Insight

              State Library a partner on new Route 66 project
July/August
2008
A Newsletter from the Illinois State Library — Jesse White, Secretary of State & State Librarian
in this issue
ISL Route 66 project
State Library to host
Lincoln exhibit
Map Department in
Illinois Issues
More construction grants
Library institutes
Through the Route 66 Study Act of
1990, Congress authorized the
National Park Service to conduct a
study to determine the historical sig-nificance
of the Route 66 corridor
and options for its preservation. As a
result of the study, Congress then
authorized creation of the National
Park Service Route 66 Corridor
Preservation Program.
The Park Service has been working
with various groups and organiza-tions
to preserve the national heritage
around the Route 66 corridor, and is
partnering with archival centers in
each of the states through which
Route 66 traversed: Illinois, Missouri,
Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico,
Arizona and California.
The Illinois State Library is partner-ing
with the Route 66 Corridor
Preservation Program as a founding
partner for the Route 66 Archives
and Research Collaboration (ARC).
The Illinois State Library will assist
with the preservation of Route 66’s
history in collaboration with other
state centers and the Route 66
Corridor Preservation Program.
“The wonderful stories and treasured
memories that have grown up
around Route 66 are a monumental
part of our national and state her-itage,”
said Secretary of State Jesse
White. “It is an honor for the Illinois
State Library to lead the effort in this
state to preserve this rich heritage for
generations to enjoy in the future.”
State Library staff is in the process of
identifying Route 66-related
resources in the State Library’s col-lection.
The library also will devel-op
bibliographies and tools for find-ing
materials and filling in gaps of
noted resources with a Route 66
connection. The State Library is par-ticularly
proud to have been given a
portion of the Route 66 collection
belonging to the late author and
Route 66 expert Tom Teague.
The State Library also will work with
libraries, institutions and associa-tions
both on and off the historic
road in Illinois to collect resources,
maintain a general inventory of col-lections
within Illinois, and encour-age
development and educational
interest in Route 66. The State
Library will ask other Illinois
libraries to delve into their collec-tions
to determine what resources
they may have and what they would
be interested in collecting. Library
staff also will seek out individuals
and organizations to gather oral his-tories
from people associated with
Route 66.
The Office of the Secretary of State offers Illinois
motorists the opportunity to help support
tourism, preservation and promotion of the por-tion
of historic Old Route 66 that cuts through
the state by providing Illinois Route 66 license
plates. For more information, visit:
www.cyberdriveillinois.com.