Publications

The Historic Elsah Foundation has a supply of publications that frequently come into demand.

Below is a listing of available materials. Postage will need to be supplied also.

BOOKLETS:

Chautauqua, Illinois: A Brief History, by William Fabian (1975) $3.50
This 44-page booklet is a comprehensive history of our neighboring community of Chautauqua. It includes 5 chapters of text, a bibliography, an index, and 14 photographs.

Elsah: A Historic Guidebook, by Charles Hosmer and Paul Williams (1967)
No longer in print, but available digitally at archive.org.
This guide to buildings and history of Elsah was awarded a certificate of commendation by the American Association for State and Local History and has long been an aid to visitors to Elsah. Copies have been sent to almost all the states and some far regions of the world. So far it is the most comprehensive history of Elsah.

Elsah Bluff Prairies: Ecological Antiques, by Marilyn Bland (1972) $1.50
This study of the unique ecosystems of the bluff prairies in the Elsah area is both scientifically accurate and fascinating.

Elsah Citizens: Some Early Listings, by Ann Wheeler (1972) $2.00
This publication is chiefly of interest to local genealogists. It consists of listings of 19th century Elsah citizens, including a complete (to 1972) roster of the stones in the Elsah graveyard. This has proved to be one of the most useful research tools HEF has developed.

Frederick Oakes Sylvester: The Artist’s Encounter with Elsah, by Paul Williams (1986) $8.75
Color-illustrated, this was HEF’s most ambitious publication to date.

The Great River, Master Sculptor, by P. Robertson (1974) $2.50
Professor Emeritus Robertson examines the geology of the Elsah area and the fossil remains. Included is a key to the various formations one encounters in a drive on the River Road from Alton to Pere Marquette State Park.

Jeremiah’s Elsah, by G. Samek, B. McCauley (1977) $2.00
Composed of newspaper reports written from Elsah 130 years ago, this pamphlet gives a particularly graphic picture of life in the village from the point of view of a real Midwestern humorist with a vivid sense of life.

McNair Family of Elsah, IL: Uncommon Common Men, by Paul Williams (1982) $3.00

Village of Elsah: History, Recipes & Lore, by Sue Collester (1999) $4.00

OTHER:

Christmas cards of Village Hall, by Glenn Felch $1.00

The Maybeck Pilot (1972) $.50
This publication outlines the designing and building of the Principia College campus by famous California architect, Bernard Maybeck.

Notepaper–Elsah scene, 5-color $1.25
This consists of a fine Elsah composite scene on 5 different pastel note folders with matching envelopes. A good gift, or a good stationery for short notes to friends.

Portfolio of 4 prints
Elsah artists James Green, James Schmidt, Glenn Felch, and Judith McCreary Felch have created 4 favorite Elsah scenes with new glimpses of its fragile yet enduring fascination. $15.00; or single prints $5.00

Frederick Oakes Sylvester souvenir, $.25
The souvenir is a small full-color reproduction of a F.O. Sylvester riverscape with information inside.

