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| What is the CNWHS? |
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The Chicago & North Western Historical Society was founded in 1973 by a group of Midwestern railfans interested in the C&NW, its predecessors, and merged lines. These include the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha; Minneapolis & St. Louis; Chicago Great Western; Litchfield & Madison; Fort Dodge, Des Moines & Southern; and Des Moines & Central Iowa.
The Society's purpose is to collect, circulate and preserve the history of the C&NW, its predecessors and merged lines; to create and publish a newsletter or magazine; and promote fellowship among C&NW fans and Society members.
Since its beginning, the Society has grown to more than 2500 members nationally and internationally. It is a not-for-profit corporation chartered in the state of Illinois and is exempt from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code.
North Western Lines is a quarterly publication which began in early 1974 as a seven page mimeograph issue totaling 85 copies. Today it is published by the Society as one of the premier historical publications with 80 pages and an excess of 5,000 readers. Each issue contains current news, feature articles, rosters, schedules, technical information, and modeling articles. Members are encouraged to participate by writing articles and submitting photographs.
Each issue of North Western Lines contains a regular column "C&NW Happenings" which reports current news events on all lines of the former C&NW and merged companies. Readers are kept up-to-date on corporate activities as well as train operations, equipment and route map changes. News photos supplement this reporting of recent history.
The Northern Illinois Regional History Center is located on the campus of Northern Illinois University at DeKalb, Illinois. Here is the repository for a collection of the C&NW Historical Society papers and photographs. An inventory list describing the contents of each file box is available The archives are open to the public during normal business hours. Photocopy and photographic services are available for a fee. Also the archives committee has a genealogy research assistant available in the Chicago area.
The annual convention is held each year on the third weekend in May. Located somewhere in the Midwest on the C&NW's system, this gathering consists of a business and general meeting. These meetings are further enhanced by fan trips, tours, clinics, slide shows, movies, modeling and photo contest, a dinner and speaker and swap meet.
For more information, please visit www.cnwhs.org.
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