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In 1854 the General Assembly created the elected
Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to oversee state
educational activities. One of the chief tasks assigned to the
Superintendent was to collect yearly statistical reports, compiled
by county school commissioners, and to use this information in
writing annual reports to the Governor (L. 1854, p. 13). Prior to
1854 the Secretary of State had prepared these annual reports and
advised county school commissioners in his capacity as
Superintendent of common schools.
The enacting legislation also stipulated that the
Superintendent could add or delete data required in the reports of
county school officials whose titles officially became county school
superintendents in 1865 (L. 1865, p. 12). Beginning in 1855 the
Superintendent of Public Instruction included summaries of the
county statistics in his annual reports and also began answering
inquiries from school officers or from citizens requesting
information about the meaning or application of school laws. The
Superintendent's ruling constituted a legal interpretation of the
law unless reversed by the courts. He thus acted as a regulatory
agency and his correspondence comprises a body of legal opinions on
school legislation (L. 1855, p. 51). In 1861 he received the power
to grant state teaching certificates for life (L. 1861, p. 188). A
later provision granted county superintendents the option of issuing
six-month, one-year, or two-year certificates to first-, second-, or
third-grade teachers and instructed the Superintendent of Public
Instruction to keep records of state certificates granted to
teachers or supervisors (L. 1865, p. 112).
Throughout the next century school legislation
clarified and defined his duties while adding further administrative
tasks. The State Charities Act of 1875 directed him to visit
charitable institutions in order to oversee their educational
programs. He also was assigned supervisory power for educational
programs at institutions serving deaf or crippled children (L. 1897,
p. 289; L. 1903, p. 314). In 1915 the Superintendent began to ensure
the physical safety, sanitation, and comfort of school buildings and
to direct county superintendents to condemn structures that did not
meet specified standards (L. 1915, p. 635). The General Assembly
established the Illinois State Board of Education in 1938. Its
purpose was to provide equalization grants to school districts.
Composed of the Governor, Superintendent of Public Instruction,
Auditor of Public Accounts, Attorney General, and Director of
Finance, the board was administered generally by the Superintendent
of Public Instruction. He prepared grant application forms, received
them, determined the amounts to be allocated to the respective
counties, and certified and forwarded payment vouchers to the
Auditor of Public Accounts (L. 1938, 1st Spec. Sess., pp. 70-71). In
1943 the General Assembly directed the Superintendent to supervise
facilities for the educable mentally handicapped, to prepare and
make available physical education courses, to keep accounts of
school lunch programs, and to require a physical examination of all
pupils before they entered first grade and every fourth year
thereafter (L. 1943, vol. I, pp. 1239-1262, 1276).
The 1970 Constitution created a new Illinois State
Board of Education with members selected on a regional basis and
with authority to appoint a chief state education officer (Ill.
Constitution [1970], Art. X, Sec. 2). As provided for in the new
constitution a new Illinois State Board of Education was legislated
to come into existence on January 1, 1974. It is composed of
seventeen members appointed by the Governor and equitably
distributed across the state's five judicial districts. It is
charged with formulating statewide educational policies,
distributing assistance funding, and appointing a State
Superintendent of Education who serves as the board's chief
administrator (P.A. 78-361, pp. 1149-1151). The term of the last
elected Superintendent of Public Instruction ended on January 13,
1975 at which time the new position of State Superintendent of
Education was initiated.
106.001
INCOMING CORRESPONDENCE. 1883-1931;
1933-1934. 22.5 cu. ft. No index.
Correspondence primarily concerns requests for
interpretations of school laws, clarifications of county education
statistics, or inquiries about teacher certification. Scattered
throughout the correspondence are letters from parents complaining
about local educators, résumés from teachers applying for
employment, requests from citizens wanting copies of school laws,
and communications from college professors seeking information about
educational practices in Illinois. The files also contain material
about state, national, and international educational affairs such as
employment certificates signed by county superintendents enabling
minors to work under terms of the Child Labor Act; blueprints of
Illinois schoolhouses; photographs of students, classrooms, and the
exteriors of school buildings; county teachers' manuals and reports;
newsletters, magazines, and radio addresses concerning education,
children, Abraham Lincoln, and the Chicago police force; studies of
education by scholarly societies; and a 1923 report on the Illinois
State Fair.
