“River Work in Southern Illinois: the Paradox of Progress” is one of the products of the 19871988 Southern Illinois Riverwork Project. The project was funded by the Illinois Humanities Council and directed by archivist Sheila Ryan and visiting instructor Kay Rippelmeyer of Morris Library, Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

The grant proposal abstract described the project as follows: “Commonplaces abound concerning the role of the rivers in the development of southern Illinois. Close examination of the evidence, however, hints at a tantalizing irony: often at times of great progress, enthusiasm, and regional preeminence, the seeds of decline were being sown. This suggests that an exploration of rivers and river work might help us understand why southern Illinois grew first and fast but was then left in the rear of the march of industrial progress. Our goal may be stated simply: to bring the story of southern Illinois river work to a broad public and to encourage critical thinking about the consequences of interaction between humankind and nature.”

This video was digitized from a 1988 VHS tape in the Sheila Ryan "Riverworks Project" papers.