Illinois State Normal University financial ledger, 1857-1899

This remarkable ledger records the earliest expenditures of the fledgling Illinois State Normal University, including the purchase of desks, chalkboards, and books for the library, as well as such mundanities as the cost of digging a privy for the first building on campus ($18) and the number of pounds of coal it took to heat that building during November 1857 (206). Later pages document tuition received from students during the decade of 1890-1899.