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On April 17, 1941 the State Council of Defense
was created. It was composed of the Governor as ex officio chairman, Lieutenant
Governor, the president pro tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, the
minority floor leader of the Senate, the majority and minority leaders of the
House, the chairman of the Illinois Commission on Inter-Governmental
Cooperation, and nine persons appointed by the Governor in regard to their
special knowledge of subject matter relating to defense. Duties included
cooperating with the Council of National Defense, similar federal agencies, and
other similar state councils; organizing local defense committees to carry on
the state program at the local level; and generally assisting in the
coordination of state and local activities related to defense. The council had
authority to adopt its own procedures and to conduct investigative hearings with
subpoena powers. All officers, departments, institutions, and agencies of state
government and all local and municipal officers were required to cooperate with
it. The mayor of each city, the president of each village or incorporated town,
and the president of each county board were authorized to establish councils of
defense. Each local council had the same powers and duties within its respective
jurisdiction as were vested in the State Council of Defense (L. 1941, p. 1265).
The council changed its name to the Illinois War Council in 1943. It was
abolished in 1945 (L. 1945, p. 242).
518.001
WAR COUNCIL MINUTES.
January 6, 1941-June 22, 1945. 2 cu. ft. No index.
Minutes concern victory celebrations,
appropriations, the creation and organization of the council, war rallies, and
duties of standing committees. Also included are committee reports, materials
from rallies and conferences, telegrams, memoranda, newspaper clippings, mailing
lists, press releases, training manuals, and related correspondence.
518.002
COUNCIL ACCOUNTS.
1941-1945. 0.5 cu. ft. No index.
Accounts itemize council appropriations and
expenditures. Expenditures show voucher number, date, recipient, purpose,
amount, and monthly balances. Appropriations show funds allocated for travel,
personnel, equipment, publications, and office space.
518.003
COUNCIL PHOTOGRAPH FILES.
1945-1946. 0.25 cu. ft. No index.
Photographs depict Illinois War Council members
and others who attended council meetings. Files also include newspaper clippings
about council activities.
518.004
COUNCIL SCRAPBOOKS.
December 1941-May 1945. 3.5 cu. ft. No index.
Scrapbooks include newspaper clippings about
Illinois War Council activities and copies of council bulletins.
518.005
SPECIAL PERSONNEL COMMITTEE FILES.
1942-1945. 2 cu. ft. No index.
Files include minutes and agendas, employee
lists, job applications, salary payment cards, and appointment renewal requests.
Minutes (December 6, 1943-April 30, 1945) concern expenditures, fund
allocations, personnel, and budgeting. Lists of council employees are included
for 1943 and 1944.
518.006
CIVILIAN WAR SERVICES BRANCH STANDING COMMITTEE
ADMINISTRATIVE FILES. 1940-1945. 25 cu.
ft. No index.
Administrative files of standing committees
which administered the Citizens Service Corps of the Civilian War Services
Branch include files of the following committees: Agricultural Resources and
Production, Adjustment of Business to War Conditions, Auditing, Conservation,
Coordination of Independent Groups, Finance, Labor, Legal and Legislation, Local
Councils of Defense, Military and Naval, Public Education, Public Health, War
Bonds and Stamps, and Works and Housing. Types of materials include
correspondence, announcements, press releases, newspaper clippings, lists,
reports, bulletins, pamphlets, maps and charts, photographs, telegrams,
memoranda, and speeches.
Subjects include such topics as food
distribution, flood relief, agricultural production, milk supply in the St.
Louis area, farm labor (i.e., volunteers, youth, women, prisoners), victory
gardens, farmland flooding, navigation, retail merchant clinics, water supplies,
power production, railroads, small businesses, federal grants for schools,
auditing Illinois War Council funds, war rallies, waste trade dealers, salvage
programs, scrap iron dealers, coal shipments and production, price controls,
rationing, carpooling, rubber production, canned goods, black markets, local
rationing boards, refineries, marine terminals, pipe lines, meat markets,
abandoned bridges, kitchen fats, paper shortages, scrap metal, silk, scrap
drives, civic and service organizations, professional societies, financial
condition of the Illinois War Council, organized labor, on the job safety,
vocational training, personnel shortages, Japanese-American labor, absenteeism,
tax deductions for war related contributions, blackout ordinances, workman's
compensation, sabotage, proposed war-related legislation, local councils of
defense, Advisory Committee of Mayors, volunteers in the Citizens Service Corps,
Army and Navy production awards, Reserve Officers' Training Corps, Navy Day
Celebration, Illinois Naval Patrol, Illinois Reserve Militia, civilian morale,
child welfare, youth guidance, religious training, day nurseries, social work,
Illinois National Day, dental care, nurses, sanitation, recreation, physical
education, the Red Cross, medical centers, funeral directors, ambulances,
prostitution, venereal diseases, communicable diseases, student nurses,
first-aid equipment, plasma drives, mine reserve stations, food inspection,
chemical warfare, slum clearance, low-rent housing, hospital beds available, war
bond drives, home use programs, housing shortages, waterway improvements, war
history, a silver service for the U.S.S. Illinois, and standing committee
and Illinois War Council appointments and membership.
