Scope and Contents: Laura Cooper’s diaries, located in box one, date from 1892 to 1893, 1938 to 1942, 1944 to 1948, and 1954 to 1965. The diaries offer a chronicle of one woman’s day-to-day activities over a number of years including comments on family, deaths of relatives and town members, church activities, and other common situations such as meals and weather.
Box two of the collection contains reminiscences of Mrs. Cooper about Byron’s Congregational Church (1897-1924); weekly bulletins, programs, histories, and anniversary booklets from several Byron churches and the Middle Creek Presbyterian Church in Winnebago, Illinois. Mrs. Cooper’s husband, John T., was active in granges throughout Ogle County and file 11 consists of grange histories, programs, and reminiscences (1936-1958). Of special interest to the researcher is a Byron Centennial History, 1835-1935.
Several sunday school books (ca. 1910), children’s story books and prayer books are included in box 3. Also in box 3 is a one hundred and ten page scrapbook compiled by Mrs. Cooper which contains newspaper clippings documenting the history of the Cooper and Whitney families and that of Byron itself (1899-1942).
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