Norton earned a stellar reputation in archival management and supervised the move of the archives into its own building, a model that other states raced to copy. The building, just south of the Illinois State Capitol, was named in her honor in 1994.

Born on July 7, 1891, in Rockford, Norton earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Chicago and graduated in 1915 from New York State Library School, now a part of Columbia University. She found work as a cataloger in the library at Vassar College, where — ironically — she began to realize that she didn’t care for library work.

However, at a meeting of the American Historical Association, Norton learned of the extremely poor condition of records organization nationwide. Inspired, she decided to become an archivist.

On April 1, 1922, Norton was named the first superintendent of the new Archives Division of the Illinois State Library and quickly began to organize the state’s records from scratch. It proved a mammoth task. Many were stashed in various places around the Capitol building and had succumbed to dampness, dirt and vermin.

While searching the Capitol attic, just under the roof on the sixth floor, Norton found the state’s territorial and first census records stuffed in a ventilating shaft. Other vital records were found, covered in rubbish, under the front steps. Still others were in the basement, further damaged by mud created when rain softened the dirt floors.

There were other hazards in the basement, where Norton recalled cockroaches “as big as mice” and rats “as big as cats.” For her own protection, she was accompanied to the basement by the Secretary of State’s document clerk, who carried a revolver. Norton later was “given a long piece of pipe (and) whenever a rat came and looked at me, I’d bang on whatever was nearest with that pipe and scare him off.”

In an era when few understood the value or meaning of an archive, Norton also dealt with the ignorance of peers. The architect of the Centennial (now Howlett) Building, which originally housed the Archives Division, once asked “by the way, Miss Norton, what is an archive?” She also had to persuade or beg a number of reluctant state officials to turn their records over to her for safekeeping in the archives.

From these humble beginnings, Norton managed to create an Archives Division that became the envy of the nation. Despite her best efforts, a lack of space in the Centennial Building hampered archival growth, but the loss by fire of the Illinois State Arsenal in 1934, including its valuable military records, made government officials recognize the value of proper archival storage.

In 1935, in the midst of the Great Depression, the state appropriated $500,000 to construct a new Archives Building. That figure was supplemented by an additional $320,000 from the Public Works Administration. At the time, there were only two archives buildings in the nation — the State Archives of Maryland and the National Archives in Washington.

The move to build an Archives Building in Illinois is a testament to the foresight and persuasion of Norton, who oversaw even the smallest details of the construction. In selecting proper steel filing cabinets, the successful bidder was required, under Norton’s supervision, to open and close a loaded drawer 10 times a minute for a total of 100,000 times.

She also oversaw the installation of time switches on lights in the vault, to reduce energy usage and fire hazards. Similarly, Norton insisted on the use of carbon tetrachloride in fire extinguishers, a chemical that would not damage paper or ink.

The genteel Norton also wielded considerable political influence. At the dedication of the Archives Building on Oct. 26, 1938, she spied Gov. Henry Horner in the outer lobby, smoking a cigarette. Norton calmly informed Horner that smoking was not allowed in the building. The governor quickly put out his cigarette.

In the years that followed, many other states requested assistance from Norton and Illinois in designing and managing their archives. The stature of the Illinois State Archives was so great that the National Archives in Washington, in the event of evacuation during World War II, determined to send its most valued artifacts to Springfield for safekeeping under Norton’s watch.

Norton held a variety of posts in national archival agencies and taught the first course in archivology ever offered in an American library school, at Columbia in 1940. She authored numerous articles and constantly befriended younger archivists, always encouraging their advancement in the field. The first three African-Americans to achieve professional status in Illinois government were archives staffers, which made Norton proud.

She retired by choice on April 15, 1957, and rarely returned to the archives that she had painstakingly supervised. Norton authored books in 1975 and 1981 but rebuffed repeated requests for more writings. She traveled extensively before her death at age 92 on May 21, 1984.

Nearing four decades after her death, Norton remains a godlike figure to archivists throughout America. In a 2009 interview, longtime archives staffer Elaine Evans noted a spate of recent requests from across the nation for information on Norton. She laughed that “Margaret must be hot this week” to one requester, who replied, “Honey, Margaret’s always hot!”