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BOOK REVIEW
By ROBERT P. HOWARD
An uneven history of Illinois, 1899-1928
Donald F. Tingley. The Structuring of a State: The History of Illinois, 1899-1928. Sesquicentennial History of Illinois, vol. 5. Illinois Sesquicentennial Commission and Illinois State Historical Society. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1980. Pp. viii, 431. $20.
IN THIS overdue Sesquicentennial volume, Donald F. Tingley, a social historian at Eastern Illinois University, deals with the three decades between the Spanish-American War and the Depression. He has produced a valuable reference book covering such topics as education, culture, the oppression of blacks, wages and strikes of working men, the careers of multimillionaires and the "red scare" during the first war.
As a Ph.D. in good standing, Tingley gives extra weight to information from primary sources, such as newspapers, government documents and personal memoirs. When he is outside his field of specialty he substitutes incidents for the flow of history. The result is an uneven book. He doesn't narrate some important political conflicts and overlooks some key forces. For example, there is no mention of the Anti-Saloon League. The name of Al Capone appears only twice. Tingley disapproves of the American Legion and does not describe its colorful prominence. He has a bias against the Farm Bureau and seemingly never heard of Earl C. Smith, the strong man of the Illinois Agricultural Association.
John H. Keiser, Eastern Illinois University labor historian turned university president, did a more interesting and well-rounded job with the preceding Sesquicentennial volume on the post-Civil War period. The final volume still is being written by Dr. Arvarh E. Strickland, now with the University of Missouri.
Robert P. Howard, retired State House correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, is author of Illinois: A History of the Prairie State.
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BOOK REVIEW
By JOHN W. AHLEN
Science and the state
Robert G. Hays. State Science in Illinois: The Scientific Surveys, 1850-1978. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1980. Pp. 270. $15.
MANY people believe that government science began with weapons research during World War II, and that it has only been since the 1950's that any attention has been given to the scientific activities of the states. Robert G. Hays illustrates the inaccuracy of this belief in his well-detailed book, State Science in Illinois: The Scientific Surveys, 1850-1978.
The three surveys are the Geological Survey, the Natural History Survey and the Water Survey. Hays traces their independent development from Gov. Augustus C. French's call for a geological survey of Illinois in 1851, through their amalgamation into the Department of Registration and Education in 1917, and culminates with their assignment in 1979 to the newly created Illinois Institute of Natural Resources.
Throughout their development, the surveys have had close ties with state universities (especially the University of Illinois) and have been under the leadership of dedicated chiefs such as Stephen A. Forbes, the father of ecology, who led the Natural History Survey from 1872 to 1930.
The book focuses mainly on people and projects. Hays discusses, for instance, the role that John Wesley Powell played in developing the Natural History Society Museum. In late 1866, Powell addressed the Illinois General Assembly several times, telling the legislators about the Natural History Society, its mission, collections and value to the state. The following year the General Assembly appropriated funds for a full-time curator for the Natural History Society Museum. Powell was named to the post and later gained national fame for his daring 1869 journey through the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River — a journey financed largely by Illinois taxpayers.
State Science in Illinois is crammed with facts and provides unique insights into the history of Illinois and its scientific surveys. While its meticulous presentation probably makes it inappropriate for a general audience, this book will be of interest to students of government, history and science.
John W. Ahlen directs the science staff of the Illinois Legislative Council.
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