About Special Collections
The holdings of Library and Information Services special collections are curated and housed by subject area and include records, resources and materials related to the administrative history of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, collections of significance to southwestern Illinois, ragtime and jazz history from the St. Louis region, and music special collections.We seek to share our collections as broadly as possible and our special collections are open to everyone, including students, scholars, researchers, and interested members of the general public. We are also committed to increasing access to our collections through sustained and collaborative digitization effort that will allow our rare and unique materials to reach a larger audience.
Significant Collections
Louisa H. Bowen University Archives and Special Collections
Music Special Collections
National Ragtime and Jazz Archive
About Our Founders
Louisa H. Bowen
Louisa Hopkins Bowen, university archivist, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, died on Thursday, October 24, 1996, following a long struggle with pancreatic cancer. Bowen received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Skidmore College in 1972, a Master of Science degree in Library Science at Wayne State University in 1974, and a Master of Arts degree in history from New York University in 1982.
Bowen began her professional career by serving as Archivist at the Walter Reuther Library of Wayne State University from 1975 to 1976, before moving on to serve as Archivist for the National Board of the YWCA in New York City from 1976 to 1978. She next held the position of Cataloguer/Archivist at the University of Memphis from 1978 to 1980.
After relocating with her family to the St. Louis area, Ms. Bowen served for five years as Curator of Manuscripts at the Morris Library, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, before assuming the position of archivist at Lovejoy Library, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. From 1991 to 1993, Ms. Bowen served as Acting Director for Undergraduate Assessment and Program Review in SIUE's Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
Long active in both her profession and her community, Bowen was a member of the Society of American Archivists, the Midwest Archives Conference, and was a past president of the Association of St. Louis Area Archivists. She was a contributor to the American Archivist and to the Midwest Archivist.
To honor her memory, the university archives and special collections unit of Lovejoy Library, was renamed for Louisa Bowen at a ceremony held on January 9, 1997. In addition, the Midwest Archives Conference has named its graduate student financial award the Louisa Bowen Graduate Scholarship.
John Cushman Abbott
4/12/21 - 1/3/05
John Cushman Abbott, the man who guided the establishment of library services at SIUE, died in Chicago on Jan. 3. He joined the university in 1960 as head librarian for the Southwestern Illinois Campus, with the responsibility of coordinating the two residence center libraries in Alton and East St. Louis.
As the process of acquiring properties for the new Edwardsville location moved forward, Abbott quickly set up a library technical services facility in a campus tract house on Bluff Road and a larger temporary library unit in what was known as SIUE's Wagner Complex in Edwardsville.
Abbott participated in the planning and design of the new central library structure (Lovejoy Library), selected and supervised the library faculty and staff, and directed the acquisition of materials to support teaching and research at the new university.
Subsequent to the opening of Lovejoy Library when the campus began operation in September 1965, Abbott's title was changed to director. The University Administrative Council decentralized the SIU library structure on Jan. 21, 1971, and Abbott as director of Lovejoy Library began to report to the chancellor of SIUE.
For 21 years, Abbott served as the key decision-maker in library matters at SIUE. He retired as director in 1981, becoming head of special collections. Upon retirement from the University In 1986, Abbott accepted the part-time role of special collections librarian. Freed from his administrative duties as director, Abbott turned his full energies to the acquisition of rare books and historical manuscripts, often at his own expense. He succeeded in fostering the establishment of a university archives within Lovejoy Library as well.
Throughout his career as a professional librarian at Lovejoy Library, Abbott promoted the acquisition of state and local history materials. Thanks largely to his efforts, Lovejoy Library today enjoys significant holdings of such materials in its rare book and university archives collections.
He also was author and editor of several works relating to regional history and was a passionate advocate for preservation of the natural and built environments of Southwestern Illinois.
Abbott was an assistant at the Library of Congress from 1951-54 and a librarian at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, for five years before coming to SIU. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II as a second lieutenant.
Abbot earned a baccalaureate in history at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, in 1943; a master's in history at Syracuse University in New York in 1949; a master of Library Science the following year and a doctorate in library science in 1957, both at the University of Michigan.
A memorial service will be conducted at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 8, at the SIUE Religious Center. Memorials may be made to the John C. Abbott Library Endowment; make checks payable to the SIUE Foundation, SIUE, Edwardsville, IL 62026-1082. For more information, call David Cassens, (618) 650-2714.
Greg Conroy and Steve Kerber provided the information for this article.
