Longtime general superintendent of the Illinois Baptist State Convention, Edward P. Brand was charged with gathering historical data and writing an account of the Baptists’ history across the prairies of Illinois. His work, published posthumously by the Convention in 1930, is not, as Charles Durden notes in the foreword, “an official history. It is better than that. It is the outpouring of the rich mind of one whose life-roots were deeply embedded in the life and progress of the Baptists in [Illinois].” This thoughtful, personal history features concise chapters that lay out significant events, people, growth, and challenges faced by early Illinois Baptists.