About the Association

Mission Statement

The Illinois Analog Network Research Association is an independent association of former and current employees of the Illinois Bell Telephone Company and its successors. Founded in 1998, IANRA is dedicated to the documentation and preservation of historical long-distance telecommunications infrastructure in the state of Illinois, with particular focus on the analog carrier systems of the period 1947–1986. IANRA is not a 501(c)(3) organization. Membership inquiries may be directed to the address below. We do not currently hold meetings.

Organizational History

IANRA was incorporated as an unaffiliated membership organization in the spring of 1998. The founding membership comprised seven individuals, all of whom had either been directly employed by Illinois Bell or had served in a contracted capacity on Long Lines projects in Northern Illinois between 1961 and 1993. The Association's initial purpose, as stated in the 1998 charter, was to gather, catalog, and preserve operational records, field documentation, and technical materials relating to the long-distance carrier infrastructure of the state, with an emphasis on sites now decommissioned or slated for decommissioning. This purpose remains in effect.

The Association is not, and has never been, affiliated with AT&T Inc. or any successor entity to the Bell System. We do not solicit, receive, or retain funds from any corporate source. Our work is supported entirely by voluntary effort.

Scope of Documentation

The Association's documentation efforts cover, in order of priority: (1) the Lee Main Station and its associated four-hop microwave route to the Hanover Communications Site, 1974–1986; (2) the Chicago No. 2 and Chicago No. 3 switching centers, with emphasis on the period of the 1983 divestiture and its aftermath; (3) the underground cable runs and vault facilities of the Northern Illinois segment of the transcontinental Long Lines network, including sites in Norway, Lee, and Hanover; and (4) such additional sites, systems, and incidents as come to the attention of the membership through field investigation or correspondence.

The Association maintains a strict policy of not publishing the names, addresses, or Common Language Location Identifiers of active AT&T network facilities, in accordance with the request of AT&T Corporate Security. Active facilities, where referenced, are identified by fictitious names shown in brackets. Decommissioned sites and publicly-documented historical facilities are named in full.

A Note from the Director

When I agreed to help catalog what remained of the analog long-lines infrastructure in this state, I believed we were preserving a quiet chapter of a closed history. The further along the archival work has progressed, the less I am certain that the chapter is closed.

A great deal has been lost. I have spent considerable time over the past few years walking sites that no longer have walls around them, and I have spoken with men I worked beside for fifteen and twenty years who can no longer remember what we were doing in 1981, in 1985, on certain nights neither of us will name. I do not blame them. The mind protects itself. But I have come to believe that we owe the record more than memory allows, and that is the work this Association exists to do.

I am asking for your help. If you have served on a Long Lines crew at any point between 1961 and 1986, or if you have come into possession of operational logs, internal correspondence, recordings, or photographs from that period, I would like to hear from you. I will treat all materials with discretion and will credit contributors as they prefer. I am especially interested in field reports, even those written off at the time as equipment faults or carrier-loss events. We did not always understand what we were hearing.

Membership

Membership in the Association is open to any individual with documented employment history at Illinois Bell Telephone or a successor entity, or who has performed contracted work on the carrier systems within our scope. Associate membership, without voting rights, is available to interested parties who can demonstrate a good-faith research or documentary interest. All applications are reviewed by the Director.

As of the most recent membership review, the Association has three (3) full members in good standing and no associate members. Applications for the 2004 cycle may be submitted via postal mail to the address in the sidebar. Electronic submissions are not accepted at this time.