About Us

The David G. Swan APCO Historical Collection, established by the Illinois Chapter of APCO in 1982, includes the files of several national presidents, secretaries and other officers, APCO Project Series records, proceedings from APCO Annual Conferences, Illinois APCO records and every issue of the APCO Bulletin from 1935 to present, among many more documents.

The collection is housed in the Cullom-Davis Library's Virginius H. Chase Special Collections Center at Bradley University in Peoria, IL. Occupying more than 200 linear feet of shelf space in a climate-controlled, secure vault, the collection has an organization system tailored to its specific needs by former Chapter Historian and APCO Life Member David G. Swan. Coordination of the collection today is managed by Ed Milam and Al Marquardt of the Illinois Chapter. The on-site student consultant/coordinator is Liz Bloodworth. Liz is a graduate of Bradley University and a former APCO student worker on the collection. For the 2017-2018 academic year the collection employs 3 Bradley University students to add content to the website. 

APCO International was formed in 1935 in St. Louis, MO. What began as a simple letter calling for a meeting of those involved in police communications now stands as the world's oldest and largest organization of public safety communications professionals.

Formed in 1941, Illinois APCO is the second oldest chapter in the organization and many of its members have served on the national level. Four past presidents of APCO hail from Illinois:  I. Otto Rhoades (1967-1968), William L. Miller (1974-1975), Nathan D. McLure III (1978-1979) and Gregory T. Riddle (2011-2012).