GivingTuesday: the Ebersol Journals

With just 8 days until Giving Tuesday, we'd like to take a moment to highlight an extraordinary part of our collection which has been digitized for both accessibility and preservation. The LaSalle County Historical Society exists for the sole purpose of discovering, collecting, and preserving the uniquely rich history of our area. It is under this mission that our nonprofit has been formed, and it is this mission which is reflected in the projects completed by the Society.

One of the greatest undertakings of the LCHS to date has been the full and complete digitization of our archives, which is currently a work in progress. While working through our extensive archives, we have found pieces that require special preservation and digitization efforts. One such instance is that of the Amos Ebersol journals- a collection of 20 handwritten journals that chronicle the day-to-day life of Amos and the happenings on his homestead, which doubled as a stop on the Underground Railroad. These journals are an invaluable and unique resource that the LCHS is proud to house. They offer not only incredible insight into ‘regular’ life during this time, but also act as a rare glimpse into the lives of those utilizing and aiding in the success of the Underground Railroad. The journals cover a number of topics, from weather to birthdays, farming to abolitionism; without them we may never have learned of this refuge inside LaSalle County’s borders. The story of the Lovejoy homestead is known to many, but Amos Ebersol has long been a forgotten figure.

The journals have been scanned, transcribed, and entered into the Society’s electronic database. The pages have been digitally restored where needed, so that the full original journals can be read without impediment- as one would expect, certain areas were faded, stained, or had suffered instances of water damage. It is through this digitization that the Society hopes the story of Amos Ebersol can become known to many, and that researchers and curious minds alike can enjoy his view on life. Certain pages of the journals have stuck out to the staff and volunteers who have viewed them; "When I think of the [Ebersol Journals], I picture the page where he very excitedly talks about there being frost- it's written in this sort of all-caps calligraphy style and much larger than the rest of the script" said an intern.

This unique undertaking was, of course, made possible only by the generosity of our community. From those near and far, our community came together to lend the Society financial and temporal support as we undertook the immense responsibility of not only making these historic journals available to the world, but of preserving them for posterity. The journals had to be carefully scanned, and then sent for restorative efforts, and finally added to our online database where they will be accessible to anyone wishing to view them. Without intervention, the journals may have been lost to time, keeping the story of Amos, his home, and the people he helped, a mystery.

The LCHS continues to work on the digitization and preservation of our entire archive: from journals to scrapbooks, radium clocks to wedding dresses, individual photos to military uniforms, household items of yesteryear to portraits of our ancestors. The LCHS is dedicated to creating an online database which can be accessed by all in search of information, as well as ensuring these pieces are protected (as best as can be) from the wear and tear of time. Our staff and volunteers work diligently to assess and record what is present in our archives, deciding if it is in need of preservative or restorative intervention beyond our typical measures. In the end, each item in our collection will be scanned, or photographed, it will be ensured they have an accession number and donor information, and then the item will be uploaded to our digital archives.

The journals cover a number of topics, from weather to birthdays, farming to abolitionism; without them we may never have learned of this refuge inside LaSalle County’s borders

This is why, for Giving Tuesday, we are asking for donations that will allow us to purchase the archival boxes and garment bags, film scanner, reel to reel converter, and other protective archival materials we are currently in need of. It is not enough to take a photo of a film reel, and enter it into the database alongside the description written on the tin- we have a urgent need to convert the material from film to digital (alongside a physical copy on DVD) as we race against time and the natural degradation of the film medium. Those generations that will follow us deserve access to the materials on film reels, in photo negatives, and on cassette; these methods of media creation are wholly time sensitive, and we are quickly taking note of this as a society. The push to transfer these items to digital counterparts, while also maintaining a modern and original physical form, is born out of necessity. We are striving to always follow the most recent and proven archival techniques so that posterity has equal access to the incredible resources we currently have.

Donations made to the LCHS from now until end of day on December 3rd will be included in our GivingTuesday campaign total. It is through these funds that we hope to be able to purchase the materials required to successfully move our digitization efforts into the next stage. The LCHS is a nonprofit organization, which receives no state or federal funding, aiming to discover, collect, and preserve the rich history of LaSalle county; our work is not possible without the support of our community, the stories of whom we hope to make available to future generations.

If you've made it this far, thank you! Please share this article, and help us reach more history lovers!

*This article first appeared on the LCHS Museums Facebook page, which can be found at https://www.facebook.com/lchsmuseum, and was published on November 25, 2024. Changes have been made to the original text, but has not altered the overall content or spirit of the post.