The Hosmer-Williams Lecture Series will present the second lecture of its 2023 season, Soldiers with Picks and Shovels, featuring author and journalist Tom Emery of Carlinville, Illinois, Thursday, May 18, 2023, at 7:30 pm, in historic Farley’s Music Hall, 37 Mill Street, Elsah, Illinois.
Soldiers is the story of the Civilian Conservation Corps, a signature and highly successful program of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, launched early in FDR’s first 100 days, and important to southern Illinois and this region’s history during the Great depression.
Tom Emery’s book, Soldiers with Picks and Shovels, is now available in its second edition. He describes the CCC as putting millions of young men to work, building state parks, creating and implementing forest conservation programs, even helping with preparedness for what would be World War II. Emery will speak to the lasting legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Emery has authored several books and is widely known as a speaker in southern Illinois and elsewhere. He has received a number of awards from the Illinois Historical Society. This presentation in the Hosmer-Williams series will be his first speaking engagement in Elsah.
The Series is a mission-fulfillment commitment of Historic Elsah Foundation, founded in 1971 by Principia College faculty members Charles B. Hosmer and Paul Williams. Four lectures are presented annually. The lectures are free of charge and open to all. Refreshments are available following the lectures.
The Hosmer-Williams Lecture Series is supported in part by Liberty Bank of Alton-Godfrey, Illinois, by anonymous donors, and by the Board and membership of Historic Elsah Foundation. Photo: nps.gov