IL SR1209

G. Cullom Davis of Springfield passed away on September 9, 2022; he was born May 2, 1935 in Aurora to George and Elizabeth (Scripps) Davis.

Davis earned a degree in History from Princeton University in 1957 and a Ph.D. in American History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1968; he taught at Punahou School in Hawaii and Indiana University before joining Sangamon State University (later University of Illinois at Springfield) as founding faculty in 1969.

Davis served 39 years at SSU/UIS, created and led the university's Oral History Office, authored seminal oral history texts including "Oral History: From Tape to Type" (1977), and designed the Public History concentration for the master's degree in History.

Davis directed the Lincoln Legal Papers project beginning in 1981 until his retirement in 2008, creating the most comprehensive chronicle of Abraham Lincoln's legal career through discovery, interpretation, indexing, and digitization of Lincoln's legal works.

Davis was active in Springfield civic life, supporting Planned Parenthood, school desegregation, Lincoln Memorial Gardens expansion, education on the 1908 Springfield Race Riot, and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library; he also served on the Springfield Marine Bank board and as a trustee of the Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund.