Elijah P. Lovejoy Library, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, Illinois

[LIB1802] The Library was named for the abolitionist newspaper editor, Elijah Lovejoy, who was shot and killed while defending his press from a pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois in 1837.

Special Collection: The National Ragtime and Jazz Archive In March 1974 the Board of Trustees, in recognition of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's part in the St. Louis metropolitan community and its rich cultural tradition of jazz and ragtime music, established the National Ragtime and Jazz Archive (NRJA) at Lovejoy Library. The archive documents early recorded jazz and in particular the lives of notable jazz musicians from the St. Louis area. The John Randolph Collection, with approximately 10,500 78-rpm records, provided the original basis for the NRJA Record Collection. Today there are more than 20,000 records in the archive. Audio and videotapes, sheet music, piano rolls, photographs and oral history materials are also included. [Website]