Video Description: This event is a follow up to the 2021 panel Chicago Municipal Records: Access and Accountability. We will further explore the archival sources of public records and government activity in the Chicagoland area.
Chicago Area Archivists and Chicago Collections Consortium presented this panel on Thursday May 4, 2023, 3:00-4:00 pm CDT.
Featuring:
- Douglas Bicknese, Director of Archival Operations, National Archives at Chicago
- Matthew Messbarger, Archival Specialist, Office of the City Clerk, City of Chicago
- Johanna Russ, Librarian IV, Unit Head, Special Collections, Chicago Public Library
- Deborah Witzburg, Inspector General, City of Chicago
Moderated by Gretchen Neidhardt, CAA Steering Committee and Galter Health Sciences Library and Learning Center
Resources:
Notes:
Jump to: Chicago Public Library Special Collections, Office of the City Clerk, National Archives at Chicago, Office of Inspector General
Chicago Public Library Special Collections
- Special Collection is part of the Archives and Special Collections Division, which consists of four units
- Some records are available online through digital collections: https://www.chipublib.org/digital-collections.Researchers can make appointments to view non-digitized material.
- Most materials arrived by happenstance and are donated. The special collections unit is not part of the mandated records retention policies and is not an official repository for city records
- Not all materials are preserved, the nature of archival research is that sometimes something just didn't survive.
Featured Record
- The 606
- Southeast side Environmental Restoration
Office of the City Clerk
- Official record of city business
- The City Clerk website has digitized journals going back to 7/20/1981.
- Included are Council Committee Records, summary reports of Committee Meetings, referred and passed legislation, etc
- Researchers may need to look in a few places to find records
- Non-digitized material can be requested. When possible the Clerk’s office will digitize requested material, otherwise can set up an appointment to view the records on site.
- Call City Clerk’s office with questions: 312-744-7743 or email Matthew.Messbarger@cityofchicago.org.
Featured Record:
- Audio Records of City Council Meetings 1970-2010
- Were reel-to-reel and later cassettes.
- Goal is to digitize all and make them available through a website.
National Archives at Chicago
- Send inquiries to chicago.archives@nara.gov
- Search records at Catalog.archives.gov
- Records of the federal government in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin.
- Largest body of records is from the US District Court records, including from the US District Court in Chicago. Holdings also include Bureau of Indian Affairs, Army Corps Engineers, Chinese Exclusion, Coast Guard, Real Property, among many other records
- Records all come through the records lifecycle. Most records have an inventory and most are open to the public (some exceptions for PII).
- All federal offices are supposed to be paperless by June 2024. We will still be accessioning paper records for years afterward as they move through the lifecycle.
- Memorandum 23-07 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/M_23_07-M-Memo-Electronic-Records_final.pdf
- It is important for researchers to understand the difference between the archives and the Federal Records Center: https://www.archives.gov/frc/chicago
- Some records are centralized in other NARA locations, be sure to call or email prior to visiting to ensure the records you are seeking are available.
- Most records at NARA Chicago do not have restrictions, but the few that do may cause a delay in access if they require screening. For the few sealed court records you would need to get a court order.
Featured Record
- Court records are largely open to the public and can be a great and unique insight into city life, for example:
Office of Inspector General
- Conducts oversight of the operations of city government in different ways, including data transparency.
- Make data about the way the city runs available in furtherance of the mission to promote accountability and transparency in city government.
- Chicago Municipal Code grants IG access to all of the city’s data, records, paper, people, premises
- Specific Data Dashboards include: Finances, Employees, Public Safety
- Data sets can be manipulated and filtered by year, geography, etc.
- Several millions of rows of data come in every night, Dashboards are automatically updated with that data.
- Information systems can be challenging and complicated. What is legally available is not necessarily what is readily accessible.
- A challenge when hitting a roadblock can be discerning different problems from each other.
- There are situations where information is purposely obfuscated. Another kind of problem is data/access quality. Both result in difficulty in getting information, but solutions may be different.
Featured Record:
- Maps can help illustrate inequities and other information about the city