Matthew T. Scott papers, 1831-1930.
Collection Number: 330
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
Matthew T. Scott papers, 1831-1930.
Repository:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Collection Number:
330
Abstract:
A collection of business documents relating to the establishment and development of
a 55,000-acre frontier estate in Illinois and a 5,000-acre estate in Iowa, by Matthew
T. Scott, Jr., of Lexington, Kentucky, the Scott family and other partners. Notebooks
and papers dating from 1852 describe purchases, acquisitions and sales of land and
the development costs and crop yields of frontier farms.
Creator:
Scott, Matthew T., 1828-1891.
Quanitities:
4.5 cubic feet.
Language:
Collection material in English
During the decade preceding the Civil War, Matthew T. Scott, Jr., son of a prominent
Lexington, Kentucky banker, became the principal figure in a series of investments
made by the Scott family and their partners in Illinois and Iowa land by purchases
from the federal government, private individuals, and the Illinois Central Railroad.
Scott established himself in the midst of the holdings in McLean County, Illinois
as a frontier landlord. In 1856 he laid out the town of Chenoa at the intersection
of the Chicago, Alton, and St. Louis Railroad with the Toledo, Peoria, and Warsaw.
He founded the McLean County Coal Company at Bloomington, Illinois in conjunction
with Adlai Ewing Stevenson and others and established the Bloomington Bulletin, a Democratic daily. Upon Scott's death in 1891, Mrs. Julia Green Scott inherited
the lands and took an active part in management of the holdings. She also became prominent
in her work for the Daughters of the American Revolution, serving as president general
of the organization from 1909-1913. Upon her death in 1923, the original holdings,
diminished to some 8,650 acres, became the property of her daughters, Mrs. Carl S.
Vrooman and Mrs. Charles S. Bromwell.
A collection of business diaries, letters, rental agreements, deeds, abstracts of
title, contracts, promissory notes, tax receipts relating to the establishment and
development of a 55,000-acre frontier estate in McLean, Livingston, Ford, Piatt, Coles,
Champaign, Iroquois, Vermillion, Woodford, LaSalle, and Macon Counties, Illinois,
and a 5,000-acre estate in Mills, Monona, Montgomery, Calhoun, and Cass Counties,
Iowa, by Matthew T. Scott, Jr., of Lexington, Kentucky, acting in conjunction with
various members of the Scott family and James Robbins, Stephen Swift, George W. Brand,
William H. Latham, Richard and Joel Higgins, James Suydam, Courtney Pickett, and Samuel
P. Humphreys. Earliest papers dated 1831 include two letters written by Rev. Lewis
W. Green as a student at Yale and at the Theological Seminary, Princeton, to Willis
Green of Danville, Kentucky. Notebooks and papers dating from 1852 describe in detail
entries of land from the Federal Government, purchases from private individuals, purchase
and sale of land warrants, development of tenant farms in McLean County, costs of
breaking prairie, construction of houses, fences, well digging, planting of fruit
trees, purchase of farm equipment, seed, stock, hiring of farm hands, and records
of crop yields. Also, information on development of Chenoa, the partnerships between
Scott and others, financial agreements, tax difficulties, land sales, and rental agreements.
The collection includes three long series of letters from agents who managed the
land for Mrs. Scott after her husband's death, showing problems of farm development,
management, and tenant-landlord-agent relationships. Corporate papers, bylaws, charters,
deeds, leases, statements of dividends, contracts and agreements with local labor
unions and the Standard Oil Company, relate to the business of the McLean County Coal
Company, Bloomington, Illinois, 1866-1928. Also, letters concerning the work of Mrs.
Scott with the D.A.R., 1909-1913.
INFORMATION FOR USERS
Matthew T. Scott papers, #330. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell
University Library.
Names:
Brand, George W.
Green, Lewis W.
Green, Willis.
Higgins, Joel.
Higgins, Richard.
Humphreys, Samuel P.
Latham, William H.
Pickett, Courtney.
Robbins, James.
Vrooman, Julia Scott.
Stevenson, Adlai Ewing.
Suydam, James.
Swift, Stephen.
Scott family.
Daughters of the American Revolution
McLean County Coal Company
Standard Oil Company
Subjects:
Women -- Societies and clubs.
Women in agriculture.
Real property, Exchange of.
