The museum and library will be closing its doors to the public until further notice due to the Corona Virus. All scheduled events through April are canceled and will be rescheduled at a later date. Sorry for the inconvenience it may cause but most of our patrons are senior.
Digital Obituaries that fell in the time period of September 2019 through December 2019 have been added to our Master Obituaries index list.
Brian L. Alvis, guest speaker
The Williamson County Historical Society held its first quarterly meeting on January 26th, 2020 at 2 P.M. at the society’s museum and library located at 105 S. Van Buren St. in Marion. President, Sam Lattuca, reported recent and ongoing projects to the membership and revealed a number of recently restored historical objects that have now been placed on display at the museum. An historical marker for the Creal Springs turn of the century resort business is planned in March with a date yet to be announced and a military marker placed at the grave of revolutionary war veteran John Ellis will be dedicated in June. Lattuca presented a number of historical artifacts that belong to the museum and some details about their use and origins.
The speaker for the event was Brian L. Alvis and his photographer wife, Robbie Edwards. Brian and Robbie operate a Mt. Vernon photography business and recently completed publication of a book entitled, “Bootlegger.” The book weaves local Southern Illinois bootlegging history and gang activity into a fictional account inspired by stories based on local lore. Brian and Robbie spent considerable time rounding up musicians, enactors and genuine artifacts from the 1920’s to visually portray the events that unfold in the book.
WCHS Members,
We will be holding a membership meeting here at the museum on Sunday, January 26th, 2020, at 2:00 P.M. We will be discussing society business as well as completed, ongoing and future projects. If you have a show & tell item, feel free to bring it and tell us about it. The program will be presented by author, Brian Alvis and will be talking about bootleggers during prohibition.
Membership dues for 2020 are currently due and are still $20 per year. If you look at the mailing label on the front of this card there will be a year date that reflects the year you are paid up to. The date should read 2020 or higher. Any questions can be addressed by calling 618-997-5863 on Saturdays or emailing us at wchsmail@yahoo.com.
We look forward to seeing you at the meeting.
Two Items have been added to our master indexes, church records from St. Paul’s UCC Church in Johnston City that existed from 1898 till 1990 and newspaper clippings from the Johnston City Progress newspaper from 1924 to 1937 which consists primarily of marriage announcements. The church records were added under the Master Misc. County Records Index as 1898-1990 St. Pauls UCC Records and the Johnston City Progress clippings were added under the Master Newspapers Index under 1924-37 JCP Clippings.