53Titles
Explore publications and collections from the past.
Community History Archive Partner
Beardstown Houston Memorial Public Library
Beardstown, Illinois
Explore this community history collection to discover the people, places, organizations, and events of Beardstown.
1831 to 2013Dates represented
See individual titles for available dates.
401,600Archive pages
Historical pages reported for this collection.
Explore local history
Discover the people, places, and stories of Beardstown, Illinois.
Get to know Beardstown, Illinois in earlier years through the newspapers shared in the Beardstown Houston Memorial Public Library's digital archive. Its fifty-three titles include material from 1831 to 2013.
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Selected titles
Examples from Beardstown Houston Memorial Public Library’s collection include “Alton Daily Telegraph” and “Western Cumberland Presbyterian”.
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Free and open access
No subscription or payment required.
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A closer look
An earlier generation comes into view through the stories its newspapers chose to report, placing familiar names and events within the concerns of their time.
Historical newspapers can connect a family name with the events and everyday concerns of an earlier time, offering more than a date or a name on its own. Bring a family connection, a question about a familiar place or an interest in local history, and see where the sources lead. Explore the archive online for free, without a subscription.
Explore the collection
Titles in this collection
Browse fifty-three titles and 401,600 digitized pages, with material from 1831 to 2013. A partnership between Beardstown Houston Memorial Public Library and Advantage Archives makes this collection available. Some years or items may be missing between the dates shown.
Start with a detail you already know, then browse the titles below for another perspective on the people and places connected with this collection.
Alton Daily Telegraph
38 pages from 1871 to 1881
Alton Spectator
544 pages from 1833 to 1839
Alton Telegraph
36 pages from 1836 to 1889
Alton Telegraph And Democratic Review
8 pages in 1849
Alton Telegraph and Madison County Record
6 pages from 1853 to 1854
Alton Weekly Telegraph
32 pages from 1851 to 1877
Batavia Bulletin Record
62 pages from 1891 to 1892
Beardstown Chronicle And Illinois Military Bounty Land Advertiser
76 pages in 1834
Beardstown Gazette
46 pages from 1846 to 1847
Beardstown Illinoian
8,128 pages from 1883 to 1901
Bennington Banner
2 pages in 1965
Calhoun Herald
8 pages in 1873
Cass County Democrat
18 pages in 1886
Cass County Star Gazette
30,268 pages from 1998 to 2011
Centreville News
74 pages in 1965
Cincinnati Commercial
18 pages in 1866
Democrat News
84 pages in 1964
Edgewater Uptown News
56 pages in 1965
Illinoian Democrat
420 pages in 1883
Illinoian Star Daily
42,198 pages from 1982 to 1993
Illinois State Journal
4 pages in 1831
Labor News Review
24 pages from 1901 to 1965
Morning Enterprise
11,900 pages from 1910 to 1913
Palmyra Courier
10 pages in 1864
Reporter
14 pages in 1965
Star of the West
16 pages in 1889
The Avon Sentinel
8 pages in 1900
The Barrington Review
146 pages from 1892 to 1893
The Beardstown Champion
30 pages from 1834 to 1875
The Beardstown Democrat
42 pages from 1859 to 1861
The Beardstown Enterprise
32 pages in 1888
The Campaign Republican
8 pages in 1858
The Cass County Messenger
32 pages in 1877
The Cass County Star Gazette
4,008 pages from 2012 to 2013
The Central Illinoian
6,882 pages from 1858 to 1901
The Daily Alton Telegraph
12 pages in 1854
The Daily Register
74 pages in 1919
The Edinburg Herald
16 pages in 1908
The Evening Star
2,440 pages from 1895 to 1897
The Illinoian Star
14 pages in 1965
The Illinoian Star
286,930 pages from 1899 to 1997
The Mt Auburn Tribune
12 pages in 1908
The Quincy Herald
8 pages in 1848
The Quincy Herald Whig and The Quincy Journal
300 pages in 1935
The Rochester Weekly Item
16 pages from 1896 to 1898
The Steeleville Ledger
16 pages in 1965
The Taylorville Journal
16 pages in 1898
The Times
20 pages in 1965
The Tri-Weekly Beardstown Enterprise
6,152 pages from 1897 to 1900
The Weekly Transcript
76 pages from 1931 to 1958
The Western Argus
16 pages in 1845
Weekly Enterprise
196 pages from 1913 to 1924
Western Cumberland Presbyterian
8 pages in 1866
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About the Archive
About The Beardstown Houston Memorial Public Library’s History Archives
The Beardstown Houston Memorial Public Library provides free access to a rich collection of historical materials through its partnership with Advantage Archives . The collection list on this page includes 53 publication entries. This valuable resource supports community engagement and serves as an essential tool for research and genealogy.
