Research Tips
Looking for more local medical history? Northern Illinois University's Regional History Center may be outside of the Chicago area, but it actively collects historic records from eighteen northern counties of Illinois, excluding Cook County, home of Chicago itself.
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| Archie Archive, the RHC's friendly mascot. |
Northern Illinois Regional History Center homepage:
NIU Library's Digitial Initiatives:
A project by NIU Library's Digital Initiatives includes material related to the Civil War, a very hot topic this year as the nation commemorates the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the war.
[After the page jump, learn about a very exciting collection at the RHC! Click "Read more" for DETAILS!]
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| From RC 297, Dr. Giles Paddock Ransom Family Collection, Regional History Center, Northern Illinois University |
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| Giles Ransom |
Speaking of the Civil War (and local medical collections, of course), the RHC houses the Dr. Giles Paddock Ransom Family Collection (RC 275). The material from this collection dates from 1789 to 2009. Of particular interest to CAMA members and researchers interested in local medical history are the many items related to the medical careers of doctors Giles Ransom (1824-1892, Rush Medical College class of 1850), his sons Penn and Wilmot Ransom (Northwestern University Medical School graduates, 1870s), and grandson Daniel Leland Ransom. The Ransoms were a prominent family of doctors in Rockford, Ill., about an hour northwest of Chicago. The collection includes hundreds of items, such as correspondence, diaries, medical school notebooks, Ransom Sanitarium records, and medical pamphlets.
[Image credit: RC 297, Dr. Giles Paddock Ransom Family Collection, Regional History Center, Northern Illinois University.]
Giles Ransom also had the distinction of serving as an assistant surgeon during the Civil War. To view some of the digitized items related to Ransom's service during the Civil War, please visit the following link:
Included in this set of scanned items, along with some wonderful correspondence, are...
"Summons for doctors, Union Army, September 1863"
"Medical license for an enlisted doctor, March 1862"
"Medical license for an enlisted doctor, March 1862"
Visit the Regional History Center and NIU Archives' Flickr page for more images from their collections!
If you're on Facebook, take a moment to "like" this repository's Facebook page and enjoy images from our state's past.
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