106.002
OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE. February
13, 1863-September 30, 1914. 27 cu. ft. and 3 vols. Index.
Correspondence deals primarily with
interpretations of school laws, especially about employee
qualifications, courses taught, buildings, insurance, school
elections, textbooks, school funds, and the constitutionality of
school acts passed by the General Assembly; coordination of the
collection of statistics from county school superintendents; and
certification of educators eligible to teach or to supervise, along
with attempts to standardize that process. Discussions within the
correspondence reveal information about such topics as student
discipline, educators' salaries, public relations on behalf of
Illinois education, teachers institutes, curricula, college
requirements, school inspections, and problems of women as teachers
in the Illinois educational system.
106.003
ANNUAL REPORTS FROM COUNTY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS.
October 1, 1861-June 30, 1961. 370 vols. No index.
Annual reports compiled and submitted by all
county school superintendents contain statistics on grade schools,
high schools, and "colleges" in each city, township, or
section. Although the information changed from year to year the
following financial data usually is included: amount of taxes,
loans, principal and interest of bonds held by school districts,
cash on hand, cash lost, wages of teachers and administrators, cost
or value of schoolhouses, payments for upkeep or improvements, fines
collected, publishing costs, and tuition paid; number of teachers
(by sex) and number of houses owned or rented for teachers' use; and
number of school acres sold. The reports usually reveal the number
of schools and rooms within each; length of school sessions;
enrollment in private schools; names of township treasurers; number
of pupils broken down by sex, age, and race; number of school
visitations; number of teachers examined and certificates issued;
lengths of teachers' tenure in schools; time, place, and names of
teachers in attendance at teachers institutes, together with the
names of the presiding officers; types of school buildings (i.e.,
stone, brick, log, or frame); number of books bought; numbers of
illiterates (by sex) and the reason for their condition; names of
communities with boards of education or boards of directors; number
of high school courses offered, including titles of subjects; names
of teachers who attended normal school and whether they graduated;
professional activities of the county school superintendent or his
assistant; number of special teachers (i.e., those in charge of
drawing, manual training, domestic arts); number of pupils passing
major examinations or graduating; number of scholarships awarded;
and numbers of physicians, nurses, dentists, or truant officers
employed, their compensation, and the numbers of students they
served.
Reports during the last forty or fifty years
include statistics for consolidated schools; public school
kindergartens; schools for the deaf and dumb, blind, crippled, or
delinquent; costs of vocational education and athletics; amount of
federal aid; number of teaching days; number of teaching vacancies
and reasons for them; school lunch and transportation costs;
districts operating under special charters; number of total
absences; number of children with certain mental or physical
handicaps (e.g., heart trouble, epilepsy, tuberculosis) and the
number of schools operating specifically for their benefit; book
rentals; sales of supplies; veterans training; status of
noncertified employees (e.g., custodians, bus drivers, cafeteria
workers); tabulations of types of district systems (i.e., common,
consolidated, common-consolidated, charter, township, protectorate,
non-high); costs of field trips; tuition at orphanages, children's
homes, veterans' hospitals, military camps, and state housing units;
and number of students taking drivers training. Some reports are
accompanied by memoranda from the county school superintendents
explaining unusual aspects of the information collected.
106.004
RECORD OF STATE CERTIFICATES. July
21, 1861-September 28, 1921. 1 vol. and 1 partial vol. No index.
Record is of educators granted certificates to
teach or to supervise in grade and high schools. Entries include
name and residence of each educator, dates of certification and
duration of validity, educational deficiencies of teachers
certified, and names of examinees with place and date of
examination. Record occasionally indicates that a certificate was
revoked or duplicated and states the reason for such action.
106.005
BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS FILES. 1960-1970.
9 cu. ft. No index.
