Fannie Mae Bartman was born in 1910 on a farm near New Holland, IL, to Koert and Sunkea Janssen Bartman.  She graduated New Holland High School, and in 1932, Illinois Wesleyan University.  She earned an MA in 1941 and a masters in library science in 1951, both from University of Illinois.  She taught in several Illinois school systems, retiring after 36 years at Mount Prospect school district.

She traveled to many lands during her summers.  After retirement, she be came a volunteer Braille transcriber, assisting the Lutheran Library for 20 years.  She was a member of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Bloomington, and lived her last years at Westminster Village in the same town.

This collection includes family vital records, family written biographies, Illinois Wesleyan University and Alumni Association documents, family correspondence mostly from WWI and WWII periods, WWI ration books, etc.