Bill Text: IL HR0390 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Commemorates the 100 year anniversary of the creation of the Illinois State Archives on June 20, 1921.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2021-09-09 - Resolution Adopted [HR0390 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2021-HR0390-Introduced.html
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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, Since the State's beginning as a territory in | ||||||
3 | 1809 and into statehood in 1818, the Illinois Secretary of | ||||||
4 | State's office has served as the custodian of official state | ||||||
5 | records; and
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6 | WHEREAS, During the early years of State government, | ||||||
7 | records were neither numerous nor extremely complex, and the | ||||||
8 | records entrusted to the Secretary of State's office consisted | ||||||
9 | mainly of correspondence from the governor's office and | ||||||
10 | records of the General Assembly; and
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11 | WHEREAS, As the functions of State government grew more | ||||||
12 | complex and its records grew more numerous, Secretary of State | ||||||
13 | Louis Emmerson advocated for and the Illinois General Assembly | ||||||
14 | passed legislation in 1921 to create a division of State | ||||||
15 | Archives to be housed in the State Library Department of the | ||||||
16 | Secretary of State's office; and
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17 | WHEREAS, Secretary of State Emmerson named Margaret Cross | ||||||
18 | Norton as the first supervisor of the Illinois State Archives; | ||||||
19 | she served 35 years as supervisor and became an | ||||||
20 | internationally recognized leader and pioneer in the archival | ||||||
21 | profession; and
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1 | WHEREAS, The State Archives originally had offices in the | ||||||
2 | basement of the State Capitol building before moving to the | ||||||
3 | newly constructed Centennial (Howlett) Building in 1923; and
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4 | WHEREAS, In 1925, Margaret Norton successfully advocated | ||||||
5 | for legislation that gave the State Archives the authority to | ||||||
6 | accept records from all state officials and state agencies | ||||||
7 | instead of just the governor's office and the General | ||||||
8 | Assembly; and
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9 | WHEREAS, On February 8, 1934, the State Arsenal building | ||||||
10 | burned to the ground resulting in the loss of soldiers' bonus | ||||||
11 | and World War I records and demonstrating the need for a | ||||||
12 | state-of-the-art, fire-proof building to safely store state | ||||||
13 | records; and
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14 | WHEREAS, In 1935, the Illinois General Assembly approved | ||||||
15 | funding for the construction of a State Archives building; the | ||||||
16 | building was completed in 1938 and was named the Margaret | ||||||
17 | Cross Norton Building in 1995; and
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18 | WHEREAS, The 1957 State Records Act and the 1961 Local | ||||||
19 | Records Act placed the Archives in charge of records | ||||||
20 | management for state and local government records; this gave | ||||||
21 | the Archives an important role in deciding what government | ||||||
22 | records had permanent historic value; and
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1 | WHEREAS, Today, the Illinois State Archives is a separate | ||||||
2 | department under the Secretary of State's office and is in | ||||||
3 | charge of preserving and making accessible the permanent | ||||||
4 | records of the State, overseeing records management programs | ||||||
5 | of state agencies and units of local government, providing | ||||||
6 | microfilming, scanning and records storage services to state | ||||||
7 | government agencies, and operating a regional archives | ||||||
8 | depository system for local government records; therefore, be | ||||||
9 | it
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10 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
11 | HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
12 | we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the creation of the | ||||||
13 | Illinois State Archives on June 20, 1921, congratulate the | ||||||
14 | Illinois State Archives for its proud 100 year history, and | ||||||
15 | thank Secretary of State and State Archivist Jesse White and | ||||||
16 | all the employees of the State Archives past and present who | ||||||
17 | have contributed to the 100 year history of this department; | ||||||
18 | and be it further
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19 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
20 | presented to the Illinois State Archives as a symbol of our | ||||||
21 | esteem and respect.
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