Full Text of HR0390 102nd General Assembly
HR0390 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 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
| 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
| 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 | 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 | 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
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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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