About the Library
About The Beardstown Houston Memorial Public Library
The Beardstown Houston Memorial Library is a public library serving the city of Beardstown. As a member of the RAILS library system, it shares materials throughout the state of Illinois and, in some cases, globally. The library is dedicated to promoting literacy and providing a welcoming environment for all patrons, ensuring access to a wide range of resources and programs.
Library History
The History Of The Beardstown Houston Memorial Public Library
Established to meet the educational and informational needs of the community, the Beardstown Houston Memorial Library has a rich history of supporting local literacy initiatives and cultural programs.
About the Community
About The City of Beardstown
Beardstown, Illinois, is known for its historical significance and community spirit. The city offers various cultural and recreational opportunities that enhance the quality of life for its residents.
Local History
Did You Know?
The Beardstown Houston Memorial Library actively engages the community through numerous programs and events, making it a vital resource for education and cultural enrichment.
More ways to explore and share local history
Research Guidance
Check a text match against the page
Start with something you would like to understand about the past of Beardstown. It might be a person, a neighborhood or an event remembered in your family. Use the digital archive shared by the Beardstown Houston Memorial Public Library to follow that question into the historical record. When using historical newspapers, try alternate spellings and nearby dates, then read the surrounding page to place a local story in its time. Compare later reporting or another available title to explore different perspectives rather than treating one account as the whole story. If a search result looks incomplete or misspelled, inspect the scanned page when available. Record the issue date and page, then distinguish the printed wording from search text before following the story to another mention.
If a text match looks incomplete, compare it with the scanned newspaper page when available. Check whether wording or names differ, then record the page's printed wording with the issue date and page. Keep the search result distinct from what the page itself shows.
As you connect materials, note where each detail came from and what it can support. Record the title, date, and page or item reference where available. Keep names and relationships tentative until the evidence is strong enough to connect them, and mark which words come from the record and which are your interpretation.
Community Partnership
Keeping local history a community resource
This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the Beardstown Houston Memorial Public Library, its community, and Advantage Archives. Together, these partnerships preserve local sources and give people a way to explore, learn from, and share the history around them.
Advantage Archives covers ongoing archive hosting, storage, development, and maintenance. The institution and its community do not pay a subscription, seat license, annual support contract, or other recurring archive-service charge. Local history remains a community resource, not a subscription to maintain.
Would you like to see more of your community's history preserved and accessible? Start a conversation with your library, newspaper publisher, historical or genealogical society, museum, or school about the materials they would like to share and a possible partnership with Advantage Archives.
Learn about partnerships
Stories, research tips, and archive news
Read All About It connects archive research with the people and institutions preserving local history. Explore partner and community stories, project updates, research ideas, and perspectives on digitization, education, and working with primary sources. Use the articles as a starting point for your next question or a new way to share a discovery.
May 7, 2025
Why Microfilm is still important in 2023
Preserving documents on microfilm has been a popular method of storage for many years, and it still holds many benefits today. Here…
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May 7, 2025
Don’t Search For An Obituary By Only Searching For An “Obituary”
In the quest to trace our roots and understand our heritage, obituaries often serve as a crucial starting point. Obituaries are undoubtedly…
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April 9, 2025
Unveiling the Hidden Mysteries: Exploring Cold Cases and Unconventional Clues
Even the most esteemed police forces in the county encounter perplexing cold case files. These unsolved mysteries often leave investigators and genealogists…
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April 1, 2025
This Week in History: March 31st through April 6th
Discover History in The Community History Archives. This week in history, there is absolutely nothing to talk about… April Fools! April…
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March 24, 2025
This Week in History: March 24th through March 30th
Discover History in The Community History Archives. It has officially been a year since I started writing This Week in History,…
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March 18, 2025
It’s Your Community’s History, So Why Rent Something You Own?
We believe that history belongs to the communities where it was made - not locked behind paywalls or inaccessible due to budget restrictions. Subscription-based services and large content aggregators are generally more concerned with "content" and less concerned with the history that content contains. Their models typically involve a reoccurring charge for a plan that renews annually or licensing agreements with the library based on population served or circulation numbers. You are essentially Renting Access To YOUR History.
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