Many Members.
One Mission.

From 1979 until his retirement in 2016, John M. Hoffmann served as Director of the Illinois Historical Survey at the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign, which today is the Illinois History and Lincoln Collections. John was known among faculty, graduate students, and researchers as "a walking bibliography of Illinois history" for his ability to remember relevant articles and books from the early 20th century forward. He was born and raised in Springfield and earned his Ph.D. in American Studies at Harvard University in 1972. His work has appeared in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, and other scholarly periodicals. His research topics included Robert Todd Lincoln, the Battle of Gettysburg, and other Civil War battles, as well as his ongoing work about sculptor Leonard Volk. In 1991, Dr. Hoffmann edited A Guide to the History of Illinois, which became the standard reference source into archives and secondary reading; and in 2010, he wrote the book, Lincoln Hall at the University of Illinois, an illustrated architectural history that also explained the fourteen friezes of Lincoln and his era that adorn that building. All of these establish him as an important scholar of Illinois history.

For decades, John Hoffmann's fingerprints appeared on numerous projects heightening our understanding and appreciation of Illinois history. John M. Hoffmann's career, his service, represent the never-foot-noted pillar of enlivening and preserving Illinois history-inspiration. In his extensive career, he has inspired new generations to take up the cause, continuing to tell with new perspectives, the "wondrous history" of Illinois.

From 1979 until his retirement in 2016, John M. Hoffmann served as Director of the Illinois Historical Survey at the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign, which today is the Illinois History and Lincoln Collections. John was known among faculty, graduate students, and researchers as "a walking bibliography of Illinois history" for his ability to remember relevant articles and books from the early 20th century forward. He was born and raised in Springfield and earned his Ph.D. in American Studies at Harvard University in 1972. His work has appeared in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, and other scholarly periodicals. His research topics included Robert Todd Lincoln, the Battle of Gettysburg, and other Civil War battles, as well as his ongoing work about sculptor Leonard Volk. In 1991, Dr. Hoffmann edited A Guide to the History of Illinois, which became the standard reference source into archives and secondary reading; and in 2010, he wrote the book, Lincoln Hall at the University of Illinois, an illustrated architectural history that also explained the fourteen friezes of Lincoln and his era that adorn that building. All of these establish him as an important scholar of Illinois history.

For decades, John Hoffmann's fingerprints appeared on numerous projects heightening our understanding and appreciation of Illinois history. John M. Hoffmann's career, his service, represent the never-foot-noted pillar of enlivening and preserving Illinois history-inspiration. In his extensive career, he has inspired new generations to take up the cause, continuing to tell with new perspectives, the "wondrous history" of Illinois.

From 1979 until his retirement in 2016, John M. Hoffmann served as Director of the Illinois Historical Survey at the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign, which today is the Illinois History and Lincoln Collections. John was known among faculty, graduate students, and researchers as "a walking bibliography of Illinois history" for his ability to remember relevant articles and books from the early 20th century forward. He was born and raised in Springfield and earned his Ph.D. in American Studies at Harvard University in 1972. His work has appeared in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, and other scholarly periodicals. His research topics included Robert Todd Lincoln, the Battle of Gettysburg, and other Civil War battles, as well as his ongoing work about sculptor Leonard Volk. In 1991, Dr. Hoffmann edited A Guide to the History of Illinois, which became the standard reference source into archives and secondary reading; and in 2010, he wrote the book, Lincoln Hall at the University of Illinois, an illustrated architectural history that also explained the fourteen friezes of Lincoln and his era that adorn that building. All of these establish him as an important scholar of Illinois history.

For decades, John Hoffmann's fingerprints appeared on numerous projects heightening our understanding and appreciation of Illinois history. John M. Hoffmann's career, his service, represent the never-foot-noted pillar of enlivening and preserving Illinois history-inspiration. In his extensive career, he has inspired new generations to take up the cause, continuing to tell with new perspectives, the "wondrous history" of Illinois.

From 1979 until his retirement in 2016, John M. Hoffmann served as Director of the Illinois Historical Survey at the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign, which today is the Illinois History and Lincoln Collections. John was known among faculty, graduate students, and researchers as "a walking bibliography of Illinois history" for his ability to remember relevant articles and books from the early 20th century forward. He was born and raised in Springfield and earned his Ph.D. in American Studies at Harvard University in 1972. His work has appeared in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, and other scholarly periodicals. His research topics included Robert Todd Lincoln, the Battle of Gettysburg, and other Civil War battles, as well as his ongoing work about sculptor Leonard Volk. In 1991, Dr. Hoffmann edited A Guide to the History of Illinois, which became the standard reference source into archives and secondary reading; and in 2010, he wrote the book, Lincoln Hall at the University of Illinois, an illustrated architectural history that also explained the fourteen friezes of Lincoln and his era that adorn that building. All of these establish him as an important scholar of Illinois history.

For decades, John Hoffmann's fingerprints appeared on numerous projects heightening our understanding and appreciation of Illinois history. John M. Hoffmann's career, his service, represent the never-foot-noted pillar of enlivening and preserving Illinois history-inspiration. In his extensive career, he has inspired new generations to take up the cause, continuing to tell with new perspectives, the "wondrous history" of Illinois.