Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Spring 2016

Volume 109, Number 1

We launch Volume 109 of the Journal with three stimulating contributions to Illinois history in the twentieth century. Peter Ellertsen’s “‘How Newness Enters the World’: Cultural Creolization in Swedish American Hymnals Published at Augustana College, 1901–1925” offers a fresh and innovative way of interpreting hymn culture and evolution in a denomination undergoing dramatic social change.

In “Sacrificing for a “Just Cause”: The World War I Memoir of Edward F. Paule, U.S. Engineers,” editor Jeffrey L. Patrick reproduces a valuable resource for scholars interested in the soldiers’ experience during World War I. Paule, from Belleville, served in the 114th Engineer Regiment. The regiment’s chief responsibility was to build and maintain roads during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of 1918. What makes the Paule memoir compelling is that unlike the many letters written by American troops during the war, Paule’s writings were not subject to censorship by authorities.

In “Moral Imperatives and Political Realities: Edward Marciniak and the Fight to End Chicago’s Dual Housing Market,” Charles Shanabruch offers a sympathetic analysis of the important and often overlooked career of Edward Marciniak. Marciniak was a pivotal figure in a group of Catholic activists who made Chicago a center of Catholic civil rights activism in the mid twentieth century.

Articles

“How Newness Enters the World”: Cultural Creolization in Swedish-American Hymnals Published at Augustana College, 1901-1925
Peter Ellertsen

Sacrificing for a “Just Cause”: The World War I Memoir of Edward F. Paule, U.S. Engineers
Jeffrey L. Patrick

Moral Imperatives and Political Realities: Edward Marciniak and the Fight to End Chicago’s Dual Housing Market
Charles Shanabruch

Book Reviews

St. Louis Rising: The French Regime of Louis St. Ange de Bellerive. By Carl J. Ekberg and Sharon K. Person.
Reviewed by Michael C. Batinski

American Crucifixion: The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon Church. By Alex Beam.
Reviewed by Danny Aaron Russell

Nauvoo and Hancock County, Illinois: A Guide to Family History and Historical Sources. By Kip Sperry.
Reviewed by Brady G. Winslow

American Vandal: Mark Twain Abroad. By Roy Morris, Jr.
Reviewed by Joy Schulz

Midwest Maize: How Corn Shaped the U.S. Heartland. By Cynthia Clampitt.
Reviewed by Wayne Ratzlaff

Crack of the Bat: A History of Baseball on the Radio. By James R. Walker.
Reviewed by John E. Miller

Indian Spectacle: College Mascots and the Anxiety of Modern America. By Jennifer Guiliano.
Reviewed by Kelli Y. Nakamura

“Dear Mrs. Griggs”: Women Readers Pour Out Their Hearts from the Heartland. By Genevieve McBride and Stephen Byers.
Reviewed by Elizabeth Green

Corrupt Illinois: Patronage, Cronyism, and Criminality. By Thomas J. Gradel and Dick Simpson.
Reviewed by Judy Stafstrom

Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker. By Chuck Haddix.
Reviewed by Steve Shanley

Cover

Edward Marciniak, ca. 1960. Courtesy of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Joseph Bernardin Archives and Record Center.