Elsah lamps – SOLD OUT 

Elsah History (newsletters) $2.00, except # 50 – Anniversary edition, #65 -1993 Flood edition, & 70-71 Farley Music Hall which are $2.50
1 Fall 1971: About Historic Elsah
2 1st Quarter 1972: Elsah’s Doll Museum
3 2nd Quarter 1972: House Tour
4 3rd Quarter 1972: Country Schools
5 Winter Quarter 1972-3: The Superflood of 1973
6 July-August 1973: Elsah on the National Register
7 January 1974: Restoration of Village Hall
8 March 1974: The Case of the Clobbered Cooper
9 April 1974: Village Inn Restored
10 December 1974: Elsah Methodist Church Centennial
11 February 1975: An Elsah Phoenix
12 March 1975: Elsah’s First Citizens
13-14 December 1975: A New Place in Town [Elsah Landing Restaurant]
15 April 1976: Elsah Remembers Aaron Darr
16 August 1976: The Big Fourth [Bicentennial]
17 November 1976: Elsah at the Turn of the Century
18 January 1977: Elsah’s Oldest Artifact?
19 April 1977: Elsah Outbuildings
20-21 August 1977: Backgrounds of the Elsah Piggots
22 December 1977: Winter Eagles
23 April 1978: Restoring the Village Hall Interior
24 August 1978: The Village of Elsah Museum
25-26 December 1978: Notchcliff
27 April 1979: Paul O. Williams: A Tribute
28 September 1979: Another Side to Notchcliff and Eliestoun
29-30 December 1979: Change in Elsah
31 September 1980: An Elsah Garden in Selma Square
32 Summer 1980: A Rock Wall Tour
33-34 Fall 1980: Eliestoun of the Turners
35-36 Winter/Spring 1981: Byron Brock’s Elsah
37-38 Summer/Fall 1981: Miss Lucy McDow
39 Winter 1982: Elsah School: A Teaching Laboratory
40 Summer 1982: Artists in Elsah
41 Fall 1982: The River, A Scrapbook
42 1983: A Life of Service [Pat Farmer]
43-44 1983: Elsah’s First Restorations
45 1984: First Restorations, Part II
46-47 1984: Rudolph Tandler, Elsah Artist
48-49 1985: Magarie Rhoades: Beacon on the River
Elsah Album 1985
50 Summer/Fall 1985: Rev. Henry H. Delicate
1986: booklet-Frederick Oakes Sylvester
51 1987: Where Did Elsah Get Its Name?
52 1987: What the Newspapers Tell Us: Building Activity in Elsah
53 1987: “Riverview,” Part I
54 1988: Riverview House, Part II
55 1989: Interview with Bob Lowder
56 1989: An Elsah Museum Scrapbook
57 1989: Museum
58 1990: The Impact of the Civil War on Elsah
59 December 1990: Interview with Bob Lowder, Part II
60 1991: Elsah and the Great River Road
61 1992: The Elsah Mural in the McNair-Hosmer House
62 1992: Restoration of the Elsah Schoolhouse
63 1993: Series of Historical Perspectives
64-65 1994: The Great Flood of 1993
66 1994: Charles B. Hosmer, Jr.
67 1994: A Tribute to Jane Pfeifer, Our Mayor
68 1995: Who is Minding the Store?
69 1995: The Character of a Village
70-71 1996: Farley Music Hall
72-73 1997: 25 Years of Historic Elsah Foundation
74-75 1998: Elsah: Five Years after the Flood
76 August 1999: Update on Village Happenings
77-78 2000: The Semple Family Returns to Elsah
79 Fall 2000: Who Lives Where in 2000?–An Elsah Millennialist
80 Spring 2001: Jay Gould & the Grand Elsah Railroad Tunnel
81 Fall 2001: Bob Lowder Remembered
82 Spring 2002: For Those Who Love Her (Elsah)
83 Fall 2002: Reinvent the front of Elsah?
84 Late fall 2002: Some of What Helen Remembers
85 Spring 2003: Eliestoun of the Turners
86 Fall 2003: Elsah Sesquicentennial
87 Spring 2004: Elsah’s Early Structures and Streetscapes
88 Fall 2004: Rev. Mary Elizabeth Hughes
89 Spring 2005: The Village of Elsah Museum
90 Autumn 2005: At Home with Nancy McDow
91 Spring 2006: Preserving Farley Music Hall
92 Autumn 2006: The Dinky
93 Summer 2007: Elsah Businesses: Past and Present
94 Winter 2007/2008: Elsah memories of a Privileged Young Boy
95/96 Summer and Fall 2008: “The People of Elsah” by Ed Keller, Elsah in the 1920s and 1930s
97 Spring: Discovering Elsah – The Tenth Anniversary of Elsah’s Photography Contest
98 Fall 2009: The Founding of Elsah
99 Summer 2010: Signs of the Times
100 Spring 2011: Celebrating “Issue No. 100” and 40 years for Historic Elsah Foundation
101 Spring 2012: Celebrating Historic Elsah in Spring
102 Fall 2012: Elsah Celebrates Autumn
103 Summer 2013: In the Presence of the Past
104 Fall 2013: Walter J. Cresswell, Stonemason
105/106 Spring 2014: Historic Preservation and the Land
105/106 Addendum [pdf]
107 Spring 2015: Elsah Village in Bloom
108 Winter 2016: Telling Elsah’s Stories
109/110 Summer 2016: Living Along the Great Mississippi River
111 Winter 2017: Gifts for Elsah’s Legacy
112 Fall 2017: Restoring the Elsah Village Hall Doors
113 Spring 2018: Elsah Mural Revised