The Illinois Audubon Society was organized as an independent, state-wide, educational and scientific organization, incorporated April 10, 1897, by the State of Illinois.

Like all of the early state Audubon Societies, IAS was formed to curtail the feather trade which was decimating colonies of herons, egrets, and terns. Early directors worked for the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and began a large educational campaign concerning bird protection.

Mrs. Henry King was the first president of IAS, and organized early education campaigns for bird preservation, especially in the schools. Ruthven Deane, who followed her, was a personal friend of Teddy Roosevelt and William Brewster, and one of the "old guard" of the prestigious Nutthall Ornithological Club. He was followed, in turn, by Orpheus Moyer Schantz, a Chicago banker and ornithologist by avocation, who authored the first booklet on identifying Illinois birds for the Department of Conservation.

The Society worked with the American Ornithological Union and Wilson and Cooper's Ornithological clubs to save the property of the great Illinois ornithologist Robert Ridgway, to serve as a memorial to his work. Rev. C.W.G. Eifrig, Lutheran minister and professor at Concordia, was the next president. During his tenure, the Society became affiliated with the Chicago Academy of Sciences (CAS). Alfred M. Bailey, Director of the CAS, and Margaret Morse Nice, well-known ornithologist, joined the Society's Board.

Dr. Reuben Strong took over the presidency in 1941. He was on the staff of the University of Chicago, and later founded the medical school at Loyola. He had done research at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and was one of the founders of the Wilson Ornithological Club. In the early 1900s, he taught a popular course in birds at the University of Chicago, increasing interest in birds and bird watching through his students.

During Dr. Strong's tenure, the Society moved its headquarters to Chicago's Field Museum. There is little doubt that the leadership of Dr. Strong, and his predecessors, and the fine directors they were able to recruit, gave the Society a solid foundation.

Beginning in 1916, the Society began to publish field notes of bird sightings from around the state. Other articles involving birds and their occurrence, behavior, etc. were contributed by Margaret Morse Nice and many more prominent ornithologists, as well as astute amateurs of bird study. Over the years, the Audubon Bulletin evolved into the current magazine, Illinois Audubon, which offers a variety of articles on birds and other Illinois fauna, flora, geology, and so forth. The Society continues to publish data from the Illinois Spring Count and the many Christmas Bird Counts held around the state