 His great-great-grandson David J. Langum Sr. has now donated the
entire collection of family papers, photographs, and audio and video
recordings to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in
Springfield. The materials are a rich resource for anyone doing
research from the mid-1800s to the present on such topics as
childhood, postsecondary education from professional and student
viewpoints, economics and financial regulation, legal education,
scholarly research and publication, and the Protestant Portuguese in
Illinois. The collection totals more than 90 archival boxes and
7,000 photographic images."Many of my ancestors were world-class
pack rats but lacked equivalent archival skills," said Langum. "I
have spent more than 10 years sorting their papers out and now am
very pleased that they have a fine permanent home and are available
for research."
"This multigenerational collection is truly a gem for students
and historians," said Eileen Mackevich, executive director of the
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. "The breadth
covered by the material is astonishing, and it provides a close look
at an American family as they experienced 160 years of history."
The donation includes the following:
De Mattos family papers, 1852-1929, 2001-2006
Antonio De Mattos, from Madeira Island, Portugal, settled in
Jacksonville with wife Isabella and organized the Portuguese
Presbyterian Church there in 1849. Their descendants included the
first mayor of Whatcom, which later became New Whatcom and then
Bellingham, Wash.
Henry Langum papers, 1911-1967
Henry Langum was born in 1882, the son of Norwegian immigrants
who settled in Lake County, S.D. He was a teacher, minister and
chiropractor. He and his wife, Anna, had three children, one of
whom, John, an economist, was a vice president of the Federal
Reserve Bank in Chicago.
[to top of second column] |
 John K. Langum papers, 1913-2001
John K. Langum was born in 1913 and was the owner and president
of Business Economics Inc., founded in 1951 in Chicago; vice
president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, 1941-1951;
economics lecturer at the University of Minnesota, University of
California-Berkeley, University of Chicago, Northwestern University
and University of Indiana; and an expert witness in finance and rate
of return, most notably in the Illinois Bell Telephone case.
Virginia Anne Langum papers, 1918-1971
Virginia Anne de Mattos Langum was born in 1918 and died in 1967
at Elgin. She was active in numerous Elgin area civic activities.
David J. Langum Sr. papers, 1940-2011
David J. Langum Sr. was born in 1940 and raised in Elgin. He has
been a legal historian and professor of law at numerous colleges and
universities in Alabama, Nevada, Michigan, California and
Washington. He is past president and director of the ACLU of
Alabama, founder of The Langum Charitable Trust and author of six
university press books.
___
Travel grants to study the De Mattos and Langum family papers are
available from The Langum Charitable Trust. For details and guides
to the papers, see
www.langumtrust.org.
For more information about the Abraham Lincoln Presidential
Library and Museum, visit
www.presidentlincoln.org.
[Text from
Abraham
Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
file received from the Illinois Historic
Preservation Agency] |
