About this Edition
Our aim in our letter selection process was to provide a small sample of the personalities and content that this collection provides. Since the McNitt Family Papers contain over a hundred different letters from more than twenty authors, it was impossible to present it in its entirety. We assembled this edition to give users a broad overview of the types of material these letters contain and the types of relationships this collection reflects. The letters chosen illustrate the relationships among community members and touch on a wide array of topics.
We chose to present the transcriptions of these letters in an expanded style. We wanted to make the content accessible to a modern audience, so we chose to correct and modernize the spelling in our transcriptions. However, to display the original character of the letters, we also included facsimiles in the form of photos that display the letters with the original appearance and spelling. The original letters contained racial epithets. As editors, we decided to redact the words in the transcription.
Our supplementary material, assembled through research about the Montgomery County community, includes research about the McNitt lineage that highlights the relationships between the McNitt sisters and their correspondents. Maps included as supplementary materials show the physical space and layout of Montgomery County and Illinois in that era.
Collection Source: McNitt Family Papers, MS 117, Illinois History and Lincoln Collections, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois.
