Libraries

Oral Histories

Held in the WIU Special Collections (Mormon Collection)

Gnann, Merle: Tape 12
He discusses his grandfather's arrival in the region, family relationships with the Mormons, and Nauvoo in the second and third decades of the nineteenth century.
Interviewed June 29, 1979.

Van Dine, Warren: Tape 15
He discusses Alice Kibbe, his own life in Hancock County, his association with Prairie City publisher James Decker, his studies of Joseph Smith, his local weather records project, his cemetery project, Judge Charles Scofield, Senator Sidney Little, and Joseph Smith's legal counselors, author Rowena Califf of Carthage, and Joseph Smith's contact with John C. Calhoun.
Interviewed July 20, 1979.

Siegfreid, Mary: Tape 18
She discusses the Ellison Family--her ancestors, Denver, Illinois early in the century, her education at Carthage College from 1918-1922--including her recollections of Dr. Alice Kibbe, Judge Charles Scofield and his novels, Frances Gilchrist Wood, Siegfried's work as a local historian, Hancock County during the Mormon era, and the founding of Denver, Illinois.
Interviewed August 6, 1979.

Blum, Ida: Tape 26
She discusses her family background, her early life in Nauvoo, and her career as a local historian. She also discusses various aspects of Nauvoo history, from the Indian era to the present. Included are her comments on the reception of members of the Mormon Church when they came back to Nauvoo in recent times to do restoration.
Interviewed September 22, 1979.

Hallwas, Dr. John: Tape 111, side A
He presents a program on the Mormons to the McDonough County Historical Society. Dr. Hallwas is the former Director of Regional Collections at WIU.
Program recorded November 15, 1991.