Good News!
Left picture: Katherine Graber of Wheaton College Special Collections watches as Miriam Rockness of Lilias Trotter Legacy signs paperwork gifting the Lilias Trotter materials to Wheaton College Special Collections. Right picture: Katherine and Miriam admire the recently acquired 21 Lilias Trotter watercolor paintings.
April 20-21, Lilias Trotter Legacy Board met at The Wade Center (Wheaton College, Illinois) for their first on-site meeting since the pandemic. The purpose was to review and renew our commitment to the Mission Statement, address immediate and long-term plans, projects, publications, and secure the guardianship of the Lilias Trotter Legacy materials.
A highlight of this gathering was meeting with Katherine Graber, Group Leader for Buswell Library Archives & Special Collections. Currently, LTL gifted Wheaton Special Collections the Egerton Collection of Lilias Trotter’s three original journals and two original sketchbooks, plus an additional 21 original watercolor paintings – a total of approximately 225 paintings and drawings. Katherine shared with the Board the mission of Wheaton Special Collection to collect and preserve significant archival papers as well as ways in which they make them accessible to researchers and to the public. (Click here to see Wheaton College’s announcement of this acquisition)
These valuable primary resources join other Trotter-related materials in Lilias Trotter Papers (SC-225) – pamphlets, story parables, copies of diaries (1899-1928), copies of John Ruskin’s letters to Lilias Trotter, maps, works by and about Trotter, and more – making this the most significant Trotter repository in the United States.
We are honored to place our treasured Trotter archives at Wheaton Special Collections at Wheaton College, an academic institution known for its longevity, integrity, scholarly excellence, and Christ-centered mission. We know that Lilias Trotter is in good hands! Now and for the future. And, in turn, we are grateful that this recent acquisition is valued by Wheaton College, described by President Philip Ryken as “historically significant, aesthetically beautiful, spiritually meaningful, missionally inspiring.”
We offer you a glimpse of the recently donated collection through the eyes of the very first visitors to enjoy these special treasures! Come and see these original resources for yourself!
Left picture: Susan Yates, Barbara Rainey, and Joanne Thompson viewing the 21 watercolors. Right picture: Susan and Barbara viewing Trotter Journal.
“Holding and gazing at the paintings was such an honor. It’s spell binding to hold such precious sacred history in one’s hands.” ~ Joanne Thompson
Lilias Trotter Papers
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