Marguerite E. (Dobson) Clarke (1916-2007) was a lifelong resident of Bloomington. She received a degree from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1962, having paused her education in 1937 because of the Great Depression. After receiving her degree, she taught in Saybrook-Arrowsmith for a year, and then served as a substitute teacher in the Bloomington-Normal area for 20 years. She married Harold Dee Clarke and had two daughters. She wrote extensively about Bloomington-Normal, covering the late nineteenth century and large portions of the twentieth century, with emphasis on a) the Bloomington-Normal community over time, b) the Depression, and c) World War II. The building of the McLean County Courthouse and its preservation are of particular interest.
The collection includes manuscripts devoted to building the McLean County Courthouse; a retrospective history of Bloomington in 1891; a history of Bloomington-Normal in the 1930s; and the G.A.R. and the last veterans of the Civil War. There is also a published paperbound book, Tales and Details of World War II Plus a Few Reflections (1989).