Illinois Archives and Libraries

United States Illinois  Archives and Libraries

Archives, libraries, societies, private enterprise, groups and individuals are posting records online at lightning speed. Still, vast collections of invaluable records remain offline.

Most have online catalogs or published record-finding aids, such as guides to their own collections or inventories of records housed elsewhere. Archives and libraries located near state boundaries usually collect records relating to the adjacent states.

Many archives and libraries have resources such as maps, gazetteers, and other place-finding aids to help you locate information about Illinois. They may have collections of previous research, such as family and local histories and biographies. Many have record-finding aids such as guides to their own collections or inventories of records housed elsewhere in the state.

Directories
An online directory to Illinois libraries is:


 * Illinois libraries on the Internet: Federal, state, consortia, academic, publc and private.

Names, addresses, and telephone numbers of many archives, libraries, and genealogical and historical societies are given in:


 * Illinois Libraries with Genealogical Collections

The following archives, libraries, and societies have collections or services helpful for genealogical research:

Regional National Archives
National Archives Great Lakes (Chicago) 7358 South Pulaski Road Chicago, IL 60629 Phone: (773) 581-7816 Internet: National Archives Great Lakes

State Archives, Libraries, and Societies
Illinois State Archives Margret Cross Norton Building Springfield, IL 62756 Phone: (217) 782-4682 Fax: (217) 524-3930 Internet: Illinois State Archives

Since the Illinois State Archives responds only by mail to inquiries, all fax, telephone, and e-mail inquiries must also contain a mailing address.

A helpful guide to the holdings of the Illinois State Archives is:


 * Descriptive Inventory of the Archives of the State of Illinois This source is also available on compact disc from the state archives. Internet Archiveshas a free copy avialable online.

Illinois State Library Gwendolyn Brooks Building 300 South Second Street Springfield, IL 62701 Phone: (217) 785-5600 Internet: Illinois State Library

Illinois State Historical Library Old State Capitol 112 North Sixth Street Springfield, IL 62701-1507 Phone: (217) 558-8844 Fax: (217) 785-6250 Internet: Illinois State Historical Library

Illinois State Genealogical Society P.O. Box 10195 Springfield, IL 62791 Phone: (217) 789-1968 Internet: Illinois State Genealogical Society

Illinois State Historical Society P.O. Box 1800 Springfield, IL 62705-1800 Phone: (217) 525-2781


 * The State Historical Society was formed to support the Historical Library. The Society is independent of the Library and State, but continue to promote research, writing, and study of Illinois history.
 * See Collections of the Illinois State Histoircal Society.

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library 112 N. Sixth Street Springfield, IL 62701 Phone: (800) 610-2094 or (217) 782-5764 Holdings include: family genealogies; oral histories; county histories; cemetery inscriptions; atlases and plat books; indexes and transcriptions of census, vital records, and naturalization records for many counties. Records of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Civil War Union veteran's society, are also included. The online collection has a statewide obituary search for newspapers held at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.

Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI) 100 Trade Centre Drive, Suite 303 Champaign, IL 61820-7233 Phone: (217) 244-7593 or (866) 904-5843 Internet: br&gt;


 * CARLI's Digital Collection links to 96 independent collections that are freely viewable by the general public–from an 1829 Alumni Catalog for Illinois College to 1837 snapshots of Chicago streets and everything in between.

Illinois Regional Archives Depository System (IRAD)
Many Illinois local government records are housed in regional archive depositories. By following the links below you can find which county records are held at each depository. In addition, the depository sites can help you discover other possible sources for records and information not available from IRAD.

IRAD Research Policy
You may visit an IRAD depository to research available records. Because many of the depositories are associated with universities and observe university holidays, be sure to call before planning a visit.

IRAD welcomes mail and telephone requests for research help. No e-mail requests are available at this time. There is no charge for research help, except for photocopy costs. You will be informed if your copies exceed $5. Otherwise you will be billed for your copy requests. IRAD requests that you limit your request to 2 names at a time and that you wait for that response before submitting addtional requests. Send your request directly to the IRAD regional depository holding the county records of interest. You may send requests to up to 5 different depositories at a time.

IRAD Records Listings
Regional Map of IRAD Depositories Click on the approprate region, then click on the county of interest for contact information, county formation, and other information about the county. To search which county records are available in IRAD, from any IRAD page click on Local Governmental Records Holdings Database or link to it directly from here. Once on this page, by only entering the county name in the search box, you can see all IRAD holdings for any individual county.

