Memoirs and Memories
Memories are part of our personal history. Our experiences of a special person, place, time, or event are forever recorded in our minds. Your personal accounts can provide invaluable insight into the past. We invite you to share your personal memories of Mercer County, even if you no longer live in Mercer County. You can write about significant places or events from your time in Mercer County, Illinois. Stories can be about anything you wish, such as school days, farm life, a business that is no longer here, old roads, town events, etc. Submissions can be as long or as short as you wish. From a page or two to a paragraph or two.
The Mercer County Historical Society will collect and preserve these stories. The submitted memoirs will be available here at the museum for future generations to enjoy and we will post some of these memories in upcoming issues of our newsletter.
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Your personal memories can be about anywhere in Mercer County. If you have photographs from the past that help to tell the story, please include them too.
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You can submit your memories on our website, by mail, or in person at the museum. You can submit as many as you wish. Your story is worth telling!
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To submit a story, please click here:
Suggested Categories
You may choose from a category below or create your own.
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Home Life (cooking, recipes, routines, activities, holidays, etc.)
Family Life (parents, siblings, grandparents, homes, family values, etc.)
School Days (class experiences, one-room schoolhouse stories, activities, teachers, etc.)
Farm Life (routines, roles, animals, rural conditions, hunting, etc.)
Earning a Living (early jobs, income struggles, work interactions, etc.)
Stores/Businesses/Buildings
Transportation (automobiles, trains, etc.)
Special Places (park, library, nature site, old road, cemetery, etc.)
Events (fairs, parades, parties, town events, etc.)
War (family member or friend going off to war/coming home from war)