Petroleum industry and trade.
Landlord and tenant.
Land tenure.
Land settlement.
Labor contract.
Frontier and pioneer life.
Farm tenancy.
Farm rents.
Farm management.
Crop yields.
Coal.
Agriculture -- Illinois.
Form and Genre Terms:
Leases.
Diaries.
Deeds.
Contracts.
CONTAINER LIST
Container
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Description
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Date
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Correspondence
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General Correspondence
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Box 1 |
1831-1969
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1831-1869 | |
Box 2 |
1870-1890
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1870-1890 | |
Box 3 |
1891-1903
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1891-1903 | |
Box 4 |
1904-1906
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1904-1906 | |
Box 5 |
1907-1909
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1907-1909 | |
Letters from Julia Scott to Lewis Stevenson
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Box 5 | Dec. 10, 1909 | ||
Box 6 | Jan. 19, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Feb. 2, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Feb. 5, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Feb. 14, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Feb. 17, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Apr. 1, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Apr. 12, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | July 29, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Aug. 22, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Aug. 23, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Oct. 3, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Oct. 4, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Oct. 8, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Nov. 2, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Nov. 14, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Nov. 18, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Nov. 19, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Dec. 8, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Dec. 28, 1910 | ||
Box 6 |
Thurs. 30 (filed in Dec. 1910)
|
Thurs. 30 | |
Box 6 | Undated (filed in Dec. 1910) | ||
Box 6 | Feb. 3, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | Mar. 1, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | Mar. 18, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | Apr. 4, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | May 4, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | May 13, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | May 22, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | June 2, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | June 10, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | June 23, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | June 28, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | July 1, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | July 6, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | July 13, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | July 27, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | Aug. 14, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | Aug. 21, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | Sept. 7, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | Sept. 18, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | Oct. 15, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | Nov. 12, 1911 | ||
Box 6 | Dec. 1, 1911 | ||
Box 7 | Jan. 16, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Feb. 10, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Feb. 11, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Feb. 20, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Feb. 28, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Mar. 14, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Mar. 20, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Mar. 21, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Apr. 7, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Apr. 25, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Apr. 30, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | June 11, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | June 20, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | June 29, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | July 12, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | July 17, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | July 31, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Aug. 13, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Sept. 6, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Sept. 21, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Sept. 27, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Dec. 2, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Dec. 12, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Dec. 28, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Dec. 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Jan. 21, 1913 | ||
Box 7 | Feb. 24, 1913 | ||
Box 7 | Mar. 14, 1913 | ||
Box 7 | Mar. 24, 1913 | ||
Box 7 | Mar. 28, 1913 | ||
Box 7 | Apr. 6, 1913 | ||
Box 7 | May 2, 1913 | ||
Box 7 | Aug. 6, 1913 | ||
Box 8 | Sept. 29, 1914 | ||
Box 8 | Dec. 31, 1914 | ||
Box 8 | Jan. 4, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Jan. 5, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Feb. 1, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Feb. 3, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Feb. 4, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Feb. 13, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Feb. 22, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Feb. 26, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Mar. 4, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Mar. 6, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | June 8, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | June 16, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | July 10, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | July 12, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Undated, postmarked July 13, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | July 15, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | July 19, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Aug. 10, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Sept. 6, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Sept. 10, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Sept. 11, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Sept. 18, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Sept. 28, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Oct. 8, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Oct. 12, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Oct. 28, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Nov. 2, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Dec. 31, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Jan. 28, 1916 | ||
Box 8 | Feb. 2, 1916 | ||
Box 8 | Feb. 24, 1916 | ||
Box 8 | Undated, filed at end of Feb. 1916 | ||
Box 8 | Mar. 1, 1916 | ||
Box 8 | Mar. 6, 1916 | ||
Box 8 | Mar. 10, 1916 | ||
Box 8 | Mar. 17, 1916 | ||
Box 8 | Apr. 4, 1916 | ||
Box 8 | Apr. 6, 1916 | ||
Box 8 | Apr. 9, 1916 | ||
Letters from Lewis Stevenson to Julia Scott
|
1910-1920undated | ||
Box 6 | Sept. 12, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Sept. 23, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Sept. 26, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Oct. 5, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Oct. 7, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Oct. 15, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Oct. 18, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Oct. 20, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Oct. 17, 1910 (clipped to Oct. 20 letter) | ||
Box 6 | Nov. 8, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Nov. 9, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Nov. 16, 1910 | ||
Box 6 | Dec. 19, 1910 | ||
Box 7 | Feb. 12, 1911 | ||
Box 7 | Mar. 1, 1911 | ||
Box 7 | Mar. 7, 1911 | ||
Box 7 | Mar. 25, 1911 | ||
Box 7 | Apr. 7, 1911 | ||
Box 7 | Apr. 29, 1911 | ||
Box 7 | May 6, 1911 | ||
Box 7 | May 11, 1911 | ||
Box 7 | May 13, 1911 | ||
Box 7 | May 19, 1911 | ||
Box 7 | June 18, 1911 | ||
Box 7 | July 1911, clipped to letter dated July 15 | ||
Box 7 | July 1911 (dated Sunday) | ||
Box 7 | Oct. 5, 1911 | ||
Box 7 | Oct. 13, 1911 | ||
Box 7 | Oct. 17, 1911 | ||
Box 7 | Nov. 28, 1911 | ||
Box 7 | Thanksgiving Day, 1911 | ||
Box 7 | Dec. 4, 1911 | ||
Box 7 | Dec. 9, 1911 | ||
Box 7 | Mar. 4, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Mar. 5, 1912, clipped to Mar. 14 | ||
Box 7 | Mar. 6, 1912, clipped to Mar. 14 | ||
Box 7 | Mar. 14, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Mar. 24, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | July 7, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Aug. 31, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Sept. 1, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Sept. 3, 1912, clipped to undated Sunday letter | ||
Box 7 | Oct. 30, 1912 | ||
Box 7 | Jan. 7, 1913 | ||
Box 7 | Jan. 13, 1913 | ||
Box 7 | Mar. 10, 1913 | ||
Box 7 | Mar. 14, 1913 | ||
Box 7 | Mar. 21, 1913 | ||
Box 7 | Mar. 27, 1913 | ||
Box 7 | June 6, 1913 | ||
Box 7 | Aug. 7, 1913 | ||
Box 7 | Aug. 11, 1913 | ||
Box 7 | Aug. 17, 1913 | ||
Box 7 | Aug. 27, 1913 | ||
Box 7 | Aug. 27, 1913 | ||
Box 8 | Undated letter filed in Dec. 1914 | ||
Box 8 | Jan. 25, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Feb. 2, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Feb. 7, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Feb. 26, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Mar. 2, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Mar. 4, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Mar. 21, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Apr. 14, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Apr. 16, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Apr. 20, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | July 10, 1915 | ||
Box 8 | Feb. 4, 1916 (fragment) | ||
Box 8 | Mar. 22, 1916 | ||
Box 8 | Mar. 31, 1916 | ||
Box 8 | Apr. 5, 1916 (fragment) | ||
Box 8 | Apr. 24, 1916 (receipt) | ||
Box 8 | May 11, 1917 (receipt) | ||
Box 8 | Dec. 1919 | ||
Box 8 | Jan. 1, 1920 | ||
Box 8 | Jan. 31, 1920 | ||
Box 8 | Jan. 31, 1920 | ||
Box 8 | Apr. 7, 1920 | ||
Box 8 | May 21, 1920 | ||
Undated letters from Louis G. Stevenson to Julia Scott
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Box 8 |
On letterhead: Lewis G. Stevenson, Office, McLean County Coal Co., Bloomington, Ill.;
Wednesday
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Box 8 |
On letterhead: Galen Hall, Atlantic City, N.J.
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Box 8 |
On letterhead: The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
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Box 8 |
On letterhead: Lewis G. Stevenson, Secretary of State, State of Illinois, Springfield
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Box 8 |
On letterhead: Lewis G. Stevenson, Office, McLean County Coal Co., Bloomington, Ill.
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Box 8 |
On letterhead: The Battle Creek Sanitarium, Battle Creek, Mich.
