Skip to main content
Search
Hero Image Loading

Local History Collections

Contact

Knox College Library

2 E. South Street

Galesburg, IL 61401

309-341-7392

specialcollections@​knox.edu

Annual Register's on a shelf in Seymour Library.

Galesburg postcardFrom the beginning to the events of just yesterday, the Local History Collection contains accounts of happenings in and around Knox County, with special attention to people, buildings, business and industries. Vintage photos, rare publications and pioneer accounts make this unique collection a valuable resource to local history researchers. Topics of local interest are often the subject of exhibits on campus and online. The Archives collects material related to the following subjects.

Knox County-Galesburg Publications
Illinois History
Illinois Counties
Knox County History
Knox County Communities
Knox County Founding
Knox College History
Galesburg History
Government
Schools
Churches
Music In Galesburg
Organizations
Ethnic History
People
Businesses
Industry
Railroads
Buildings & Places
Streets
Events
War

Some information from the Special Collections and Archives related to Galesburg and Knox County history is presented online. Please contact the staff in the Special Collections and Archives with specific questions about your research in local history.

 Read about the founding of Knox College and Galesburg

Official Program: Galesburg-Knox College Centenary, 1937 (pdf)

 Pioneer Honor Roll: A Pioneer Who's Who

Jerusha & Eli Farnham and the Loomis-Farnham Collection

Log City Days; Two narratives on the settlement of Galesburg, Illinois (pdf)

 Knox County in the military

A review of the commerce, manufactures, and the public & private improvements of Galesburg: containing a brief history of Knox college and sketches of the first settlement of the town. Compiled and written by C.J. Sellon, Galesburg: J. Sherman, 1857.

 

Books on Knox County HistoryBrief Reading List for Galesburg and Knox County History

Missionaries and Muckrakers: The First Hundred Years of Knox College, Hermann R. Muelder, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Illinois, 1984.

Fighters for Freedom: A History of Anti-Slavery Activities of Men and Women Associated with Knox College, Hermann R. Muelder, Columbia University Press, New York, 1959.

They Broke the Prairie, Ernest E. Calkins, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Illinois, 1989. First published for the Galesburg Centenary in 1937, They Broke the Prairie was reissued in 1989 with an introduction by Rodney O. Davis, Knox College professor of history emeritus and currently co-director of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox.

Knox College

https://www.knox.edu/library/special-collections-and-archives/local-history

Printed on Monday, March 18, 2024