Director of libraries. University of Colorado at Boulder, he was formerly director of libraries at Northern Illinois University.
Portrait of Illinois:
Transitions after the Civil War DR. JOHN H. Keiser has written an excellent book about a critical period in the history of Illinois. It is a mark not only of his considerable ability, but of his determination that he was able to produce the manuscript for this book while serving full- time as academic vice president of Sangamon State University, Springfield. Slightly more than 60 years ago, the Illinois Centennial Commission decided to produce an authoritative history of Illinois as a part of their program to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Illinois statehood. The six-volume Centennial History of Illinois, which was published between 1917 and 1920, was quickly recognized as the major, multi-volume history of Illinois. Fifty years later, the Illinois Sesquicentennial Commission, aware of the substantial body of scholarship that had been produced in the intervening years, but also cognizant of the need to study more contemporary events, decided to improve and expand the Centennial History of Illinois by commissioning three new volumes which, when added to the earlier work would constitute a Sesquicentennial History of Illinois. Dr. Keiser's book is to be volume 4 (the others are yet to be published).
From rural to industrial He has used a wide variety of original sources from the Illinois State Historical Library, including but not limited to the papers of Sidney Breese, Shelby M. Cullom, Joseph W. Fifer, Richard Oglesby, Lyman Trumbull, Richard Yates and John P. Altgeld, as well as government documents, autobiographies, collected works, newspapers and reference materials. Secondary works which are listed in his extensive bibliography total almost 400 additional citations. From these sources he has selected with perception and restraint the major events of the period and also has identified trends which contributed to the development ment of the state from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of the 20th century.
More machines, fewer men Altogether, an immense amount of factual information has been included in Building for the Centuries, so much information that only an author as skillful as Dr. Keiser could prevent the book from being little more than a dull and unrewarding stringing-together of bits and pieces of factual information. It is perhaps of interest to note that the original fourth volume of the Centennial History (Ernest L. Bogart and Charles M. Thompson, The Industrial State 1870-1893, Springfield: published by the Illinois Centennial Commission, 1920), which covers a somewhat smaller time span, found it was necessary to have 20 chapters in order to review much of the same material.
Transition in values
Changing times Building for the Centuries: lllinois, 1865 to 1898 is an important book and I recommend it to everyone interested in Illinois history. 36/ March 1978/ Illinois Issues |
Sam S. Manivong, Illinois Periodicals Online Coordinator |