Alumni papers can contain a wide variety of materials that can shed light on the history of the University and how people lived in the past. Recently, the University Archives has been working on one particular alumni collection, the Russell A. Cone Papers, 1899-2020 (Record Series 26/20/239).
Col. Russell A. Cone ’27 was an active member of the University, participating in the ROTC and Greek life. He served in World War II and was stationed in Alaska. His papers contain newspaper clippings, correspondence, service medals, certificates, publications, programs, and scrapbooks. Since these are personal records, there are also materials related to his first wife, Helen Bess Finch Cone. Helen also attended the University of Illinois and is found in the photographs and the many letters she exchanged with Russell. These materials were donated and preserved with the hope that students, faculty, and the public will be able to learn more about two incredible alums of the University of Illinois.
Claire Robertson has kindly provided biographies for Col. Russell A. Cone and Helen Bess Finch Cone (see below). Special thanks to Claire for her contributions and insights to the collection.
If you are interested in learning more about the collection, or would like to arrange an appointment to view the items, please email us at illiarch@illinois.edu.
The University Library building celebrated its 100th anniversary on November 15, 2024. Leading up to the celebration, many Library units reached out to the University Archives looking for photos, historical material, and other support in the creation of exhibits to commemorate the occasion.
As the exhibit deadlines approached, the Archives received a final reference request from the Facilities Office: when the cornerstone for the building was laid in 1924, was a time capsule hidden inside?
Recently the Sousa Archives acquired the Frances Carter and Marjorie Moore Sousa Research Files documenting John Philip Sousa’s relationship with his family while America’s March King. The collection includes Sousa’s letters to his wife; early photographs of Sousa’s bands; original scripts and schedules for 20th Century Fox’s 1952 movie, Stars and Stripes Forever; memorabilia; and magazine articles.
Helen and Jane Priscilla Sousa, c. 1898.
The documents were compiled by Sousa’s daughters, Helen and Jane Priscilla, and Marjorie Moore, the Marine Band’s first historiographer, to fact-check the script for Fox’s biographical movie about Sousa’s life and music.
Sousa’s influence on late 19th– and early 20th-century music is well known, but very little is known about his relationship with his family. As a traveling bandleader Sousa gave thousands of concerts between 1892 and 1932 and spent months away from his family.
Sousa’s wife Jane and children accompanied him for some portions of tours, but he usually travelled without them. These absences occasionally created tensions with his family, and his letters home document their very private lives.
In WWI in 1917 Sousa offered his services to the U.S. Marines and then the U.S. Army, but he was turned down because of his age and became frustrated by their responses. However, the commandant of the Great Lakes Naval Center offered Sousa a commission as a lieutenant in the United States Naval Reserve to organize and train Navy bands for the war.
Sousa’s short letter to Jane on September 21, 1917, announcing his Navy commissioning probably caught her by surprise because he had temporarily disbanded his civil band. He wrote, “Dearest Jane…No dear, I am not in the Navy as a regular but as a Reserve Officer ordered to active duty which gives me as long as I am under orders as an active Lieutenant with the pay and allowance of a Lieutenant (Senior Grade) of the Navy.”
John Philip Sousa as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1917.
While on tour with the Great Lakes Naval Battalion band on May 17, 1918, Sousa wrote, “Dearest Jane, I am here with the band until Tuesday night, then to Cleveland [and] N.Y. for the war bond concert and some work in connection with the Atlantic Fleet…Hope to see you on the 28th. With much love and kisses, devotedly, Philip.” However, by early September Sousa’s civilian band was reconstituted to complete their Willow Grove Park performances and he left for Chicago rather than returning home. This annoyed Mrs. Sousa. He wrote on September 13, “Dear Jane, I am enclosing your allowance for September. It must be a delicious and satisfying feeling to receive an allowance of $1,000 per month, and also possess the right to give your husband hell when it so moves you…Am tired. Affectionately, Philip.”
Sousa’s tenure with the Naval Battalion Band ended in 1920, but his commission with the Navy for a dollar a year allowed him to lead his civilian band throughout 1919 when not needed by the Navy. His 1919 civilian band tour across America and Canada left Sousa little time for family and the growing tensions on the home front.