Files concern boards and commissions upon which
the Superintendent served. These include Council of Chief State
School Officers (1962-1966), State Teacher Certification Board
(1963-1967), School Problems Commission (1963-1967), Teacher
Retirement Board (1961-1967), Board of Vocational Education and
Rehabilitation (1960-1970), Illinois Curriculum Development Council
(1963-1968), Illinois Committee for the White House Conference on
Children and Youth (1968-1970), Illinois Telecommunication
Commission (1967-1969), and the Illinois School Buildings Commission
(1963-1966). Types of records include meeting minutes, committee
reports, reports on proposed state and federal legislation, reports
on goals and objectives, progress reports, budgets and financial
statements, annual reports, audit reports, committee working papers,
and related correspondence.
106.006
ADMINISTRATIVE FILES. 1925-1955;
1962-1970. 3 cu. ft. No index.
Files include financial and statistical reports,
bulletins, publications, newspaper clippings, and correspondence.
Topics concern state and federal legislation, Governor's messages,
budgets, civil service, citizen complaints, agriculture education,
Illinois State Teachers Pension and Retirement Fund, teacher
salaries, Kaskaskia Commons School Fund, teacher colleges, grant
programs, enrollments, school equipment, vocational education,
spelling bees, citizenship education, scholarships, textbooks,
educational television, and private business schools.
106.007
SUPERINTENDENT'S GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE.
1941; 1950-1954. 8.5 cu. ft. No index.
Correspondence concerns such topics as employment
applications, resignations, state legislation, meetings and
conferences, invitations to attend functions, recognition of
schools, adult education, quality of public education, alcohol and
narcotics education, reorganization of school districts, curricula,
private schools, county fairs, school lunch program, scholarships,
state and federal aid, handicapped children, segregation, religion
and public schools, budgets, teacher education and salaries, school
bus transportation, tenure, textbooks, vocational rehabilitation,
and construction projects.
106.008
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS FILES. 1962-1970;
1972-1979. 77 cu. ft. No index.
Files on educational programs include financial
reports, program plans and highlights, grant applications, minutes
of coordinating meetings, policy statements, and related
correspondence. The following are examples of types of educational
programs: school library resources, supplementary educational
centers, educational research and training, education of the
physically handicapped, adult and continuing education, educational
television, gifted children, school lunch, migrant children
education, and guidance and counseling projects.
106.009
ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS FOR THE BOARDS OF TRUSTEES
OF STATE COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. 1962-1968.
12 cu. ft. No index.
Files include administrative records concerning
colleges and universities for which the Superintendent served on the
board of trustees. These institutions include Southern Illinois
University, Eastern Illinois University, Northern Illinois
University, University of Illinois, Western Illinois University,
Illinois State University, Northeastern Illinois State University,
and Chicago State College.
Records include internal budgets, financial
statements, business manager reports, minutes, feasibility studies,
committee reports, progress reports, newspaper clippings,
complaints, and related correspondence. Subjects include such
matters as faculty salaries and hiring, enrollment, curriculum,
state and federal legislation, university housing, construction
projects, admissions policy, accreditation, grant funding, tuition
and fees, athletic programs, internal organization, parking
regulations, and appointments of department heads.
106.010
SCHOOL DISTRICT ANNUAL REPORTS. 1913-1960;
1964-1970; 1972-1982. 229.5 cu. ft. No index.
Annual reports concern recognition and
accreditation of public elementary (1944-1975) and secondary
(1913-1975) schools and school districts, and occasionally private
schools. Reports include school's name and address, description of
administrative organization, school calendars, description of
equipment and facilities, class sizes, enrollment statistics,
evaluations of curricula, faculty numbers and qualifications,
financial status and tax base, graduation requirements and
statistics, and descriptions of special programs, transportation
facilities, inter-scholastic activities, public relations programs,
serious problems, and significant improvements. Also included are
curriculum evaluation forms, visitation reports compiled by teams
from the office of the Superintendent, and summary data on
recognized schools by county.
106.011
TEACHER EXAMINATION RECORD. July
1914-November 1928; November 1954-November 1959. 50 vols. Index.
Entries are for applications for elementary, high
school, supervisory, or special certificates. Each entry includes
applicant's name and address, application number, scores for each
subject area tested, and for 1917-1928, applicant's age and
educational level.
106.012
SCHOOL VISITATION AND RECOGNITION RECORD.
1939-1960. 13 vols. No index.
