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1 SENATE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate wish to
3 congratulate Illinois State Archives Director David Joens on
4 his retirement after 20 years as director and 35 years in state
5 government and public service; and
6 WHEREAS, David Joens is the son of Alan I. and Betty H.
7 Joens, the husband of Mona B. Martin, and the father of
8 Benjamin Alan Joseph Joens and is a fifth generation resident
9 of the State of Illinois, who attended Illinois public schools
10 from kindergarten at Pershing Grade School in Joliet to his
11 Ph.D. in Illinois History at Southern Illinois University in
12 Carbondale; and
13 WHEREAS, David Joens served two years in the United States
14 Army, was a reporter for the Sun newspaper in Lisle, served as
15 an intern and a press secretary for the Illinois Senate
16 Democratic staff for six years, worked at the University of
17 Illinois at Springfield Legislative Studies Center for four
18 years, and worked on the Illinois Secretary of State's
19 Programs and Policy staff for four years; and
20 WHEREAS, David Joens was appointed by Secretary of State
21 Jesse White in 2004 to serve as the Director of the Illinois
22 State Archives, making him the fifth director of the archives
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1 in its 103-year history, following in the footsteps of his
2 predecessors Margaret Cross Norton, LeRoy DePuy, Ted Cassady,
3 and John Daly; and
4 WHEREAS, David Joens, during his tenure at the Illinois
5 State Archives, modernized that office's micrographics
6 section, increased the capacity of its records center by
7 one-third, moved its public finding aids from paper to a state
8 of the art on-line system, added numerous indexes and records
9 to the archives' website, instituted an intern program that
10 provided an entry point for young professional archivists to
11 join the Illinois State Archives, and created the on-line
12 exhibit, "The 100 Most Valuable Documents at the Illinois
13 State Archives", which offers a brief history of the state
14 using primary documents; and
15 WHEREAS, David Joens helped secure more than $1 million in
16 grant funding for the Illinois State Archives and its advisory
17 board and established a now 14-year-old award winning re-grant
18 program, which uses federal grant money to fund archival
19 projects at small, underserved Illinois historical museums,
20 libraries, and archives and provide scholarships and free
21 classes in archival studies to Illinois archivists; and
22 WHEREAS, David Joens served on numerous boards and
23 commissions as director of the Illinois State Archives,
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1 including both the Downstate and Cook County Local Records
2 Commissions, as chair of the State Records Commission, as
3 chair of the Illinois State Flag Commission, as a member of the
4 Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, the Illinois
5 Bicentennial Commission, the Route 66 Centennial Commission,
6 and the Underground Railroad Task Force; and
7 WHEREAS, David Joens was an active member of the National
8 Council of State Archivists, including serving two terms on
9 its board of directors, and was an active member in numerous
10 organizations that promoted Illinois history, including the
11 Illinois State Historical Society, where he is a Lifetime
12 Achievement Award recipient, the Old State Capitol Foundation,
13 the Abraham Lincoln Association, the Illinois State
14 Genealogical Society, the Illinois Heritage Association, the
15 Chicago Metro History in Education Center, the Center for
16 Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield,
17 and the Chicago Area Archivists; and
18 WHEREAS, David Joens has a deep and abiding love for
19 Illinois, authoring numerous scholarly journal and popular
20 history articles about all aspects of Illinois history, two
21 Almanac of Illinois Politics, and the book, "From Slave to
22 State Legislator, John W. E. Thomas, Illinois' First African
23 American Lawmaker"; therefore, be it
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1 RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL
2 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate David
3 Joens, a true son of Illinois, on his retirement after 20 years
4 as Director of the Illinois State Archives and 35 years of
5 public service to the people of the State of Illinois; and be
6 it further
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