Family papers, 1773-1955 and undated

The John Henry Hauberg papers, 1773-1998 and undated (bulk 1857-1955), primarily consists of the personal and professional papers of John Henry Hauberg. Personal papers include wills, deeds, financial records, land records, correspondence, and information on Hauberg's private library. In addition the collection includes papers related to Hauberg's civic and organizational activities as well as records related to the Denkmann-Weyerhaeuser Lumber Company.

Hauberg was very interested in local history, and he compiled approximately 150 volumes of research over the course of his life. The Collections series includes many of these volumes, which contain photographs, pictures, notes, maps, and transcribed oral histories, reminiscences, and interviews. Hauberg's research subjects include Black Hawk and the Black Hawk War of 1832, local Indegenous history and culture (primarily related to the Sauk and Meskwaki Tribes and Native American trade), the Sioux prison at Camp McClellan, Abraham Lincoln, early Rock Island history and Rock Island settlers, Colonel George Davenport, the American Revolution in Illinois and the West, and regional plants and forestry.

Hauberg spent much of his life photographing his family, home, surroundings, and subjects that interested him. Hauberg's papers include approximately 8,000 glass plate images, 60,000 film negatives, 30,000 photographic prints, 1,000 stereograph cards, and 1,000 35mm slides. The bulk of these images are unprocessed, but subjects documented in them include Hauberg's family and home, Hauberg's international and domestic travels, Native American groups and trails, local plant life and landscape scenes, Rock Island County history, and portraits.

In addition to Hauberg's personal papers, this collection also contains the Hauberg family papers, much of which was collected and preserved by John Hauberg. These materials include financial records, correspondence, estate records (wills, deeds, land records, etc.), photographs, scrapbooks, and other papers created by Hauberg's family, as well as the personal papers of Susanne Denkmann Hauberg, which include diaries, correspondence, and newsclippings.