Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Illinois: A Descriptive and Historical Guide
Each OF the major volumes in the American Guide Series is a portrait of a State, in which history and tradition are blended with present-day effort and achievement. Collectively these books afford a clearer and more complete picture of American life than has ever before been attempted. Each individual State guide makes a rich contribution to a more profound appreciation of the State by its own citizens, as well as to the knowledge and understanding of the State by others.
A portrait of Illinois, at once historical and contemporary, on the scale called for in the American Guide Series, would have been a wholly impossible task without the generous co-operation of the people of the State. Literally thousands of persons have helped in the making of this book. Business men, teachers and clergymen, news paper editors, local historians, 'farmers - men and women representing every phase of Illinois life - have given freely of their time and effort, in personal interviews and special investigation, to make the Illinois Guide as complete as limitations of space would permit, and as accu rate as possible. I have no doubt that in spite of the help of these many friends and of our own earnest endeavor, some mistakes occur among the many thousands of statements of fact in this volume. I shall welcome corrections, which will be embodied in subsequent editions.
As official sponsor, author of the essay on Abraham Lincoln, and generous friend of the whole enterprise, Governor Henry Horner has made a contribution of paramount importance to this book of Illinois. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to him, and also to Lieutenant Governor John Stelle, for courtesies extended during his services as Acting Governor of the State. To Paul M. Angle, Secretary, Illinois State Historical Society, and A. L. Sloan of the staff of the Chicago Evening American, who have read the entire manuscript, I am deeply grateful.
Though it is impossible to mention here all of those who have shared in building the Illinois Guide, I wish to express on behalf of the editorial staff of the Federal Writers' Project our very real sense of obligation to each of these persons. We are especially appreciative.
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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
