Illinois Prairie Path Records
Scope and Contents
The Illinois Prairie Path collection consists of meeting minutes, correspondence, newsletters, newspaper clippings, financial records, brochures, slides, filmstrips, videos, and photographs chronicling the foundation and development of the Illinois Prairie Path from 1960 to the present. Major topics to which this collection relates include the growth of footpath and rails-to-trails movements in the Chicago suburbs, environmental advocacy, the relationship between local grassroots movements and city governments, and the relationship between local volunteer organizations and large corporations.
Dates
- 1928 - 2017
- Majority of material found within 1963 - 2017
Biographical / Historical
Begun in 1963 with May Watts’ vision of a public footpath along an abandoned railway, the Illinois Prairie Path has developed into a 63 mile multi-use path crossing Kane, DuPage, and Cook County. The Archives of the Illinois Prairie Path encompass everything that has happened in that fifty year time span, from construction of the path and building bridges to advocating for necessary maintenance and installing amenities. The Illinois Prairie Path donated their records to the North Central College Archives’ Suburban Studies Archives in February 2014.
Extent
25.02 Linear Feet (60 manuscript, letter-sized boxes, 3 oversized boxes)
Language of Materials
English
- Title
- Illinois Prairie Path Records
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Kimberly Jacobsen Butler and Deana Guarino
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the The Suburban Studies Archives at North Central College Repository
North Central College
Oesterle Library
320 S. School Street
Naperville Illinois 60540 United States
6306375714
archives@noctrl.edu