Elijah P. Lovejoy
Elijah Parish Lovejoy was born in Albion, Maine, on November 9, 1802, the son of a clergyman. After graduating from Colby (then Waterville) College at the head of his class in 1826, Lovejoy taught school in nearby China, Maine, for one year. In 1827, he set off for the West to establish himself and eventually made his way to St. Louis, Missouri. Lovejoy taught at St. Louis for two years. He then became a successful newspaperman, making his living by editing a typical paper of that time. However, prompted by a conversion experience during a revival, Lovejoy abruptly returned to the East early in 1832, and enrolled at the Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey, the training ground for most Presbyterian ministers. Lovejoy completed his theological training in thirteen months, and hastily journeyed back to St. Louis to combine religion with journalism.
Back in Missouri, Lovejoy gradually became a vocal opponent of slavery in his newspaper writings. His editorials aroused opposition, to the extent that Lovejoy soon found it prudent to relocate his family and press across the Mississippi River to Alton, Illinois in 1836. But his evolution as a fervent abolitionist or advocate of immediate emancipation for the slaves made Lovejoy very unpopular with many Alton residents as well. His press was destroyed on three occasions, but Lovejoy refused to restrain his opinions. Lovejoy was murdered by a proslavery Alton mob while defending a fourth press on November 7, 1837. His violent death greatly stimulated abolitionist feeling throughout the North.
Today, Lovejoy is regarded as a martyr in the cause of freedom of the press. The library building at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville is named in honor of Elijah Parish Lovejoy.
Colby College, his alma mater, celebrates Lovejoy's life each year. The Elijah Parish Lovejoy Journalism Award is given to a reporter, editor, or journalist of outstanding achievement. The most recent Lovejoy Convocation Address is made available online at the homepage of the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Journalism Award at Colby College. Lovejoy materials are preserved by the Special Collections unit of the Miller Library at Colby College.
Perhaps the most significant assemblage of Elijah Lovejoy materials in existence is to be found in the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at Texas Tech University Libraries in Lubbock, Texas.
The papers of Elijah Lovejoy's brother, abolitionist Illinois Congressman Owen Lovejoy, are held by the William L. Clements Library Manuscript Division at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The Owen Lovejoy Homestead in Princeton, Illinois, a stop on the underground railway to freedom for escaped slaves, is preserved as a museum.
The Old Guys
Standing back, L-R: Warren Brown, clarinet; Ray Helsel, acoustic bass guitar; Lyman "Zeke" Holden, tuba and piano.
Seated, L-R: W. Deane Wiley, trombone; Jim Hansen, drums; Dan Havens, cornet; John "Jack" Ades, banjo; Bill Feeney, piano; Jean Kittrell, piano and vocals.
This photograph of the band was taken in 1979. The Old Guys Jazz Band raised funds to help establish the National Ragtime and Jazz Archive, in 1974.
Since its inception, many dedicated musicians and members of the University community have donated time, funds and materials to develop the National Ragtime and Jazz Archive (NRJA). A group of SIUE faculty members formed a jazz and ragtime band called the "Old Guys." Included in the group were W. Deane Wiley, Dan Havens, Ray Helsel, Jack Ades, Lyman "Zeke" Holden, Warren Brown, and the ever-popular Dixieland pianist and vocalist, Jean Kittrell. The Old Guys performed benefit concerts and issued three recordings which have been sold to further benefit the NRJA. Two albums in particular, Hot Ginger and Dynamite and Jazz In the Parlor, have been well-received. CD copies can be purchased at Lovejoy Library for $15.00 each to support the NRJA.
Contact Information
For inquiries related to University Archives and Special Collections and Rare Books, please contact:
Marcella Lees
Digital Archivist
618-650-3670
tdickma@siue.edu
Office: LL0014 (in the Louisa H. Bowen University Archives & Special Collections)
Mitchell Haas
Online Learning Librarian
618-650-2766
mhaas@siue.edu
Office: LL1051
For inquiries related to Music Special Collections and the National Ragtime and Jazz Archive, please contact:
Therese Dickman
Fine Arts Librarian
(618) 650-2695
tdickma@siue.edu
Donating to Special Collections
The Louisa H. Bowen University Archives and Special Collections gratefully accepts gifts of materials that document the history of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and of the region. Gifts of materials to Lovejoy Library are coordinated and accepted through the Friends of Lovejoy Library, who can be contacted at (618) 650-2714.
For more information about the process of donating papers, materials, and collections to an archive or special collection, visit the resources, A Guide to Deeds of Gift and Donating Your Personal or Family Records to a Repository, available through the Society of American Archivists (SAA).
