University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The items in the Digital Collections of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Library contain materials which represent or depict sensitive topics or were written from perspectives using outdated or biased language. The Library condemns discrimination and hatred on any grounds. As a research library that supports the mission and values of this land grant institution, it is incumbent upon the University Library to preserve, describe, and provide access to materials to accurately document our past, support learning about it, and effect change in the present. In accordance with the American Library Association’s Freedom to Read statement, we do not censor our materials or prevent patrons from accessing them.

If you have questions regarding this statement or any content in the Library’s digital collections, please contact digitalcollections@lists.illinois.edu

American Library Association’s Freedom to Read Statement

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George W. Lienesch Collection (Digitized Content)

The digitized content of the George W. Lienesch Collection of Ephemera consists of political ephemera, including trade cards and ballots, as well as various other printed ephemera from the 1880s and 1890s collected by George W. Lienesch, a farmer in St. Clair County, Illinois.

George Washington Lienesch (1866-1922) of St. Clair County, Illinois, participated in music and theatre groups as a young adult and was a member of the Shiloh Valley Grange. He lived on a farm near Shiloh and O'Fallon in St. Clair County.

The digitized content includes political ephemera Lienesch collected, including election ballots for various parties and newspaper clippings from the 1884 and 1888 elections as well as cards of the candidates. The collection also contains an 1886 almanac advertising the "Seven Barks" patent medicine, several humorous broadsides, and two postcards from the 1893 World's Fair.

The Illinois History and Lincoln Collections unit at the University of Illinois Library manages the physical items of the George Washington Lienesch Collection of Political Ephemera and Other Materials (MS 073). The collection was completely digitized in 2017. For more information, contact an archivist at ihlc@library.illinois.edu.