Manuscript Collection Inventory
Illinois History and Lincoln Collections
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Note: Unless otherwise specified, documents and other materials listed on the following
pages are available for research at the Illinois Historical and Lincoln Collections, located
in the Main Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Additional
background information about the manuscript collection inventoried is recorded in the
Manuscript Collections Database (http://www.library.illinois.edu/ihx/archon/index.php)
under the collection title; search by the name listed at the top of the inventory to locate
the corresponding collection record in the database.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Illinois History and Lincoln Collections
http://www.library.illinois.edu/ihx/index.html
phone: (217) 333-1777
email: ihlc@library.illinois.edu
1
Turner, Jonathan Baldwin
Papers, 1828-1919.
Overview
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Biographical Materials
Correspondence
Yale Papers
Sermons and Lectures
Others Papers regarding Religion
Papers regarding Slavery and the Abolition Movement
Illinois Industrial University and Industrial Education
Agricultural Matters
Legal Documents
Box 1:
1. Biographical Materials
Biographical sketches, including an entry for Turner in the
Third Record of the Class of 1833 in Yale College (1870), Paul
Selby, "Summary of the Land Grant Movement" (1894?), and Eugene
Davenport, "Jonathan Baldwin Turner: An Appreciation" (1919).
Photographs:
Jonathan Baldwin Turner and his son Howard, 1854 (proof)
Turner at an advanced age, two photographs taken at the
same time (one print, one proof)
Rhodolphia Kibbe Turner (J. B. Turner’s wife), 2 photos
(one dated 1868)
[The proofs are apparently from the reproductions in Mary
Turner Carriel, The Life of Jonathan Baldwin Turner
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1911; 1961)]
Turner family residence [12 proofs from an engraving originally
used in the 1872 Atlas Map of Morgan County]
Newspaper Clippings on Turner’s Life and Work (Some oversize
clippings are stored in the gray flat-storage cabinet.)
2. Correspondence
Incoming
2
1832-49: Correspondents include Jonathan Blackford, J. N.
Coleman, N. J. Downing, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, J. W. Osgood,
Absalom Peters, David Prince, W. N. Starr, Dorson E. Sykes, and
Asa Turner (J. B. Turner’s father).
1850-53: Correspondents include W.
Thompson Campbell, William Carter,
Ericsson, Simeon Francis, Augustus
Edson Harkness, Joseph Morton, Jon
Turner’s mother), Ralph Wane, John
and Richard Yates.
F. M. Arny, Newton Bateman,
Charles Downing, John
C. French, David S. Gregg,
Shastid, Susan Turner (J. B.
Wilkinson, Samuel Willard,
1854-66: Correspondents include C. C. Ahiosman, W. F. M. Arny,
Henry Barnard, Jonathan Blanchard, M. S. Carr, J. A. Chesnut,
Ezra Cornell, Stephen A. Douglas, Charles Downing, Dr.(?) Green,
Charles H. Howland, H. G. Leary, Owen Lovejoy, Justin S.
Morrill, W. A. Pennel, Wendell Phillips, J. M. Sturtevant,
Charles Sumner, Henry P. Tappan, Lyman Trumbull, Rhodolphia
Turner (J. B. Turner’s wife), and Richard Yates.
1867-95: Correspondents include Newton Bateman, Shelby M.
Cullom, Frederick Douglass, Frank L. Everett, Washington
Gladden, J. M. Gregory, John A. Logan, G. W. Minier, D. L.
Moody, John M. Palmer, R. W. Patterson, Selim H. Peabody, E. S.
Ricker, Leonard F. Ross, Theo. F. Seward, Julie E. Smith, W. M.
Springer, A. W. Tourgee, and Samuel Willard.
Outgoing, 1834-93:
Correspondents include Jonathan Blanchard, Augustus C. French,
B. [Bronson] Murray, [A. T.] Norton (editor of the Alton
Reporter), John P. Reynolds, State Committee, and Rhodolphia
Kibbe (Turner).
Includes a published exchange between I. N. Haynie, Illinois
Adjutant General, and J. B. Turner (Dec. 13, 19, 1865),
concerning the importance of military education. Also includes
a circular written by a committee of citizens from Morgan
County, Ill., stating its claim to the state legislature that
Jacksonville deserves to be the location of the new Illinois
Industrial University (Jan. 25, 1866).
Addressed to Others but Pertaining to Turner (all letters
originating from Illinois unless noted otherwise), 1852-92:
3
These letters pertain to Turner’s lectures and teachings on
agricultural production methods and industrial education.
Augustus C. French to [Joseph] Morton, Jan. 29, 1852
G. S. Lunsder(?), Springfield, to B. [Bronson] Murray,
Springfield, Feb. 16, 1853
L. L. Bullock to Editor (?), LaSalle County, Dec. 10, 1853
L. L. Bullock, Pt. Republic (?), to [Bronson] Murray,
Springfield, Jan. 10, 1854
J. A. Chesnut, Carlinville, to Dr. David Prince, Jacksonville,
Mar. 4, 1854
Thomas H. Payne (President of Lake County Agricultural Society),
Waukegan, to B. [Bronson] Murry [sic] (written by Payne’s
secretary, Nathan C. Geer), Jan. 5, 1855
Allen C. Fuller, Belvidere, to John P. Reynolds, Springfield,
Nov. 30, 1864
R. C. Rutherford, New York, to Editor of the Jacksonville (Ill.)
Daily Journal, July 14, 1892 (On the back of this typewritten
letter there is a handwritten Letter to the Editor from Bronson
Murray, New York, July 14, 1892.)
