Gold Star Mother's Day: Letters, Promotional Materials, Cost Estimates, 2007 - 2008

This is a collection of records pertaining to Illinois residents who died while on active duty while serving in branches of the United States military during the period since September 11, 2001. During his terms as lieutenant governor and governor of Illinois (2003-2015), Pat Quinn made it a policy to attend memorial events and funerals for those individuals, honoring them and their families for their service. Since leaving office, Quinn maintained close ties to the families of those servicemembers and continued to sponsor and to attend memorials and other commemorative events in recognition and remembrance of military sacrifice. Such events typically occurred in the hometowns of servicemembers. Quinn established in 2004 and since then had regular association with Portrait of a Soldier events. These featured graphite portraits of the Illinois fallen, drawn by artist Cameron Schilling, and were displayed as a traveling memorial at a number of Illinois venues. Most of the collection consists of files on individual Illinois servicemembers. Those files are arranged alphabetically by surname of the individuals. They feature biographical records, obituaries, programs from funerals and committal services, pertinent newspaper clippings, and photographs. Supplementing those files are topical records associated with annual Gold Star Mother’s Day ceremonies, Portrait of a Soldier events, and key individuals, legislation, and programming tied to military service, sacrifice, and recognition. A small number of oversized portraits, produced by artist Schilling, complete the collection.