Interns Work with Selig Collection

Interns

Interns from the KU Museum Studies Program, (left to right) Kimberly Schmidt, Anne Benning, and Brittany Keegan, are busy cleaning one of the archives largest collections, the A. L. Selig collection. Later the interns will be cataloging, entering information into Past Perfect museum software, and housing the collection in acid free containers.

Mr. A. L. (August Ludwig) Selig established his Lawrence insurance company in 1874. The Selig family came to the United States from Hamburg, Germany in 1858 when A. L. was 12 years of age. In 1859 his family settled in Lawrence where he worked for the Hannibal and St. Joe Railroad as a water carrier. He moved eastward as he worked for the railroad, ending up in Illinois working as a farm hand.

At 15 years of age he enlisted in 1861 in the 49^th Illinois regiment. He served three years and then re-enlisted, serving until the close of the Civil War. In October of 1865 at the age of nineteen he returned to Lawrence and began his career in Lawrence as a tinner. It wasn’t until 1874 that he entered into the insurance business. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge.

A.L. Selig

In 1890 he began his political career serving as a member of the city councilman for two years. In 1891, A. L. Selig was nominated and elected mayor of the city of Lawrence, and re-elected for four terms.

A. L. Selig’s home was located at 1321 New Hampshire St.