518.007
CIVILIAN WAR SERVICES BRANCH MERIT AWARDS
CORRESPONDENCE FILES. 1942-1944. 2 cu.
ft. No index.
Files include correspondence of the Illinois War
Council with affiliated members concerning issuance of outstanding service
awards; a list of counties receiving citations; and an award eligibility list
showing the name and address of the district or county director, name of the
corps, and number of hours of volunteer service.
518.008
WAR RECORDS AND RESEARCH DIVISION FILES.
1942-1946. 12 cu. ft. Partial index.
Files include correspondence with local public
libraries and historical societies concerning the preservation of local wartime
history, activities of local servicemen, home front operations, county and
municipal wartime agencies, farm labor, salvage, civil defense, and patriotic
rallies and pageants. Also included are publications about civil defense; local
ordinances about participation in war efforts; and materials on sanitation,
civil defense, fire protection, and victory gardens.
518.009
CIVIL PROTECTION BRANCH ADMINISTRATIVE FILES.
1941-1945. 32.5 cu. ft. No index.
Executive staff control files maintained
operating data on administrative units of the Citizens Defense Corps at the
region, district, county, and township levels. Administrative units include
Training, Gas Consultant, Evacuation, Personnel, Rural Fire Protection, Traffic
Control, Air Raid Wardens, Emergency Police, Emergency Fire, Emergency Medical,
Public Works, Utilities Repair, Bomb Reconnaissance, Incidents, and Plant
Protection and Security. Types of material include correspondence, maps,
newspaper clippings, photographs, press releases, bulletins, pamphlets, lists,
and reports. Topics include such subjects as blackouts, air raids, aircraft
spotters, fire prevention and protection, fire incidents preparedness training
programs, volunteers, meritorious volunteer service, poison gas precautions,
evacuation plans and methods, possible instances of sabotage, plant inspections,
public relations, emergency resources, mobilization exercises, and plant, public
works, and utility security precautions.
518.010
CIVIL PROTECTION BRANCH CITIZENS DEFENSE CORPS
VOLUNTEER FILES. 1943-1944. 1.5 cu. ft.
No index.
Files arranged by zone, region, district, and
county show locations of local councils of defense and statistics about
volunteers in the Citizens Defense Corps. Statistics include the numbers of
aircraft observers, observation posts, fire wardens, control centers, command
staff, auxiliary firemen, rescue units, fire watchers, emergency food units,
emergency medical services, nurse's aids, demolition clearance units, road
repair units, decontamination units, utilities repair units, messengers,
drivers, bomb reconnaissance agents, gas officers, and graduates of training
courses.
518.011
OFFICE OF PRICE ADMINISTRATION FILES.
1942-1946. 4 cu. ft. No index.
Files chiefly include correspondence concerning
rationing, price controls, price control violations and investigations, public
relations activities of the OPA, a survey of grocery stores, advice on buying
meat, price control boards, dispositions of records, and surveys of clothing,
appliances, food, and restaurants. Also included are the text of regulations, a
transcript of a rationing meeting, instructions from national OPA headquarters,
a list of dealers authorized to sell used cars, a report on the housing
shortage, price discount tables for a clothing survey, and OPA publications.
518.012
OFFICE OF PRICE ADMINISTRATION REGULATIONS.
1943-1946. 4 cu. ft. No index.
Files include copies of OPA regulations and
amendments which concern building materials, paper, chemicals, rubber, consumer
goods, fuel, lumber, metals, and machinery. Also included are court opinions and
decisions on price controls, rent controls, and rationing.
518.013
COORDINATOR OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES
CORRESPONDENCE. 1941-1945. 4 cu. ft. No
index.
Correspondence is between the Coordinator of Law
Enforcement Agencies and government and military officials, businessmen, and
persons employed in communications. Major topics include emergency
communications, rural crime prevention, security, race relations, radio
blackouts, penal institutions, espionage, selective service, railway police, the
Coast Guard, traffic control, immigration and naturalization, prostitution,
communicable diseases, industrial plants, rationing, and waterways. Also
included are newspaper clippings, maps of radio networks, results of a radio
survey, minutes of committee meetings, lists of state officials, and bulletins
and reports.
518.014
COORDINATOR OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES
SCRAPBOOK. 1942-1944. 1 vol. No index.
Scrapbook includes newspaper clippings about
troop orders, appointments, community awareness programs, civil defense plans,
emergency defense tactics, and law enforcement as well as correspondence
concerning law enforcement and defense readiness.
518.015
WOMEN'S DIVISION FILES.
1941-1945. 6 cu. ft. No index.
Files include correspondence, questionnaires,
minutes, reports, lists, and charts. Correspondence concerns appointments,
programs, rationing, training, postwar problems, the Civil Air Patrol, juvenile
delinquency, block organization, victory gardens, food preservation, recruitment
of nurses, nutrition, black women, day care, salvage, price fixing, tree
planting, school lunches, and war productions. Questionnaires contain
information on committee organization and membership; minutes are of infrequent
division meetings (March 1942-March 1944). Other materials detail membership,
zoning of local chapters, and division activities and organization.
These records are available at the Illinois State
Archives, Office of the Secretary of State.
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