Inventory of the County Archives of Illinois, Vol. 86 Shelby County (Shelbyville) (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Inventory of the County Archives of Illinois, Vol. 86: Shelby County (Shelbyville)
The Inventory of the County Archives of Illinois is one of a number of bibliographies of historical material prepared throughout the United States by workers of the Historical Records Survey Program of the Work Projects Administration. The publication herewith presented, an inventory of the archives of Shelby County, is number of 86 of the Illinois series.
The Historical Records Survey Program was undertaken in the winter of 1935-36 for the purpose of providing useful employment to needy unemployed historians, lawyers, teachers, and research and clerical workers. In carrying out this objective the project was organized to compile inventories of historical materials, particularly the unpublished government documents and records which are basic in the administration of local government, and which provide invaluable data for students of political, economic, and social history. The archival guide herewith presented is intended to meet the requirements of day-to-day administration by the officials of the county and also the needs of lawyers, business men and other citizens who require facts from the public records for the proper conduct of their affairs. The volume is so designed that it can be used by the historian in his research in unprinted sources in the same way he uses the library card catalog for printed sources.
The inventories produced by The Historical Records Survey Program attempted to do more than give merely a list of records - they attempt further to sketch in the historical background of the county or other unit of government, and to describe precisely and in detail the organization and functions of the government agencies whose records they list. The county, town, and other local inventories for the entire country will, when completed, constitute an encyclopedia of local government as well as a bibliography of local archives.
The successful conclusion of the work of The Historical Records Survey Program, even in a single county, would not be possible without the support of public officials, historical and legal specialists, and many other groups in the community. Their cooperation is gratefully acknowledged.
The Survey Program was organized and has been directed by Luther H. Evans, and operates as a nation-wide series of locally sponsored projects in the Division of Professional and Service Projects, of which Florence Kerr, Assistant Commissioner, is in charge.
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