Knox Archives Contributes Issues of "The Old Soldier"

The Knox College Special Collections and Archives recently contributed several issues of a rare newspaper, The Old Soldier, to the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections. The entire run of the paper from February 1840 to October 1840 is now online and freely available to researchers around the world thanks to the contributions made by Knox College, the Newberry Library and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The project to digitize all issues of this newspaper originated at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Abraham Lincoln was one of the editors of The Old Soldier. The newspaper is a campaign newspaper in support of Whig candidate William Henry Harrison's presidential bid. Lincoln supported the Whig party and acted as an elector for Harrison for the State of Illinois. Harrison won the election in 1840 but died in office after severing for less than one month.