Illinois Gazette
September 25th, 1819 - December 18th, 1830

Location:
    McCoy Memorial Library, 2nd Floor
    118 S. Washington St.  (West Side of Square)
    McLeansboro, IL 62859
    Ph: (618) 643-2125
Hours:
    Monday-Friday: 1-4pm

Interviews vary in length, therefore, some interviews are on multiple CDs.  If you wish to order an interview, it costs $5 per CD.  While we have CDs for most interviews, we have written transcripts for about a third of the interviews.  It costs $10 per transcript, if available.  There is a flat $3 shipping/handling fee for any order for Oral History Project CDs or transcripts.

In 1978, the Hamilton County Historical Society obtained a grant of about $12,000 from the federal Comprehensive Employment Training Act to record and transcribe oral history from some of the elderly residents from the community.  Charles Frey and a group of staff members interviewed and recorded more than 100 people about subjects such as the Great Tornado of 1925, old stores, communities, kinfolk and memories of days-gone-by.

After being stored away for almost 30 years, the Historical Society has converted and preserved all 240+ cassettes to CD and have made them generally available to the public for the first time.  This process took almost 3/4 of a year to complete.

Director:  Charles Frey
Public Relations:  Ken Hodorowski
Interviewers:
    Charles Frey
    Mark Jackson
    Michele Ragsdale
    Keith Karcher
    Sharon Heil
    Dan Allen
    Margaret Frazier
    Rita Steele
    L.C. Gollihur
    Richard Jackson
Secretary/Bookkeeper:  Vicky Capps
Transcriptionists:
    Rebecca Leuellen
    Donna Warren French
Auditor/Editors:
    Chrystie Adams
    Rita Pressy
    Amy Repasky