For the Record: newsletter of the Illinois State Archives, & the Illinois State Historical Records Advisory Board, Secretary of State & State Archivist

              The State Archives staff have posted all 3,478
Federal Township Plats (record series 953.012) on the
Archives section of the Secretary of State Web site,
culminating a yearlong digitization project through a
grant from the Institute of Museum and Library
Services.
Copies of these township plats originally were
transferred from the U.S. Surveyor General to the
Illinois Governor’s office in 1865. In 1957, the records
were turned over to the Illinois Secretary of State for
deposit in the State Archives. Since then, the plat
records have received considerable use by land
surveyors, archeologists, engineers,
environmentalists, geographers, geologists and
historians. Family historians and genealogists in
increasing numbers also have consulted the plats for
their visual representations of ancestor home sites.
The plat images were digitally scanned at the State
Archives in Springfield by a contracted vendor. The
Secretary of State’s Information Technology
Department then loaded the compressed, digital
images onto the Archives server for Internet access.
Prior to completion of this major project, original high-resolution
images of the Federal Township Plats were
available only onsite at the Illinois State Archives or
in Washington, D.C. Now they are available at
http://landplats.ilsos.net/Flash/Welcome.html.
(continued on page 2)
For the
Spring 2003
Newsletter
of the
Illinois
State
Archives
&
The Illinois
State Historical
Records
Advisory Board
Jesse White
Secretary of State
&
State Archivist
Volume 17
Number 2
www.cyberdriveillinois.com
Digitized Federal Township Plats project complete
Reference requests to the Illinois State Archives totaled nearly 11.3 million in 2002, an
increase of nearly 2.5 million from the previous year. The significant increase in requests is
attributed to the addition of the Illinois Death Certificate Index (1916-1950), which became
available on the State Archives Web page in early 2002.
State Archives usage statistics have grown exponentially since 1995 as my office’s Web site has expanded to
include more Archives databases and other historical information. The majority of requests are made
anonymously from unspecified computer terminals with little or no interaction with our staff. Although many of
our users are unknown to us personally, we appreciate their growing numbers.
With the addition of the new Digitized Federal Township Plat database to the Web site in January, the State
Archives anticipates even more impressive usage statistics at the end of 2003. As State Archivist, I am pleased
to be able to offer this useful tool for accessing your legal, historical and genealogical document needs.
Jesse White
Secretary of State & State Archivist
Secretary of State Jesse White
Douglas County historian Chuck Knox presented copies
of his book, The Battle Cry of Freedom: The Stories of
Douglas County, Illinois Civil War Veterans, to Secretary
of State Jesse White for use in the Illinois State
Library and the State Archives. Left to right are state
Rep. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet), Caryl and Chuck Knox,
Secretary White, State Library Director Jean Wilkins
and State Archives Director John Daly.