Transcripts of Correspondence (incomplete)
Box 2:
3. Yale Papers
Bill, Tuition and other Expenses, 1833
Compositions and Notes, 1829-31
Lesson Book, 1828-32 [Vol. 5 of collection as first received]
Bachelor’s Degree, 1833 (stored in gray flat-storage cabinet)
Master’s Degree, 1833 (stored in gray flat-storage cabinet)
4. Sermons and Lectures
4
1823-42: Topics include divinity, elocution, the meaning of
Christianity, “Necessity of Revelation,” punctuality,
temperance, and “Unity of the Deity” (7 items)
1843-59: Topics include “Geology and Scripture,” “Geology
versus Scripture,” “Gospel Power of God,” “Order and
Light,” Millard Fillmore, and “The Jack-Democrats” (7 items)
1860-90: “The great crisis, or the true issue between freemen
and tyrants” (1860), “Woman’s Rights” (Jan. 1870), Address of
Prof. J. B. Turner delivered by invitation of the Farmers’
Legislative Club in the Representatives’ Hall, Springfield,
Ill., on February 5th, 1874, in reply to the assaults of the
New-York Nation and Illinois Senate (1874), “Competition
Defined” (June 1885), and “The Three Races” (ca. 1880s)
(5 items)
1892-94: Universal Law and Its Opposites: Extracts from the
note-books of J. B. Turner (1892) and The New American Church.
For all our United States, schools, churches, and homes. Taken
from the note book of J. B. Turner (1894) (2 items)
Undated, A-K: Topics include “The Christianity of Christ
versus the Christianity of the Church,” “Conversion and
Ecclesiastical Machinery,” Creeds, and Free Will (8 items)
Undated, L-Z: Topics include “Lines of Idiocy and Lines of
Genius,” “Oration on the Progress and Triumph of Moral Truth and
Freedom,” “Puritan Protestant Papal & Pagan Idea,” Putting away
Sin,” “Salvation by Symbolism,” and “The Two Thermopylaes” (11
items)
Transcripts of Sermons and Lectures
5. Other Papers Regarding Religion
Bible Class Roster, Congregational Church, Illinois College,
Jacksonville, Ill., ca. 1850-51
6. Papers regarding Slavery and the Abolition Movement
Broadsides, Society Rosters, and Other Writings, ca. 1840s-60s
7. Illinois Industrial University and Industrial Education
5
Legislative Bills and Committee Reports, 24th and 25th
Illinois General Assemblies, 1865-67
Lecture Notes on Industrial Education, Petitions, Subscription
Lists, and Transcriptions of Public Documents, 1845-67
Box 3:
Illinois Industrial League, ca. 1850s
Design of the Illinois Industrial League
Illinois Industrial League Membership Certificates
Turner, J. B. A Plan for an Industrial University for the
State of Illinois, submitted to the Farmers’ Convention at
Granville, Held November 18, 1851
Reports and Speeches regarding Illinois Industrial University
and Industrial Education, 1865-69 [in gray flat-storage cabinet]
Newspaper Clippings, Editorials and Articles regarding
Illinois Industrial University, 1854-92
Newspaper Clippings, Letters to the Editor regarding Illinois
Industrial University, 1853, 1865-70, 1892
8. Agricultural Matters
Turner, J. B., Circulars No. 6 and 7, regarding the sale of
Osage-orange plants and proper hedge care, ca. 1850s
Buel Institute (Granville, Ill.) Form Letter, ca. 1854
Flyer, Sheppard’s Forwarding and Commission Horticultural,
Nursery & Seed Agency, New York City, Dec. 20, 1859. [Gift in
2009 of Brent Wielt, Macon County Conservation District
historian.]
9. Legal Documents
A Bill for an Act to Establish a Bureau of Immigration and
Statistics for the State of Illinois, Illinois Senate, 24th
General Assembly, 1865
6
Will and Deeds, 1886-1905
Collection of oversize documents, in the gray flat-storage
cabinet:
Land Grant to Jonathan B. Turner and Marcus Woodward,
Springfield, Ill., Mar. 3, 1843
U.S. Patent No. 28,217: Improvement in Seeding Machines,
May 8, 1860
U.S. Patent No. 92,253: Improvement in Clod Breaker and
Pulverizer, July 6, 1869
Governor’s Appointment: Trustee, Illinois Central Hospital for
the Insane, Jacksonville, Ill., Apr. 24, 1871
U.S. Copyright No. 25,528: Turner, J. B. The Christ-Word
versus the Church-Word (1895)
Box 4:
Jonathan Baldwin Turner Calendar