Record of visitations and evaluations of public
and private elementary and secondary schools in relation to state
law and rules and regulations shows school name, district number,
school type, number of teachers and pupils, visitation date,
initials of evaluators, and type of recognition given.
106.013
SCHOOL DISTRICT OCCUPATIONAL EDUCATION PLANS.
1973-1984. 171 cu. ft. No index.
Files contain one- and five-year plans prepared by
school districts to describe existing occupational education
programs and to project new ones. For each district files include
district name and address, names of officials, tax rates in relation
to student population, description of administrative organization
and program philosophy and objectives, enrollment statistics and
projections, evaluation reports, recommendations, and existing and
projected curricula, budgets, and faculty rosters.
106.014
LEGAL DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENCE. 1873-1967;
1970-1973. 108 cu. ft. No index.
Correspondence concerns such matters as
application and interpretation of school law, adult education,
school property, school officials' responsibilities, compulsory
attendance, special education, bond indebtedness, district
boundaries, course of study requirements, school censuses, district
residency requirements, establishment of school districts, school
elections, expulsions and suspensions, corporal punishment,
graduation requirements, teachers' institutes, personal injuries,
school libraries, school nurses, religious instruction in public
schools, taxation and special assessments, textbooks, teacher
employment, non-discrimination, bus transportation, tuition charges,
vaccination programs, budgets, vocational education, school
recognitions, teacher unions, physical examinations for entering
students, and summer schools.
106.015
COUNTY SURVEY COMMITTEE REPORTS. 1945-1950.
4 cu. ft. No index.
Reports from committees in each county concern the
reorganization of school districts to provide greater equity.
Reports include committee objectives, maps of original and
consolidated districts, square miles for each district, estimated
assessed valuation of school property in districts, enrollment
statistics, projected state revenue receipts, assessed valuation per
pupil, operating expenses, tax levies, and recommendations for
consolidations.
106.016
PRIVATE BUSINESS AND VOCATIONAL SCHOOL REGULATION
FILES. 1968-1987. 96 cu. ft. No index.
Files on in-state and out-of-state private
business and vocational schools include applications for recognition
with supporting documentation, applications to act as agents for
such schools, financial reports, and related correspondence.
Applications for recognition show the school's name and address,
type of program, date organized, name and title of current
administrator, financial organization, enrollment, school hours,
courses taught, graduation requirements, and name of faculty members
and solicitors. Supporting documentation often includes evidence of
residence compliance, administrative organization chart, equipment
inventory, physical facility report, report on public liability,
evidence of health and safety compliance, course outlines, lists of
staff members and students, teacher qualification records, admission
standards, enrollment contracts, payment plans, student record
forms, placement service descriptions, copies of solicitor surety
bonds, and copies of catalogs and promotional literature.
Application for permits to act as solicitors show
name, address, birth date, citizenship, name and location of school,
and a certificate of character. Financial reports detail the
school's solvency. Related correspondence concerns issuance of
solicitors' permits, complaints filed, and recognition issuance,
renewal and revocation.
106.017
ACCOUNT LEDGERS. 1893-1953.
6 vols. No index.
Ledgers show appropriations and expenditures of
the administrative office of the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, the Board of Trustees of the Kaskaskia Commons School,
and the Board of Trustees of the Blind, Deaf and Dumb School.
Entries include expenditure date, ledger account number, payee,
brief description of expenditure or appropriation, amount debited,
and the remaining balance. Also included are ledgers of the
Educational Commission (1908-1917), the Survey and Reorganization
Commission (1945-1953), medical school examination fees (1911-1912),
and teacher certifications. (1912-1914).
106.018
MINUTES OF MEETINGS OF GOVERNING BOARDS OF STATE
COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. 1962-1970. 19
cu. ft. No index.
Record includes minutes of the Board of Higher
Education (1962-1970), Board of Regents (1967-1970), Illinois Junior
College Board (1962-1968), and the Board of Governors (1964-1967).
Subjects include progress achieved in relation to master plans, new
curricula, interstate cooperation, educational and administrative
reorganizations, enrollments, legislation concerning higher
education, construction projects, tuitions and fees, scholarship
grants, litigation, budgets, faculty salaries and hiring practices,
organization of junior college districts, federal funding, veterans'
education, selection of university presidents, and admission
policies.
