The Evolution of Southern Illinois - help needed

[Nutmeg]

A friend of mine is looking into political changes in southern Illinois from roughly 1960 to 2000.  I was helping her out a bit, and I realized that the collective wisdom of this forum might also be a valuable resource.

Might anyone have some links or know of books that might be helpful for this topic, or have any insights generally into this region?

Thank you in advance for anything you might contribute!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

First question; how is Southern Illinois being defined?

[Nutmeg]

First question; how is Southern Illinois being defined?

That's a good question - southwestern Illinois is probably more the area of scope.  She's mostly looking at the current incarnation of the 12th CD, with some particular emphasis on Randolph County (I'm not sure why yet).

[muon2]

First question; how is Southern Illinois being defined?

That's a good question - southwestern Illinois is probably more the area of scope.  She's mostly looking at the current incarnation of the 12th CD, with some particular emphasis on Randolph County (I'm not sure why yet).

Randolph county is quite important in early IL history, since it's the site of the first state capital. I'm not sure what type of history is being sought for the period from 1960-2000. The Southern Illinoisan, based in Carbondale, is probably the best newspaper source for the region. North of Randolph gets in to Metro East St  Louis.

[Nutmeg]

Randolph county is quite important in early IL history, since it's the site of the first state capital. I'm not sure what type of history is being sought for the period from 1960-2000.

Thanks for that information, muon2.

Her main focus seems to be looking at voting patterns there - trying to figure out its partisanship and which issues have motivated voters there over the years.  The area has somewhat swung Republican at the presidential recently, despite being pretty solidly Democratic for other offices, and it voted for Perot in 1992 and Wallace in 1968 in greater proportion than did the rest of the state.  So I guess she's looking into these anomalous sorts of tendencies.