Bill Text: IL HR0987 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Congratulates Illinois State Archives Director David Joens on his retirement after 20 years as director and 35 years in state government and public service.

Sponsorship: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 15-6)

Status: (Passed) 2025-01-07 - Resolution Adopted [HR0987 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HR0987-Introduced.html

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HOUSE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
Representatives wish to congratulate Illinois State Archives
Director David Joens on his retirement after 20 years as
director and 35 years in state government and public service;
and
WHEREAS, David Joens is the son of Alan I. and Betty H.
Joens, the husband of Mona B. Martin, and the father of
Benjamin Alan Joseph Joens and is a fifth generation resident
of the State of Illinois, who attended Illinois public schools
from kindergarten at Pershing Grade School in Joliet to his
Ph.D. in Illinois History at Southern Illinois University in
Carbondale; and
WHEREAS, David Joens served two years in the United States
Army, was a reporter for the Sun newspaper in Lisle, served as
an intern and a press secretary for the Illinois Senate
Democratic staff for six years, worked at the University of
Illinois at Springfield Legislative Studies Center for four
years, and worked on the Illinois Secretary of State's
Programs and Policy staff for four years; and
WHEREAS, David Joens was appointed by Secretary of State
Jesse White in 2004 to serve as the Director of the Illinois

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State Archives, making him the fifth director of the archives
in its 103-year history, following in the footsteps of his
predecessors Margaret Cross Norton, LeRoy DePuy, Ted Cassady,
and John Daly; and
WHEREAS, David Joens, during his tenure at the Illinois
State Archives, modernized that office's micrographics
section, increased the capacity of its records center by
one-third, moved its public finding aids from paper to a state
of the art on-line system, added numerous indexes and records
to the archives' website, instituted an intern program that
provided an entry point for young professional archivists to
join the Illinois State Archives, and created the on-line
exhibit, "The 100 Most Valuable Documents at the Illinois
State Archives", which offers a brief history of the state
using primary documents; and
WHEREAS, David Joens helped secure more than $1 million in
grant funding for the Illinois State Archives and its advisory
board and established a now 14-year-old award winning re-grant
program, which uses federal grant money to fund archival
projects at small, underserved Illinois historical museums,
libraries, and archives and provide scholarships and free
classes in archival studies to Illinois archivists; and
WHEREAS, David Joens served on numerous boards and

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commissions as director of the Illinois State Archives,
including both the Downstate and Cook County Local Records
Commissions, as chair of the State Records Commission, as
chair of the Illinois State Flag Commission, as a member of the
Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, the Illinois
Bicentennial Commission, the Route 66 Centennial Commission,
and the Underground Railroad Task Force; and
WHEREAS, David Joens was an active member of the National
Council of State Archivists, including serving two terms on
its board of directors, and was an active member in numerous
organizations that promoted Illinois history, including the
Illinois State Historical Society, where he is a Lifetime
Achievement Award recipient, the Old State Capitol Foundation,
the Abraham Lincoln Association, the Illinois State
Genealogical Society, the Illinois Heritage Association, the
Chicago Metro History in Education Center, the Center for
Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield,
and the Chicago Area Archivists; and
WHEREAS, David Joens has a deep and abiding love for
Illinois, authoring numerous scholarly journal and popular
history articles about all aspects of Illinois history, two
Almanac of Illinois Politics, and the book, "From Slave to
State Legislator, John W. E. Thomas, Illinois' First African
American Lawmaker"; therefore, be it

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RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
we congratulate David Joens, a true son of Illinois, on his
retirement after 20 years as Director of the Illinois State
Archives and 35 years of public service to the people of the
State of Illinois; and be it further