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Box 8 |
On letterhead: The Battle Creek Sanitarium, Battle Creek, Mich.; dated Saturday
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Box 8 |
On letterhead: The New Leland, Springfield, Ill., 3/19/--
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Box 8 |
On letterhead: Lewis G. Stevenson, Office, McLean County Coal Co., Bloomington, Ill.;
possibly 1915 or 1917
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Box 8 |
"On train Saturday"
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Box 8 |
Dated Saturday
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Box 8 |
Dated Tuesday
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Box 8 |
Updated fragment, page 2 of a letter
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Additional Lewis G. Stevenson and Julia Scott items: general correspondence, contracts,
reports
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1910-1921 | ||
To Frank Cammbawgh
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Aug. 30, 1910 | ||
To Wilford Jennings
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Sept. 31?, 1910 | ||
To Board of Supervisors, Onawa, Iowa, copy; on bottom is written a note to "Aunt Julia"
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Oct. 17, 1910 | ||
To John Hughes
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Oct. 20, 1910 | ||
To George Brunskell
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Oct. 20, 1910 | ||
Copy - to W.B. Whiting
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Oct. 28, 1910 | ||
Plowing contract with J.A. Perley
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Nov. 2, 1910 | ||
List of LGS's traveling expenses
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Dec. 3, 1910 | ||
Letter, not addressed, on McLean County Coal Company letterhead
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Undated, filed at end of Dec. 1910 | ||
Copy - to Miss Elizabeth E. Poe
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Sept. 4, 1912 | ||
To Miss Poe
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Sept. 26, 1912 | ||
To Miss Poe
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Undated, possibly Sept. 1912 | ||
To Miss Poe
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Oct. 3, 1912 | ||
To James Jones
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Feb. 26, 1915 | ||
Copy - to J.F. DeGrief
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Jan. 31, 1920 | ||
Report of Scott Farms for Oct., Nov., and Dec. 1920 by Lewis G. Stevenson, Agent
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Jan. 1, 1921 | ||
Letter from Adlai E. Stevenson I to Julia Scott
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Sept. 2, 1912 | ||
Box 9 | Folder 7 |
Daughters of the American Revolution papers
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1914-1915 |
Box 10 | Folder 1-2 |
Correspondence regarding financial matters
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1916 |
Memorandum books, notebooks, and published material
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Box 9 |
In Memoriam: Matthew T. Scott
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1891 | |
Box 11 |
Memorandum book
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1859-1860 | |
Box 11 |
Memorandum book
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1860-1861 | |
Box 11 |
Memorandum book
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1856-1867 | |
Box 11 |
Notebook
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1852-1853 | |
Box 11 |
Notebook
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1855-1856 | |
Box 11 |
Memorandum book
|
1856-18583 | |
Box 11 |
Notebook
|
1858 | |
Volume 1 |
City Directory
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Volume 2 |
City Directory
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Volume 3 |
City Directory
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Volume 4 |
City Directory
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Volume 5 |
City Directory
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Vrooman Family Papers
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Box 9 | Folder 1-2 |
Correspondence and Financial papers
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1931-1945 |
Box 9 | Folder 3 |
McClean County Coal Company
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1866-1928 |
Box 9 | Folder 4 |
McClean County Coal Company
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1870s-1920 |
Box 9 | Folder 4 |
McClean County Coal Company
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1909-1922 |
Box 9 | Folder 4 |
Blank Lease and Indenture Forms
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1909-1922 |
Box 9 |
Vrooman for Senator - posters and newsletter
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1914 | |
Box 9 | Folder 8 |
National Bureau of Volunteer Speakers: Speech by Carl Vrooman
|
1896 |
Box 9 |
Theodore Roosevelt: Dynamic Geographer by Frank Buffington Vrooman
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1909 | |
Box 9 | Folder 9 |
Feeding the World; Meeting the Farmer Halfway; Initiative and Referendum in Switzerland; Redressing the Rural Grievance; The Agricultural Revolution; A Square Deal for the Farmer; The Present Republican Opportunity: By a Democrat; "Inasmuch..." by Carl Vrooman
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1913-1936 |
Box 9 | Folder 10 |
"A Foreign Market or a Post-Mortem" No. 1 document of the 1st Farm Relief Bill by
Carl Vrooman
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1921 |
Box 9 | Folder 11 |
Report of the Gift Corn Movement
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1921 |
Box 10 |
Protest Against Assessment of Deficiency Estate Tax made by Carl Vrooman and Scott
Bromwell - Executers of the estate of Julia G. Scott
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Box 10 | Folder 3 |
Chenoa Community Centennial
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