Poke DU BON BULLETIN 
Published Quarterly by the 
Pier loNe Ors, wAel- DUB ON. SO'CIHT Y 
Number 77 March, 1951 
A History of the Illinois Audubon Society 
ye Oe WECK ER: 
PROBABLY THE FIRST concerted move toward bird protection in Illinois was 
initiated by a class of nine boys in Oak Park, Illinois, under the guidance 
of the Rev. George B. Pratt. This group, in 1886, became known as the 
“Forest and Stream” organization. 
In 1890 a “Chicago Society’* was started under the presidency of Mrs. 
E. Irene Rood and in 1893 it was incorporated with about 70 members. Its 
most important work was that it inspired and largely managed the 
“Audubon Congress’” held in Chicago in October, 1893, during the Colum- 
bian Exposition. Mrs. Rood’s work took her away from Chicago, and after 
a life of about four years the Society’s activity ceased.‘ 
In 1896 and 1897 another strong movement toward bird protection 
started. The group was organized through the efforts of such working bird 
lovers as Mrs. Sara A. Hubbard, Mrs. John V. Farwell, Jr., Mr. Ruthven 
Deane, Rev. George B. Pratt, Mr. Edward B. Clark and others; on April 
1, 1897, eight years before the establishment of the National Audubon 
Society, the Illinois Audubon Society, the fourth of the state societies, was 
incorporated with the following aims and principles: 
1. To encourage the study of birds, particularly in the schools, and to 
disseminate literature relating to them. 
2. To work for the betterment and enforcement of state and federal 
laws relating to birds. 
3. To discourage the wearing of any feathers except those of the 
ostrich and domestic fowls. 
4, To discourage in every possible way the wanton destruction of wild 
birds and their eggs. 
These aims have been broadened through the years to include conserva- 
FOOTNOTES 
By Dr. R. M. Strong 
1. Efficient treasurer of the Dllinois Audubon Society for twenty years and editor of 
the Bulletin for ten years. Mr. Decker has also given freely of his time to much of 
the other work of the Society. He is now an honorary director. 
2. The “Chicago Society’ was undoubtedly the organization known as the ‘“*Women’s 
Committee of the World’s Congress Auxiliary on Ornithological Congress.’’ 
3. The ‘“‘Audubon Congress’ was probably the ‘‘World’s Congress of Ornithology,” 
held October 18-21, 1893, at the Memorial Art Palace of the World’s Columbian Ex- 
position. Addresses presented were published in 1896 by the Charles H. Sergel Co., 
with Mrs. E. Irene Rood as editor. This volume is indexed at the Chicago Public 
Library under her name. 
4, A fuller account of the early history, by Mary Drummond, appeared in the fall 
number, 1920, of the Bulletin, and is the basis for the first two paragraphs of this 
article. 
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