BOOK REVIEW
By ANNA J. MERRITT

Ordinary people, everyday events

Windows to the Past: A Selection of Illinois
County Records from 1818 to 1880, by Dr. Roy C.
Turnbaugh Jr. with Robert E. Bailey, Illinois State Archives (1982).

ILLINOIS history buffs and students and teachers take note! Windows to the Past is a collection of facsimiles of 38 Illinois county records guaranteed to bring hours of delight as well as insight into our past. These are not the records of great events; rather they depict ordinary, everyday experience: for instance, a letter to a father announcing the death of a son in Nashville, Tenn., of typhoid fever on March 29, 1865, or the last will or testament of Adam Vogel dated February 18, 1854.

The documents are reproduced on 8½ x 14 buff-colored heavy paper (suitable for bulletin boards or even framing); a transcript is provided on the back of each one, a useful addition particularly in the case of handwritten statements that are difficult for our 20th century eyes to decipher; 19th century grammar and usage, and occasional misspellings have been retained. All the texts are reproduced again on plain white paper, and the authors have contributed a half dozen pages of historical background and a list of suggested further readings. For classroom use there is an explanation of each document, along with several words from the text that might require explanation or further discussion; finally, some points to consider are listed. For those who find these latter contributions inadequate, supplementary material can easily be added since the entire collection is contained in a loose-leaf notebook.

So, if you would like to know what the inmates of an almshouse ate in 1866 or who voted for President Andrew Jackson in Putnam County in 1832, hurry over to your local public high school which received a copy of this intriguing publication last fall. Copies are also available from the State Archives. □

Anna J. Merritt is the editor and a staff associate at the Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois, Urbana.

April 1983 | Illinois Issues | 31