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Forest Preserve District of Cook County Records: Home

How to use and make the most of UIC's Forest Preserve District of Cook County Records.

The Forest Preserve District of Cook County Records

The Forest Preserve District of Cook County records

The Forest Preserve District of Cook County (FPDCC) was created in 1914 with a mandate to “protect and preserve” the forested lands in Cook County. The district became one of the most extensive systems of wildlife reserves near a large metropolitan area. By 2011, it had had acquired nearly 68,000 acres and now entertains as many as 40 million visitors each year.

The FPDCC records contain documents the history of the district, the people who founded it, some of its day-to-day operations, and its planning, construction, and development. The records include correspondence, memoranda, reports, financial records, legal files, construction plans and blueprints, minutes of meetings of the Board of Forest Preserve Commissioners and of advisory bodies, and photographic prints, negatives, and glass "lantern slides." The collection was processed thanks to a generous grant from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation.

Accessing Special Collections and University Archives

Please see the most up-to-date information on UIC's Covid-19 policies. Policies about access to onsite research at UIC Library may change at any time and without prior notice. For more information, please see UIC Special Collections and University Archives home page. You may also Ask A Librarian.

Archival Collections held at UIC can be viewed in the Special Collections and University Archives, reading rooms on the third floor of Richard J. Daley Library, or the third floor of the Library of the Health Sciences-Chicago. The exact location depends on which collection you wish to look at.

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Dan Harper
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Richard J. Daley Library
University of Illinois at Chicago
MC 234
801 S. Morgan St. 3-330
Chicago, IL 60607
312-996-4457