His July 6, 1919, letter to Jane began, “Dearest wife. The same forces that silently and relentlessly led the world into a war…started an individual and family antipathy that has no parallel in history…Our family is not the only one…Philip’s contempt for Priscilla and Helen, Helen’s contempt for the rest, Priscilla’s indifference to me and you…make each other as unhappy as possible…The average person’s judgement about other’s affairs is usually of no value…Devotedly. Philip”
It is unclear what caused this animosity, but Sousa’s continuous touring with his civilian band most likely inflamed these tensions. However, by 1925 the tone of Sousa’s letters home had softened.
After his 71st birthday he wrote on November 11th, “My dearest little lady. In my courting days and after I used to write you at all hours of the night and day, but it has been some time since I wrote you at 5:15am…Many thanks for your birthday greeting…the Rotary Club and others entertained me in Peoria. I got more flowers than a blushing prima donna…I am in good condition, but a little shy on sleep…With much love, Philip.”
Jane Sousa, wife of John Philip Sousa, as she looked in the 1880s.
By 1929 his band’s touring schedule was limited to three months. When not on tour Sousa spent his time at home in Port Washington, New York. He wrote to Jane who was visiting her son and grandchildren in California, “Dearly Beloved, your telegram… came announcing your safe arrival…Priscilla and I were glad you…arrived safely. I do hope you’ll have a pleasant visit…Priscilla felt that I should be watched carefully and…not take more than an ounce of whiskey, all of which I obey as any dutiful and loving father should. But please tell her not to be so hard on a poor old father.”
The following March 21, 1930, Sousa wrote from Chicago’s Auditorium Hotel about his short trip to the University of Illinois to conduct his new “University of Illinois March” with Harding’s concert band. “My darling wife, I have had a rather hectic time since I left N.Y…Yesterday I drove out to the University 175 miles. They had a concert by the student band. They played splendidly. The students gave me a medal, the bandmaster gave me a baton, a medal, and their blessing…Ever your loving Philip.”
These brief samples from the Carter and Moore collection provide realistic insight of Sousa’s relationship with his family and help dispel the storybook portrayals of him as America’s March King. This newly acquired collection will be arranged and described this fall, and it will become available to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of Sousa’s life and career. For further information about the collection contact sousa@illinois.edu or call 217-333-4577.
Finding information in the archives can sometimes feel like an expedition through time – a scavenger hunt in countless records to find the holy grail document that you’re looking for, sifting through ancient ruins and dusty boxes for the one scrap of information that will definitively answer your research question. On occasion, this digging will turn up the exact information you were looking for. Other times, you must answer your questions to the best of the ability of the extant sources, and results are not always as conclusive as we would like them to be.
Sometimes, you come across an item that raises far more questions than it answers. For me, this serendipitous moment occurred while browsing the Neil L. Block Papers (RS 35/3/418). This item, found within a folder inconspicuously labelled “Ancient Egypt – Notes On,” is a 12-page document, handwritten in a purple cursive script on lined, 3-hole punched paper.[1] The first page contains a brief abstract about the Pharaoh Tutankhamen: his life, his reign, the discovery of his tomb, and the grave goods found within. The following 11 pages appear to record a question-and-answer session in which the responder describes exactly where and how to find a (presumably still lost) Egyptian tomb. The 67 questions in the document are addressed to “Ouija,” and the entity responding makes references to the use of a board. Mention of a medium implies that, much like the séances conducted as part of Edwin Peebles’ research (RS 35/2/50), this conversation could have been facilitated through the use of a medium as well. The questions in the document sought to clarify the location of a tomb and how to find it, but the answers are cryptic and sometimes contradictory.
Amidst the recent UFO and balloon sightings across the United States, many are turning their eyes to the sky in the quest for the unknown. The search for unidentified flying objects and their meaning is not a new trend. At least as early as the 20th century, reports of mysterious flying objects have been filed worldwide, with explanations ranging from rogue weather balloons to full-on alien invasion.
The University of Illinois campus has not been immune to UFO interest over the years. On October 7, 1965, a student reported a UFO sighting outside the Education Building. The report was difficult to verify, however: as a letter to the editor pointed out on October 12, the image of the object printed in the Daily Illini was completely invisible. Curiosity about UFOs on campus has carried on sporadically ever since. Other sightings have been reported, clubs such as the UFO and Outer Space Clubs have been formed, and talks on the subject were advertised in student publications throughout the 1960s and 70s.
