The Board of Trustees of Peoria Public Library invites those interested to join them on Friday, November 4 at 6:30 p.m. in the Local History Room as the Local History Collection is dedicated in honor of Betty Roberson, who worked at Peoria Public Library for 52 years and was instrumental in the formation of the Peoria and Illinois Collection.

Local journalist Theo Jean Kenyon summed up Mrs. Roberson’s extensive knowledge when she stated in a Journal Star newspaper article from April 21, 1996, “Before the Internet or World Wide Web, Betty Roberson was an information superhighway all by herself.” Her work is reflected in books, articles, documentaries and more produced by local authors, storytellers, the media and national publishers.

Betty J. Roberson (February 19, 1929-March 7, 2003) worked for the Peoria Public Library from September 21, 1950 until her retirement on August 30, 2002. She began in the Reference Department at the Main Library, and then spent several years working at the McClure Branch and West Bluff Branch before asking to come back to the Main Library in 1953. Mrs. Roberson became the recognized authority on local history, using the library’s unique treasury of historic information about the city and surrounding area.

She created a “Peoria Biographical Index” which is a card catalog listing the locations of names in published works and vertical files in the Peoria and Illinois historical library collection and selected the 2,000 historic Peoria photographs of greatest significance for a grant-funded project that allowed Peoria Public Library to digitize photos and preserve them on CDs.

Roberson assisted local journalist Michael Smothers with his research for the 1995 Peoria Journal Star series “Tales of Our City” and provided extensive information to Peoria’s PBS affiliate WTVP when producer William Baker produced the documentary “Main Street Memories.”

Her research assistance is acknowledged in many published works about Peoria history, such as: Peoria…Impressions of 150 Years, Bill Adams’ Yester Days, and Monica Vest Wheeler’s The Grandest Views: A History of the Peoria Park District

In 1996, she received the Reference Services Award at the Illinois Library Association’s Centennial Conference

It is with pride and pleasure that the staff and Board of Peoria Public Library name this collection in her honor.