Hello, guys. Anyone know where copies of the 1909-1911 issues of 'Illinois Central Employees' Magazine' might be hiding? More specifically, the premiere June 1909 issue?

My great-great grandfather, Thomas L. McDermott, was featured in the premiere. He was the station agent for the ICRR at Galena, Illinois from 1857-1910, and the magazine did an expose on his lengthy career. I'd like to learn more about him.

Per the Barriger National Railroad Library: "[U]nable to locate any institution that lists the 1909-1911 run of Illinois Central Employees’ Magazine in their collection. Everyone starts at 1912, Library of Congress, NY Public Library, Newberry, Michigan, Northwestern, Chicago Public Library, and Chicago Historical Society only starts in 1911. It may exist in a private collection or miscataloged, but I have to advise you that this may be lost to history."

I'm still holding out hope.

Checked with my friend who is President of the ICHS and he confirms what the Barriger Library told you.
Only hope is that some collector out there may possibly have what you want.

I assume that you have checked at Goggle Books.

-Hudson

Frisco1522, thank you kindly for your effort. I also contacted the ICHS, so please relay my apologies for pestering them. I'll keep my eyes out and be sure to report here if I strike gold.

It seems odd to me (admittedly, a non-collector) that all issues of this 2-year (1909-1911) span of "Illinois Central Employees' Magazine" should be lost to history, while there is a full archive starting from 1912, when the publication changed its name to "Illinois Central Magazine."

Fingers crossed.

Hello, Hudson. Yes, I searched Google books, with library/university archive indices, ebay, etc., but still no dice.

I'll paste here the article that pointed me in this direction. Hopefully issues of the magazine from 1909-1911 turn up in order to complete the record.


From the 15 June 1909 Journal Gazette of Mattoon, Illinois, Page 1:

"CENTRAL EMPLOYEES' MAGAZINE APPEARS:

Initial Number of Journal Contains Sketch of Thomas L. McDermott, 52 Years with Company

The initial number of the Illinois Central Employees' Magazine has just made its appearance. It is a large and very beautifully illustrated periodical, a splendid sample of the printer's best work. Typographically, artistically, editorially and from a literary comparison it is equal to almost any of the leading magazines published in the east. The contents are excellent, there being many technical articles on subjects of interest to railroad employees in every branch of the business, written by experts, a number of miscellaneous articles and some very choice fiction. All the reading matter is of the best quality and of a character to appeal not only to railroad men, but to the general reader. There are eighty-eight pages of reading matter and twenty-seven pages of good advertisements.

One feature which is of especial interest to all Illinois Central men is an illustrated sketch of Thomas L. McDermott, agent of the road at Galena, IL, who today completes fifty-two consecutive years of service in the employ of the company, having served in various capacities for over half a century. The first number of the magazine is for the month of June. It is distributed gratuitously among the 75, 000 employees of the Illinois Central system, but it is sold at a nominal price to all other persons. It looks like a stayer."

Thanks for the help and ideas, gentlemen.

You might give "Bookfinder.com" a try. They scour the world for material.

Harry

I found this on Worldcat:


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I thought you might be interested in this item at
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/679909229

Title: Illinois Central employees' magazine.
Author: L B Mackenzie; Illinois Central Railroad Company
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Illinois Central Railroad Co., [19--]-

OCLC:679909229


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Illinois Central employees' magazine.
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Illinois Central employees' magazine.
Author: L B Mackenzie; Illinois Central Railroad Company.
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Illinois Central Railroad Co., [19--]-
Edition/Format: eJournal/eMagazine : Document : Periodical : EnglishView all editions and formats
Database: WorldCat
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Subjects

Illinois Central Railroad Company -- Periodicals.
Railroads -- Periodicals.
Illinois Central Railroad Company.
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Good luck,

Harry

aha it shows its at Notre Dame, I was about to point there as a suggestion, I have been there and seen some very -early- streetcar publications going into the 1800's. so thats a great hit to check. Going there you need to get in on an off class day as parking is tough.

Harry and dinwitty,

Thanks for the suggestions, however, upon looking through the four dozen collections that were suggested in the WorldCat link, we come across the same problem: Each of them conflates "Illinois Central Employees' Magazine" with "Illinois Central Magazine".

"Illinois Central Employees' Magazine" ran June 1909 - June 1911 (maybe 1912).

"Illinois Central Magazine" ran July 1912 - August 1972.

Several of the collections in your link begin with July 1912, to include Notre Dame, Harvard, Newberry, etc. But alas, no one seems to have 1909-1911, unless it's been miscataloged.

Has everyone checked beneath their seat?

One sure thing - if you contact the Librarian at Norte Dame, that person can look at #5 reference to see if it really is the employees' magazine issues needed. Without that step, you may miss what you are looking for. No cost, just a suggestion since #5 is shown as a different issue than #'s 1-4.

Harry

You mention the Newberry Library, but have you tried contacting them directly? The Newberry holds the corporate archives of the Illinois Central, so the answer to your query may be elsewhere in their collection (perhaps in correspondence, or in records of station agents, etc.) even if their catalog shows the IC Magazine run beginning in 1912 rather than 1909.

http://mms.newberry.org/xml/xml_files/ICRR.xml

-Philip Marshall

Harry,

I did as you suggested and contacted the Hesburgh Library at Notre Dame, but no luck. It was worth the try.

Philip,

As you suggested, I contacted the Newberry as well. Indeed, they do have IC Magazine from it's first issue of July/1912. However, I am looking for the premier issue of the magazine that the ICM superseded--that is, the June/1909 IC Employees' Magazine. It ran a couple years before the name change.

Per Newberry's suggestion, I emailed The Chicago History Museum, as they carry ICEM from Jan/1911. That's a start. And Newberry stated that they have as-yet unarchived personnel files for the ICRR, so one of the researchers is going to give them a look for my great-great grandfather.

This hunt is already paying off. Thanks, all.