Author: Sam

We have added a list of all of our newspaper archives and microfilm inventory to our website. We offer several decades of the Marion Daily Republican and Johnston City Progress archives and approximately 120 microfilms. Links to these resources can be found on our Library Resources Page

With the latest addition of the Creal Springs book, our website now contains over 410,000 index references from 175 of our most referenced books available online. When added to 97,000 court case references, we now offer over half a million references available to the public on our website.

Access our records by clicking on the Records tab on any page.

The index to the booklet put together related to the City of Creal Springs has been added to our Master Local History Index on our site. The booklet contains newspaper clippings, history articles that have been written and numerous photos of Creal Springs. Considerable information related to articles written about the Ozark Hotel and the Creal Springs College is included.

In 1964, the county held a 125 year Quasqui-centennial event in Marion and produced a souvenir program book to accompany the event. The book index has been added to our website in the Master Local History Index.

In 1939, Williamson County Illinois celebrated its 100th anniversary so a centennial celebration was organized. This souvenir program was published and sold during the centennial and contains some historical data, names and business advertisers of the year 1939. Its index has now been added to the Master Local History Index on our site.

A booklet was published in 1926 by the Herrin Lion’s Club to sway the state and national attitudes about Williamson County and Herrin due to the large number of negative ads related to the KKK, prohibition violations and gang warfare that had been appearing in national papers. The booklet was intended to point out the positive points of our county and towns therein including Herrin, Marion, Carterville and Johnston City as well as convince state Lions Clubs to hold a state convention in Herrin. The booklet is naturally focused on business, infrastructure, schools and churches. The index has been added to our Master Local History Index.

The index to the promotional booklet “Marion, The Opportunity City” published in 1913 by the Marion Board of Trades has been added to the Master Local History Index on our site. The booklet was published to promote area business particularly Marion but also includes businesses in Johnston City, Herrin and Carterville. The obvious emphasis in the booklet is on the coal mining industry and lists all active mines at the time of publication in 1913. The booklet has since been republished and is for sale under the title “Williamson County, The Heart of Egypt.”

The index to the book “They Are not Forgotten, Men of Johnston City Who died in Uniform” put together by Bill Hampsey and Helen Lind in 2008 has been posted to the Master Military Index.

The Jefferson School fifth grade classes of Kelly Williamson and Wendy Goodman toured the Williamson County Museum this morning, Tuesday, May 22, 2018. The students watched a 25 min video about our Southern Illinois Native American Past and then looked around the museum to discover how things were done in earlier days.

Two new indexes have been added to our website. The first is “Soldiers Buried in Williamson County” that was added to the Master Military Index.

The second book is Letters from the Past, published by Mary Jo Moore in 1999. This book is a set of correspondence generated mostly by Barbara Barr Hubbs from 1936 to locals seeking information in preparation for her then unpublished book, “Pioneer Folks and Place.” The book contains many references to local people and places in the county. The index was added to our Master Local History index.