Many interesting additions to the Library’s collection of non-current newspaper files were made during the first quarter of 1918. By far the most important is the Illinois Intelligencer, published at Kaskaskia and (later) Vandalia, for the years 1817-31. This paper was the first to be published in Illinois, its name in the beginning being the Illinois Herald. Through the courtesy of the University of Illinois Library our Society has been afforded the opportunity to make a photostatic reproduction of the file for the fourteen years included in the period noted. From the widow of the founder and publisher, Rev. I. L. Hauser, has been received the file for the first five years, 1869-74, of the Milwaukee Index, later and better known as the Christian Statesman. Other Wisconsin files acquired include the Algoma Record, 1910-18, and six issues (out of a total of ten published) of the Bugle Blast, Lake Mills’ first newspaper. From Minnesota has come a complete file of the short-lived Winona Daily News, published from September 14 to October 7, 1916. Other files from without the state include: Lawrenceburg Indiana Palladium, April-December, 1825; Indianapolis Locomotive, 1850-52; Logansport Journal, April-December, 1864; Cincinnati Brauerei Arbeiter Zeitung, 1910-17; Baltimore Manufacturers Record, 1916-18; New
York Army and Navy Journal, 1902-10; New York Fatherland, 1914-17; Tokyo Japan Mail, 1915-17.
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Through the agency of the historical committee of the Congregational Church in Wisconsin an important collection of yearbooks, church periodicals, pamphlets, books, and other material on Congregationalism, which had been gathered at the business headquarters of the church in Madison, has been turned over to the State Historical Society. Much of the collection thus received duplicates material already owned by the Library; it will go in due time to swell the resources of some sister institution which lacks and needs it. The remainder constitutes a welcome addition to our own important collection of material in the field of Congregational church history. Thus another step is taken in the process of making the State Historical Library the repository of all available material pertaining to the history of the several religious denominations of Wisconsin. For the latest acquisition particular obligation is acknowledged to Rev. John N. Davidson, Rev. S. T. Kidder, and Rev. Henry A. Miner, Congregational ministers, all of Madison. Their active and intelligent interest in making the sources of their denominational history accessible to scholars is worthy of emulation. Who will be next to “come across” on behalf of his own denomination?
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Mrs. Anna Roberts Beagle, of Menomonie, has presented the Society with three interesting family heirlooms. One is a Welsh Bible brought to America in 1817 by her father, Richard Roberts, who in later life was for many years a resident and justice of the peace at Menomonie. Another is a sword carried by her father’s brother, Daniel Roberts, in the War of 1812. The third is an English hunting knife brought from England in 1817, which according to the tradition of the family has been in its possession for many generations.
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From Fred M. Griswold of Lake Mills have been received six issues of the Lake Mills Bugle Blast, publication of which as a monthly was begun in December, 1863. Mr. Griswold states that the Bugle Blast was Lake Mills’ first paper, and that only ten issues were published in all. It was a modest sheet, put out, apparently, in spare time by the proprietor, who also played the rôles of editor and devil as well. The annual subscription price was twenty-five cents at first, but before long the cost of materials compelled an increase to thirty cents. The file which Mr. Griswold has presented constitutes an interesting addition to the Society’s collection of Wisconsin newspapers.
During the month of March, a special exhibit of Dutch war cartoons, lent for the purpose by Prof. Arnold Dresden, was made in the State Historical Museum. They accompanied the issues of the newspaper De Nieuwe Amsterdamer, and are the work of the famous Dutch cartoonists, P. Vanderham, Willy Sluiter, and Jan Sluyters. The cartoons measure 12½ by 19 inches in size and nearly all of them are printed in colors. They deal with such subjects as the German war horrors, war conditions in Holland, the neutrals, and peace. The most striking of the latter class is one in which the Angel of Peace is seen stooping over the world, which, porcupine-like, is completely covered with protruding bayonets. The translated inscription reads: “I do not find a spot where I can take hold of him.”