 |
Home | Search | Browse | About IPO | Staff | Links |
|
Home | Search | Browse | About IPO | Staff | Links |
|
FEATURE ESSAY
I Remember: Irene Martin It all began with a telephone call almost fifty years ago. Dr. O. Fritiof Ander, professor of history at Augustana College in Rock Island and a member of the Illinois State Historical Society, had an idea that he wished to discuss with me. John Hauberg, also a member of the society and a Rock Island historian, had suggested at an earlier meeting that Illinois have a junior historical magazine. His suggestion had been accepted; now he and Ander wanted to put it into action. A teacher was needed to round out the experiment. Ander was familiar with my ninth grade unit in Illinois history, geography, and government that I taught at Central Junior High School in Rock Island. His senior students were doing their practice teaching with me. Would I be interested? A students' historical magazine! I did not need to think twice. I was teaching a double-period integrated course in English and Illinois history. Here was the ideal means to coordinate the two. A magazine by young people for young people! What an incentive for boys and girls to actually see their writing published! Ander, Hauberg, and I met to work out details. The name would be Illinois Junior Historian. There would be eight issues during the school year. Jay Monaghan, Illinois state historian and secretary-treasurer of the Illinois State Historical Society, had One of the highlights of Irene Martin's involvement with Illinois History was when her eighth-grade student, Marlene Langenstrass, was named a junior historian. Langenstrass is pictured in this 1955 photo receiving her award from Governor William G. Stratton.
ILLINOIS HISTORY / DECEMBER 1996 2
Adlai E. Stevenson was governor when Illinois History was inaugurated. Shown here with Governor Stevenson are five early junior historians.
assured us that the society would publish it. Ander, Monaghan, and I would be the editors. Ander would generate interest among the school administrators in Rock Island County. My job was to meet with social studies teachers, enlist their support, and spur my own ninth graders to write. Earl H. Hanson, superintendent of Rock Island schools, was supportive from the very beginning. The board of education underwrote a subscription for every seventh, eighth, and ninth grade student in Rock Island. This was a boost financially since the historical society had promised only $200 to get the project started. Each issue would be limited to a single topic. We decided the topics would be Indians, Pioneers, Geography and Resources, Transportation, Industries, Farming and Commerce, Our People and Their Contributions, Places of Interest, and Changes in Government. The advisory board included Amelia Traenkenschuh, director of curriculum in Rock Island, Floyd Shelter, Rock Island County superintendent of schools, and school superintendents in Rock Island County. Social studies teachers in the county were members of the editorial board with me as chair. During the summer, Hauberg, who enjoyed working with young people, took a group from Central and Washington junior highs on an overnight camping trip to Campbell's Island in the ILLINOIS HISTORY/DECEMBER 1996 3 middle of the Mississippi River. There he piqued their interest with stories of the Indians and early pioneers. During the summer, several of those students went to his home to learn more and get encouragement before writing their stories. At the same time I directed a workshop in state and local history at Augustana College. The two courses were Illinois Yesterday and Today and The Teaching of Illinois History. Classes consisted almost entirely of teachers in nearby counties. The first issue, September-October 1947, was a double one. There were eighteen contributions from Rock Island and a couple of drawings from Moline and East Moline. Several of the illustrated covers that year came from James Van Houten's art classes at Central Junior High. During the first year, there were problems, of course. I often corresponded with Monaghan, and I went to Springfield twice to discuss with the editors the quality of writing they could expect from junior-high authors. There were times when I was discouraged, but I had faith that the struggle was worth it because of the worthy purpose and a slowly growing participation by teachers and students. Our goal was to have students all over the state become a part of the project. To develop a wider interest, I accepted an invitation to speak on "Teaching Local History" at a meeting of the Mississippi Valley Social Studies Teachers conference. The speech was printed in the December issue of American Heritage, which gave Illinois Junior Historian wider recognition. Then in the spring of 1949, I spoke at a meeting of the Illinois Council of Social Studies Teachers in Chicago. This was my opportunity to generate state-wide interest among teachers. There was some response. The Alton schools contributed; I especially remember Elizabeth Barnes, a teacher there. The first awards were given in May 1949. Governor Adlai Stevenson presented the certificates in a little room next to his office. I do not remember the exact number; the room was not crowded. My affiliation was interrupted when I married in 1950 and went to live in Des Moines, Iowa. I was delighted that John Burhorn was named director of the junior historian program on a full-time basis. I left encouraged that our little magazine would survive. In 1953 my husband and I moved to the Chicago area, and I taught in the Lombard schools. My students again wrote and won awards for Illinois Junior Historian. An outstanding memory was when Marlene Langenstrass, an eighth grader, was named a junior historian of the year, one of thirty-eight. The select group was invited to Springfield for a special celebration. Her parents and I went. The meeting that year, 1955, was held in the large Centennial Building. There were 154 authors from all areas of the state. Governor Stratton presented the awards, and each recipient had his picture taken with the governor. Mrs. Stratton took all of us on a tour of the newly decorated executive mansion. I was convinced that the Illinois Junior Historian was a success and had a future. I retired from teaching in 1961 and lost contact with what had become Illinois History until quite recently when I moved to Lexington where there is an active history club. I attended the 1996 Illinois History Exposition, and I was amazed at the abundance of contributions, the quality of writing, and the creativity of the projects. It far surpasses any dream that we had fifty years ago. I am proud to have had a part in the birth and infancy of Illinois History. ILLINOIS HISTORY / DECEMBER 1996 4 |
|
|
