Associated Press - November 17, 2009 4:14 AM ET

MACOMB, Ill. (AP) - Two Western Illinois University librarians are making western Illinois history more accessible online.

A grant allowed librarians Bill Thompson and Jeff Hancks to put the contents of several historical societies' newsletters on the Web.

Included in the collection are newsletters from historical societies in the western Illinois counties of Hancock, McDonough, Rock Island and Schuyler.

The newsletters can be browsed by individual issue. They include an account of the first-known murder in Schuyler County.

Scanning the newsletters took almost a year. Student worker Kylene Davenport completed the bulk of the time-intensive scanning work.

On the Net:

http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/

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