Title: Great Lakes Commission Records
Inclusive Dates: 1955-1965

Creator:

• Great Lakes Commission

Call Number: Milwaukee Mss CX

Quantity: 2.8 c.f. (7 archives boxes)

Repository:

Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries’ Archives Department / Milwaukee Area Research Center; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives / Milwaukee Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Abstract:

Records of the Commission, a joint agency of eight states concerned with Great Lakes water resources developments, programs, and problems, compiled by its secretary, Harry C. Brockel. General correspondence and subject files concern an import-export rate study; the Committee on Seaway and Navigation; pilotage; water pollution and resources; and the GLC Seaway Institute.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mil000cx

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The Great Lakes Commission was established by the eight Great Lakes states in 1955 under the Great Lakes Basin Compact, an interstate compact designating the Commission as the states' joint instrumentality on Great Lakes water resource developments, programs, and problems. The movement to establish the Commission had been launched in 1954 at a regional conference sponsored by the Council of State Governments. Attended by representatives of all the eight states, the conference unanimously adopted a resolution creating an interstate committee to draft the Great Lakes Basin Compact. Following completion of the work of the drafting committee in the same year, five states - Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin - ratified enabling legislation to the Compact during the 1955 legislative sessions. The Commission itself was organized in December of the same year. Pennsylvania subsequently became a member of the Commission in 1956, New York joined in 1960, and Ohio ratified the Compact in 1963. Congressional consent to the Compact was finalized on July 24, 1968. The House and Senate passed S. 660 and the President signed the bill, which became P.L. 90-419.

As their joint statutory agency, the Commission provided three services to the states. It served as a clearinghouse for information on important developments on the Great Lakes and prepared special studies, bulletins, and reports to assist governmental officials and others in the use, protection and further development of these water resources. It provided the states with a recognized and continuing council, under their direction and control, for joint consideration of common and regional problems on the Great Lakes. Finally, it coordinated the viewpoints and plans of member states to advance the programs and policies, at all levels of government, that the states felt were in their interest and the region's interest.

The Commission was composed of three to five members from each member state, selected in accordance with the provisions of its enabling legislation, with each state having three votes. The Commission carried on its program through at least two meetings annually, five standing committees, special committees as needed, and the staff of its office in Ann Arbor, Michigan. An executive committee, consisting of the chairman of the Commission and one representative from each member state, exercised general supervision over the Commission's activities and program between the regular meetings of the Commission.

Close cooperation was maintained between the Commission and states and agencies administering Great Lakes water resources programs. Each state delegation to the Commission regularly submitted reports on each meeting of the Commission to the Governor and to state agencies with Great Lakes interests and responsibilities. Special reports on Great Lakes developments were made to the Governors and other state officials and bodies as warranted, and regular reports were made to the Governor and the Legislature in each member state every two years. Financial support for the Commission's program was derived from state appropriations.

The collection includes the general correspondence of the Great Lakes Commission, covering the period from mid-1955 through 1964. Beginning with 1957, certain GLC correspondence is organized by administrative subject, the subdivisions reflecting special functions or committees within the GLC for which correspondence was maintained separately from the general correspondence files. The contents list that follows identifies these various subdivisions and their inclusive dates.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Harry C. Brockel, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1966. Accession Number: M66-469

Processing Information

Processed by Dennis Rowley and Dan Walsh, October, 1971.

Box   1 Folder   1	Papers and documents presented at the meeting of the Great Lakes Commission, Chicago, November 12, 1956
	General Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   2	1955 July -1956 March
Box   1 Folder   3	1956 March-July
Box   1 Folder   4	1956 August-October
Box   1 Folder   5	1956 October-November
Box   1 Folder   6	1956 December-1957 February
Box   1 Folder   7	, 1957 March-May
Box   2 Folder   1	1957 June-August
Box   2 Folder   2	1957 September-December
Box   2 Folder   3	1958 January-March
Box   2 Folder   4	1958 April-July
Box   2 Folder   5	1958 August-November
Box   2 Folder   6	, 1957 October 10-1958 April 10 (a miscellaneous file)
Box   3 Folder	1958 December-1959 March
Box   3 Folder   2	1959 March-September
Box   3 Folder   3	1959 September-December
Box   3 Folder   4	1960 January-May
Box   3 Folder   5	1960 May-November
Box   3 Folder   6	1960 December-1961 July
Box   3 Folder   7	1961 August-December
Box   4 Folder   1	1962 January-June
Box   4 Folder   2	1962 July-November
Box   4 Folder   3	1962 December-1963 March
Box   4 Folder   4	1963 April-August
Box   4 Folder   5	1963 September-1964 August
Box   4 Folder   6	1964 May-December
	Subject Correspondence
	Import-Export Rate Study
Box   5 Folder   1	1957 December-1958 September
Box   5 Folder   2	1958 October-December
Box   5 Folder   3	1959-1960 June
	Committee on Seaway and Navigation
Box   5 Folder   4	1958 March-1961 January
Box   5 Folder   5	1961 February-1962
Box   5 Folder   6	1963 December-1965 March
	Great Lakes Commission Seaway Institute
Box   5 Folder   7	1963 January-November
Box   5 Folder   8	1963-1964 May
	Pilotage
Box   6 Folder   1	1958 May-1960 February
Box   6 Folder   2	1960 March-1962 July
	Water Resources - Diversion and Lake Levels
Box   6 Folder   3	1959 June-1960 January
Box   6 Folder   4	1960 February-1961 November
Box   6 Folder   5	1961 November-1963 May
Box   6 Folder   6	1963 May-1965 April
Box   7 Folder   1	Conference of Great Lakes Governors, 1959 September 21-1962 June 17
	Water Pollution and Sanitation (Harbors and Vessels)
Box   7 Folder   2	1960 May-1964 March
Box   7 Folder   3	1964 April-1965 June
Box   7 Folder   4	Annual Meeting and Newsletter, 1957-1958