Florence Kelley in Chicago 1891-1899
Florence Kelley was the first woman factory inspector in the United States, appointed in Illinois by Governor John Peter Altgeld in 1893. A resident of Hull House, and a reformer – who refused to be associated with any political party–Florence Kelley lived in Chicago from 1891 until 1899, leading and participating in a variety of projects. These included: a wage and ethnicity census of the slums and tenements in Chicago; the reporting of cases and contagion in the smallpox epidemic of 1893; the enforcement of the universal primary education laws, and, most importantly, enforcing the provisions of the Illinois Factory Inspections Law of 1893.

Illinois Murder Indictments 2000-2010
On March 9, 2011 Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation abolishing the death penalty in Illinois. Instrumental in his decision were the findings of the Illinois Committee to Study the Reform of the Death Penalty: between 2000-2010 more than $100 million of state money was spent out of the Capital Litigation Trust Fund on death penalty cases by county state's attorneys, appointed private counsel, the Attorney General and public defenders. This website's Project Director, Leigh Bienen, was a member of that Committee. The 2200 murder indictments which formed the body of evidence are gathered here; you can examine them via our interactive database, and they can also be downloaded. Extensive supporting material is included.