Retiring 17th District Congresswoman Cheri Bustos is making a major contribution to one of Jacksonville’s oldest institutions.
Bustos’ Office announced yesterday that the collection of artifacts and papers from her years in office will be archived in a joint partnership with the nonpartisan Dirksen Congressional Center and Illinois College. Bustos is also establishing the Callahan-Bustos Family Endowed Scholarship Fund through a gift to the college, which will provide scholarship funding to students pursuing work for the public good.
Illinois College and The Dirksen Center will each hold separate elements of the Bustos Collection. Illinois College will retain the Congresswoman’s physical artifacts for display and research, while The Dirksen Center will hold the physical and digital papers from her office for academic research. The two institutions have committed to an ongoing partnership beginning with the Bustos Collection, with research opportunities for faculty and students at Illinois College once the papers are processed and open for viewing.
Bustos briefly attended Illinois College in the early 1980s before transferring to the University of Maryland-College Park where she earned her bachelor’s degree in political science in 1983. Bustos is a member of the Illinois College Congressional Hall of Fame.
WLDS hopes to speak with Congresswoman Bustos at a later time about these contributions to Illinois College as well as her time spent in Jacksonville at a later date.