106.019
JUNIOR COLLEGE ANNUAL REPORTS OF RECOGNITION.
1948-1957. 0.25 cu. ft. No index.
Reports show college name and address, names and
credentials of chief administrators, entrance and graduation
requirements, curricula offered, description of the physical plant,
class sizes and faculty loads, community relations and adult
education programs, budget, school calendar, and a report of
compliance with veterans' assistance programs.
106.020
RECOGNIZED HIGH SCHOOLS RECORD. 1914-1921.
1 vol. No index.
Record of high schools recognized as complying
with state law and rules and regulations shows recognition number,
date recognized, name and address of high school, name of supervisor
granting recognition, name of county, length of recognized course of
study (i.e., two, three, or four years), certificate date, and
certificate type (i.e., regular, probationary).
106.021
TEXTBOOK ADOPTION REPORTS. 1896-1920.
0.25 cu. ft. No index.
Reports show textbooks adopted by school districts
in Iroquois, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jersey, and Jo Daviess
Counties. Entries include school district number, clerk's name and
address, and a list of books adopted including title, author,
publisher, and year adopted.
106.022
PRIVATE SCHOOL CHARTER DIGESTS. 1903.
3 vols. Index.
Charter for each private school shows the number
of the private law establishing the school; a description of the
organization of the school board including the terms of office and
dates of election of school board members; general powers of the
board; special powers in taxation, borrowing, and licensing
teachers; methods of reporting statistics; and the amount of time
the school is required to be in session.
106.023
PUBLIC SCHOOL DIPLOMAS REGISTER. 1909-1929.
1 vol. No index.
Register of diplomas county superintendents issued
schools for meeting compliance standards show initials of inspector,
date diploma issued, diploma and district numbers, name of district
and school type (i.e., one-room standard, graded standard,
superior), enrollment, term, teacher's salary, and renewal date.
106.024
SCHOOL DISTRICT REGISTER. 1905.
1 vol. No index.
Register shows boundaries of townships within
school districts, range and tract numbers of each school district,
and name of the county or counties in which the district is located.
Also included is a county listing of all colleges, institutes,
seminaries, academies, and all other higher educational
institutions.
106.025
PHOTOGRAPHS. Ca.
1911-1930. 0.5 cu. ft. No index.
Photographs depict school pageants, national and
state monuments and buildings, scouting activities, activities and
buildings at state teacher schools, and classrooms, buildings and
activities at the Lincoln State School, State School for the Deaf
and Blind, Soldiers' Orphans Home, and St. Charles School for Boys.
106.026
VETERANS' EDUCATIONAL REHABILITATION PLAN FILES.
1943-1945. 0.25 cu. ft. No index.
Files concern a state plan for the educational
rehabilitation of veterans. Files include a plan for the care,
treatment, and readjustment of veterans who were discharged for
physical or psychiatric reasons; plans for veterans scholarships;
minutes and reports of meetings of the Governor's Committee on
Veterans' Rehabilitation and Employment; monthly statistical reports
on veteran scholarship applications; referrals and dispositions; and
related correspondence.
106.027
INSTRUCTION IMPROVEMENT PLANS. 1977-1983.
6.5 cu. ft. No index.
Plans to improve instructional programs for
educationally disadvantaged students in primary and secondary
schools with the aid of federal Title I funds include the name of
the school district, county, school officials' plan certification, a
narrative description of the plan (e.g., instructional activities
and goals, reduction of class sizes, improved media services,
in-service staff training, improved parent involvement), budget, and
evaluation plans. Occasionally included are evaluation reports
describing accomplishments of objectives and goals.
106.028
TEACHER EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION FILES.
1977-1979; 1985-1989. 20 cu. ft. No index.
Files concern the administration of teacher
education scholarship grants and include scholarship/fellowship
applications and proposals, application evaluations, recipient
status reports, certificates of scholarship, affidavits of
obligation, tuition and fee charge statements, coursework
transcripts, grant award notifications, loan amortization tables,
account balance printouts, payment receipts, loan repayment
agreements, and related correspondence.
These records are available at the Illinois State
Archives, Office of the Secretary of State.
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