Ward Schrantz Local History Article Index
The collection entitled "Ward Schrantz Local History Columns" originally ran in the Carthage Press newspaper and has never been reprinted in any other format. Drawn largely from various newspaper resources at the disposal of Schrantz, a journalist for the Carthage Press, the articles were written as a review of Carthage historical events in chronological order.
The museum has two sets of Ward Schrantz columns. One set was created by the Bank of Carthage as a clipping file and covers topic years 1868 (year bank was founded) and continues through the end of the columns at the death of writer Ward Schrantz (1958). Set two was photocopied from microfilm over the course of many years from the microfilm holdings of the Carthage Press at the Carthage Library. This set covers the earliest columns prior to the set created by the Bank of Carthage. However, some Civil War year columns were not copied as much of this material is contained in Ward Schrantz's book Jasper County in the Civil War and which the museum had access to when the copying project was started.
The index contained here is an abbreviated version (revised in 2008). It is based on a more comprehensive index created several years by volunteers as they read the articles and highlighted names, places, businesses, and other subjects. Given the number of persons working on the project in its initial stages in the 1990s, variances in handwriting, missing columns due to skips in publication schedule, etc., the index is not complete nor mistake-proof. It is however, the only tool available at the moment for working with these columns.
Due to other major projects, an anticipated full revision of the index scheduled for 2007–08 has not taken place. It has also come to light that the Jasper County Records Center is working on their own index to a slightly different set of Ward Schrantz Local History Columns. Therefore, the Powers Museum has placed a revised index online for temporary use by researchers until such time the JCRC index will become the index standard.
Consultation of these articles can be made for free on-site at the Powers Museum during regular public hours. However, the museum can no longer offer free look-up services or photocopies on this collection for internet/phone inquiries. Please email the museum for further details.
When using the materials at the Powers Museum, photocopied columns must be used given the delicate nature of the original Bank of Carthage clipping file. They are housed in notebooks in the following configurations:
Notebook 1
Subject years: 1840—1874
Carthage Evening Press dates: 11-03-1949 to 0 8-07-1951
Notebook 2
Subject years: 1875—1884
CEP dates: 08-16-1951 to 10-22-1952
Notebook 3
Subject years: 1885—1890
CEP dates: 10-30-1952 to 12-31-1953
Notebook 4
Subject years: 1891—1895
CEP dates: 01-09-1954
Notebook 5
Subject years: 1896 —1899
CEP dates: 01-06-1955 to 09-01-1955
Notebook 6
Subject years: 1900—June 1902
CEP dates: 01-04-1956 to 12-27-1956
Notebook 7
Subject years: July 1902—August 1904
CEP dates: 01-03-1957
Notebook 8
Subject years: September 1904—January 1906
CEP dates: 12-19-1957 to 07-10-1958
For more information on Ward Schrantz consult the Jasper County Records Center at the Jasper County Courthouse Annex at Lincoln & Central. Also consult the Carthage Public Library for microfilm copies of Ward Schrantz papers formerly owned by Marvin VanGilder and now located at the JCRC.