July 14, 2025
Linda Blaser
Library awarded grant to digitize historic Patterson family letters
Lake Forest College has received a $3,000 grant from the Illinois State Historical Records Advisory Board to digitize a significant part of its Special Collections—correspondence between Joseph Medill Patterson and his three daughters.
The one-year project, which began July 1, 2025, will expand access to this historic collection by making the digitized materials publicly available online.
Joseph Medill Patterson, a successful businessman and newspaper publisher, was the grandson of Lake Forest College’s first president, Rev. Robert W. Patterson, and Joseph Medill, the influential editor and co-owner of the Chicago Tribune who also served as mayor of Chicago from 1871 to 1873.
The Patterson family papers are among the College’s most requested archival holdings, drawing researchers from across the country.
This project is led by Natalia Gutierrez-Jones, who joined the College in December 2024 as Archivist and Librarian for Special Collections. Gutierrez-Jones applied for and secured the competitive grant through the Illinois State Archives’ Historical Records Grant Program, which supports archival repositories in making historically significant collections more accessible to the public through digitization and placing of digital content online.
QUOTE FROM NATALIA
“We congratulate our archivist and commend our library for receiving this grant from the Illinois State Historical Records Advisory Board, which makes it possible to digitize the letters between Joseph Medill Patterson and his three daughters and make them available to researchers near and far,” said Provost and Dean of the Faculty Tara Natarajan. “Our college is proud to serve as an important intellectual resource to our community and beyond.”
The grant reflects Lake Forest College’s ongoing commitment to preserving and sharing the historical and cultural narratives that help define Illinois and the broader region. Once digitized, the Patterson family letters will offer scholars, students, and history enthusiasts an even deeper look into one of Illinois’s most prominent families and their lasting influence.
Student archivist helps connect past to present
Aika Minja, a student Archives Assistant, has been helping prepare the five boxes of Patterson family correspondence for digitization. She’s responsible for organizing letters chronologically within folders—a critical step in preserving both the order and context of the collection.
Reflecting on the experience, she shared: “It’s really interesting to see how we can preserve history in different ways—and how even the smallest things, like a postcard, can be meaningful when we study the past. As a humanities major, I’m fascinated by how history shows up in the present and can even help us understand the future.”
“Working on this collection gives me insight into the personal lives behind big historical names. You might think of someone like Joseph Medill Patterson as a larger-than-life figure, but reading his letters to his daughters—asking if they’ve recovered from the flu or how they’re doing—reminds you that they were real people with emotions and everyday concerns. It helps humanize these great figures and brings history closer to us.”
A living legacy: Patterson Lodge
The Patterson family legacy is also embedded in the campus landscape. Patterson Lodge—now home to the Office of Admissions—was one of the original buildings constructed during the College’s early years of degree-level instruction between 1876 and 1890.
Alongside North Hall and College Hall, it formed a distinctive crescent of yellow-brick buildings intended to realize the founders’ vision of a park-like campus setting.
Every student who has entered Lake Forest College has passed through its doors, linking generations of Foresters to the institution’s historic roots.