rights, religious thought, and the growing presence of women writers from the late 19th and 20th centuries. Rare and relevant books and newspapers – including rare anarchist newspapers – are presented in their original form."

Content includes:

• Approximately 60,000 historical articles
• Hundreds of rare books by Latino-Hispanic Americans
• Hundreds of political and religious pamphlets and broadsides
• Content written in Spanish (80%) and English (20%)
• Content indexed and searchable in Spanish and English
• Over 3,000 issues of rare historical newspapers and periodicals, including over 75,000 pages of content
• Over 250,000 pages of personal and organizational manuscript content

Sample item from Arte Público:

Display of Local Journalism

Come and appreciate a slice of local journalism on exhibit on the main level of Hewes Library courtesy of the Warren County Historical Museum. 

From the exhibit:

"Warren County has been home to a number of journalistic mediums over the years, many of which continue to this day. The Monmouth Review Atlas, the Roseville Independent, and the Monmouth College Courier are the primary newspaper sources in the area, but a number of other outlets can be found as well. Radio stations, having become popularized during the Great Depressions, are still a main source of information for much of the local population today."



We thank Warren County Historical Museum Executive Director Kellen Hinrichsen for preparing this exhibit! "Local Journalism: Keeping the Community Informed" will be on display on the east side of the main level through mid-February.

New Law Resources: Slavery in America and State Laws

Hewes Library has added access to two legal source databases provided through vendor Hein Online.

* Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law *

This collection brings together a multitude of essential legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world, including every statute passed by every colony on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery.

The collection provides digital access to pamphlets, books, legal documents, and legal commentary written about slavery in English - defending it, attacking it or simply analyzing it.

The Advanced Search will help the user clarify and narrow a search with the following limits:

• select from Topics (such as "underground railroad" and "slave revolts")
• choose Document Type, Slavery Jurisdiction, and Date written
• select Slavery Position: anti-slavery or pro-slavery

Read more about the database:
http://heinonline.org/HOL/SlaveryIntro?collection=slavery

Learn more about searching the resource (5 minute video):
https://help.heinonline.org/kb/slavery-in-america-and-the-world-history-culture-law/



* Subject Compilations of State Laws *  

This collection is a comprehensive bibliography for comparing state laws on hundreds of subjects. 

The collection includes articles, books, government publications, loose-leaf titles, court opinions, and websites. 

Users may browse by Subject (such as "Affirmative Action") or search by keyword. 

Quick reference card: http://heinonline.org/HeinDocs/SCSL_QuickRefGuide.pdf

Government Document Depository

Did you know that Monmouth College is the oldest United States federal government document depository in the state of Illinois AND the fourth oldest in the nation? Monmouth College began collecting government publications in 1860, one hundred and ten years before Hewes Library even opened!

Hewes Library selects up to 16% of what the GPO (Government Printing Office) publishes from various government agencies. Most of the materials are now freely accessible online, but Monmouth still has many print sources dating back to the 1840s.

The age of this collection is uniquely useful as it allows researchers to trace the history and evolution of American governmental policies over the last 150 years. Some of the older volumes may be well-worn, but it’s the information inside them that counts.

Since many of the materials prior to 1994 are not in the online catalog, feel free explore the Hewes Library govdoc website, and ask a librarian for help finding materials!

~ written by Megan Horack ('17)

Pictured here, from top: Congressional Serials Set, Census publications, Atlas of the Union and Confederate Armies

Digitizing History Department Slides

History Club President Brody Anderson is working diligently to digitize a collection of long forgotten 35mm color slide images created by History Professor Bill Urban and former professor Mary Crow. “For too long, these slides have been sitting in a box in a back office” said Brody. “It is going to be great to have these slides, which archive the travels of the last 50 years by both Dr. Urban and Dr. Crow, online for anyone to view” he added.

All slides will be uploaded to a Monmouth College Archives Google photos account (https://goo.gl/photos/roECdPyAAT2UBR5B7) so anyone may view them at any time.

Thanks for donating your time and patience, Brody!

Exhibitions Open in Everett Galleries

Two new exhibitions recently opened in the Everett Galleries in November.

In Gallery 203

Prairie plow on loan from the Warren County Historical Museum

Take a walk back in time to learn about the Wiswell-Robeson’s family farm, in operation since 1853. The exhibit features pictures and examples of farm implements, like the one pictured here.

The exhibit was made possible through alumnae Jeanne Gittings Robeson (1960) and the Warren County History Museum, Monmouth. This agricultural exhibit coincides with the Wiswell-Robeson Lecture (Monday, November 14, 7pm, Dahl Chapel). 

In Gallery 204

The Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition displays 62 artworks, juried by Cheryl Meeker, features 62 student works. The show will continue until December 4th.  See a list of the artworks included in the exhibition. 

The juried student art exhibition in Gallery 204

New Resource: Accessible Archives is a treasure trove of American history

The newest resource on the Hewes Library website, Accessible Archives, provides digitized resources from 18th-19th century United States publications, colonial times through the end of the 19th century.

"Developed by dedicated instructors and students of American history, our databases contain the rich, comprehensive material found in leading historic periodicals and books.
Eyewitness accounts of historical events, vivid descriptions of daily life, editorial observations, commerce as seen through advertisements, and genealogical records are available in a user-friendly online environment."

In addition to American history, the collections provide support in women’s studies, American literature, theater and early American music. 

See the collection and coverage list and satisfy your curiosity by doing a few searches yourself!

Article written by members of the Toledo Woman Suffrage Association, 1876.

Williams. S. L.,  Angier, J. P., Fray, E. S., & Barker, M. J. (1876, April). Twenty millions of American citizens are denied all representation. The National Citizen and Ballot Box , p. 1.