The Castle Family Collection is composed of research materials collected by Charlotte (Castle) Neal, Sharon Castle, and Shirley (Walthall) Fanucchi for use in writing a genealogical family history entitled George and Ruth Castle: Our Family’s Journey 1613-2016. Additional documents, photographs, and artifacts continue to be added by family members. Included are letters, photographs, genealogical documents, books, newspaper clippings, family trees, oral history interviews (and transcriptions), videos (and transcriptions), photocopies of original documents (mostly birth, marriage and death certificates and land acquisition deeds), research papers, family reunion proceedings, magazines, maps, cookbooks, research notes, and scrapbooks. The time period covered is 1613-present. The collection is organized into five series which follow the outline of the book.Series I covers the marriage of George Castle and Ruth Fletcher. Series II traces George and Ruth’s four ancestral branches--Haworths, Fletchers, Newlins, and Castles--from the first British immigrants through their convergence on the Illiana Prairie up to the births of George and Ruth.Three of the four branches were Quakers. Each person’s genealogical data is included, followed by his/her story. Series III covers George and Ruth, including their early lives, married life on the farm, their children and descendants, retirement and life after the farm, and their deaths and legacies. The life on the farm section is comprised of interviews with their children; the section on the grandchildren is based on interviews and written memories. Series IV includes four Appendices: a glossary of Quaker terms, transcriptions of documents including letters and deeds from George “the immigrant” Haworth, an annotated list of family artifacts, and a chart of George and Ruth’s descendants through 2016. Series V includes research materials such as articles, notes, family trees, transcriptions of interviews and oral histories with coding sheets, tapes and DVDs, items related to Quaker history, and items related to publication of the book. Series I through IV include photographs and maps. The Castle Family Collection reflects a family story that began in Europe in 1613 and followed the growth of the United States from colonial times through westward expansion to the settlement of the Illiana Prairie. Because the story is set in its historical context, it reflects themes of immigration, westward movement, land acquisition, education, technological innovation, and Quaker belief and practice. The collection documents an important segment of Quaker history in the British Colonies and the United States including reasons for immigration and migration, westward progression, the Quaker meetings and schools founded along the way, and their responses to the issues of their times: religion persecution, interactions with native tribes, war, slavery, and industrialization. The Castle Family Collection provides an illustration of the history of the United States and the history of Quakerism in the United States Sharon Castle, George and Ruth Castle: Our Family’s Journey 1613-2016(Chelsea, MI: Sheridan Publishing, 2017).