Société Fondature Morte
In
the days to come we will hear many stories and anecdotes about the life
and adventures of the Grand Lady of the National Icarian Heritage
Society. Friends, students, and acquaintances will regale us with
marvelous accounts of her determined drive to bring the Icarian movement
in America to the public attention, and especially the Descendants of
that brave band of intrepid pioneers who came to America to establish a
better way of life for themselves and their offspring. Now, the Society
only can pause in numbness and pain and recall again her life.
The Society, with deep sadness, regretfully announces that Lillian Mary Snyder, Founder, died on November 2, 2005 following a lengthy illness. Her untiring devotion to chronicle and proclaim the history and heritage of the Icarian movement in America has been an inspiration to all who heard or knew her. Traveling throughout America and abroad, she carried the story of the early Icarian struggle to establish a utopian life despite epidemiological catastrophes and economic hardships. She will be missed by a host of friends who knew her or heard her speak.
Dr. Lillian M. Snyder retired as Executive Director July 17, 1992. Although she remained an active Society member, she decided to “down-size” her activities. The principal competing demand for her time was The Icarian Living History Museum, which she created in Nauvoo, IL. Since the Museum’s 1988 dedication, she spent much time greeting visitors, planning Museum activities, and supervising the Museum’s collections.
Lillian has been the first and only Executive Director in our Society’s history. Well before the Society was formed, she aided Icarian descendants in exploring their heritage. In the 1940s, occasional Icarian descendants, searching their family roots, would arrive in Nauvoo. Inevitably, they’d be directed to the home of Mrs. Florence Baxter Snyder, granddaughter of Emile and Annette Powell Baxter who joined the Nauvoo Icarian colony in 1855. Florence and her daughter, Lillian, began keeping a guest book of descendants. During the Fall of 1968 they decided to invite all the descendants to a picnic on July 5, 1969. Approximately thirty people came from around the U.S.; the meeting is considered the birth of our Society. These descendants decided to return to Nauvoo the following July, and again the next year; the annual meeting tradition had begun.
In 1977, the group incorporated in the State of Illinois as “Descendants of Icarians”. Its Constitution and By-Laws provided for an Executive Director to “provide continuity to the structure of the organization, serve as primary liaison with appropriate historical and academic organizations, serve on the Executive Board, and represent the organization for maintenance of its charter and good will in the community”. Lillian M. Snyder was appointed the first Executive Director and served continuously since 1977. At the 1988 Annual Meeting, "Descendants of Icarians" was voted to be renamed to "The National Icarian Heritage Society", to reflect its broadening scope.
Years before she focused on the Icarians, Dr. Snyder led a distinguished career in social work. After graduation with a bachelor of science from the University of Illinois in 1937, she studied at Smith College in Massachusetts where she was awarded a master of social science degree in 1939. After 25 years of employment with various social agencies and hospitals, she earned a doctorate in social work at Columbia University in 1975. Her doctoral thesis subject, the impact of the criminal justice system on the non-supporting father, remains topical.
Lillian Snyder has taught at the medical schools or social programs of the University of Texas, Cornell University, and the University of Maryland. She also taught social work concepts and practices to the Social Work Department of the city of Tours, France. In 1973 she moved to an academic career when she joined the faculty of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Western Illinois University. There she distinguished herself as a popular teacher and published numerous articles on social work and social problems. She retired from the University in 1985.