Letter from the past

Last fall ISHS member Brent Wielt, Historic Sites Manager for the Macon County Conservation District, called to say that he had made an interesting purchase on E-Bay, the online market for virtually everything, including historical manuscripts and curiosities. Wielt said that he had bought an original letter from Dr. John F. Snyder, the first vice-president and second president of the Illinois State Historical Society, written in 1900 and penned on original ISHS stationery. The handwritten letter, Wielt noted, was addressed to Peoria Judge and Society director David McCullough, and outlined Snyder's hopes for the fledgling organization in the coming months and years.

In February, Wielt dropped by the Society's office in Springfield and donated the letter. "I couldn't think of a better repository," Wielt said.

The letter, dated May 28, 1900, and postmarked Virginia, Illinois [Snyder's home], begins with a series of questions:

"My Dear Sir:

Can you give me the date of death of Governor Ford's wife? Is it definitely known what finally became of his son? Is his daughter yet living?" The author goes on to details the proceedings of the Society's recent "exercises" in Springfield, whereby the organization officially was incorporated, its location permanently established in the capital city, and "arrangements" made for "a rousing annual meeting of the Historical Society at Springfield" the following year.

Snyder—an educator, amateur archaeologist, author, and former Confederate soldier— notes that the Society had recently received "an armful of manuscripts, papers, etc., as a nucleus for our Society archives, and are anxious to secure everything we can in the way of documents bearing up the History of our State, with the view of future publication." He concludes the letter by asking Judge McCullough for his suggestions concerning the 1901 program: "[W]e want to make that meeting interesting and attractive; and so conduct it as to let the people of Illinois know that the State Historical Society has a solid basis, and is a permanent institution."

Snyder's letter and the envelope it came in will be cleaned, framed, and displayed prominently in the Society's offices.

—William Furry

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