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Caption: Book - History of the University (Nevins)
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WESTERN HISTORY 341 in the Miners' and Mechanics* Institutes. The program of these Institutes included a two years' extension course to be offered at mining centers, to enable untrained men to become mine inspectors, managers, and hoisting engineers; short courses of six and two weeks each at the University, to help all those connected with mining to keep abreast of the times; unit courses to be given in special mining districts; and a large number of minor activities—the organization of local institutes, the maintenance of a Questions and Answers office, the organization of evening classes for men employed by day in the mines, and the offering of general instruction to illeducated miners who have recently come to America. The Institutes were a most promising instrument for the enlightenment of scores of thousands who find their support in the coal fields of southern Illinois, and it is to be hoped that the political action at Springfield which cut short their existence may soon be reconsidered. In the college of liberal arts and sciences one of the largest services has been performed by the department of history, under Professors Greene and Alvord, to which is largely due the fact that Illinois, ten years ago a laggard in the historical field, now leads her sister States of the Middle West. The beginnings of real historical study in the State were made when in 1965 the Trustees of the State Historical Library—which had not been founded until 1889, and had published its first volume only in 1903—sent Prof. Alvord to examine an old French document which was reported to be in f$jjj|j courthouse of St. Clair County at Belleville. Prof. l | n vord found not only this, but a large number of other and more important eighteenth century documents, which especially illustrated the history of Illinois during the British dominion and the American Revolution.
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