See A Summary Guide to Local Governmental Records in the Illinois Regional Archives, available from the Illinois Regional Archives Depository System.

For more information about IRAD and the regional depositories see Illinois Regional Archives Depositories.

IRAD Locations and Contacts
Illinois Regional Archives Depository System (IRAD) Wiki article about IRAD Archives Building Springfield, IL 62756 Phone: (217) 785-1266

Eastern Illinois University (EIU) Wiki article about EIU Booth Library 600 Lincoln Avenue Charleston, IL 61920 Phone: (217) 581-6093 Hours: Monday – Friday, except state holidays 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.; 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. EIU Region Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar, Edwards, Effingham, Jasper, Lawrence, Moultrie, Richland, Shelby, Wabash, Wayne

Illinois State University (ISU) Wiki article about ISU 2016 Warehouse Road Campus Box 1520 Normal, IL 61790-1520 Phone: (309) 452-6027 Hours: Monday – Friday, except state holidays 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.; 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ISU Region Champaign, DeWitt, Ford, Grundy, Iroquois, Kankakee, Livingston, Logan, Marshall, McLean, Piatt, Tazewell, Vermillion, Woodford

Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) Wiki article about NEIU Ronald Williams Library 5500 N. St. Louis Avenue Chicago, IL 60625-4699 Phone: (773) 442-4506 Hours: Monday – Friday, except state holidays 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. NEIU Region Cook and City of Chicago

Southern Illinois University (SIU) Wiki article about SIU c/o Special Collections Morris Library – 6632 Carbondale, IL 62901-6632 Phone: (618) 453-3040 Hours: Monday – Friday, except state holidays 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. SIU Region Alexander, Clinton, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Madison, Marion, Massac, Monroe, Perry, Pope, Pulaski, Randolph, St. Clair, Saline, Union, Washington, White, Williamson

Northern Illinois University (NIU) Wiki article about NIU c/o Regional History Center Founders Memorial Library, Room 400 DeKalb, IL 60115 Phone: (815) 753-1807 Hours: Monday – Friday, except state holidays 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.; 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. NIU Region Boone, Bureau, Carroll, DeKalb, DuPage, JoDaviess, Kane, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, Lee, McHenry, Ogle, Putnam, Stephenson, Whiteside, Will, Winnebago

University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS) Wiki article about UIS LIB 144 One University Plaza, MS BRK 140 Springfield IL 62703-5407 Phone: (217) 206-6520 Hours: Monday – Friday, except state holidays 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. UIS Region Bond, Cass, Christian, Fayette, Greene, Jersey, Macon, Macoupin, Mason, Menard, Montgomery, Morgan, Sangamon, Scott

Western Illinois University (WIU) Wiki article about WIU University Library 1 University Circle Macomb, IL 61455 Phone: (309) 298-2716 Hours: Monday – Friday, except state holidays 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. WIU Region Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Fulton, Hancock, Henderson, Henry, Knox, McDonough, Mercer, Peoria, Pike, Rock Island, Schuyler, Stark, Warren

Newberry Library
For further details see the Newberry Library Wiki page.

Newberry Library 60 West Walton Street Chicago, IL 60610 Phone: (312) 943-9090 Reference desk: (312) 255-3512 Internet: Newberry Library

This library has research guides on various subjects related to genealogy and library holdings cataloged from 1978. See Genealogy Collection Guides and Research Tools for more information about the collections.  

A surname index to genealogical periodicals and local history books in the Newberry Library was completed in 1915 and published as The Genealogical Index of the Newberry Library Since this index is old, be sure to use the online guide sheet to this collection before using the source.

Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center Denkman Memorial Library Augustana College 639 38th Street Rock Island, IL 61201-2296 Telephone: 309-794-7204 Fax: 309-794-7443 E-Mail: [mailto:sag@augustana.edu sag@augustana.edu] Internet: http://www.augustana.edu/general-information/swenson-center-/about-us

Family History Centers
Family History Centers (FHCs) are branches of FamilySearch and the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah (United States). There are many centers located in Illinois. Their goal is to provide resources to assist you in the research and study of your genealogy and family history by:


 * Giving personal one-on-one assistance to patrons
 * Providing access to genealogical records through the Internet or microfilm loan program
 * Offering free how-to classes (varies by location).

You can locate the nearest Family History Center and learn about them by:


 * Going to the county in the Research Wiki, and searching for Archives and Libraries. There will be a link to the Centers nearby.
 * You can go to the FamilySearch Centers. By clicking this link you will type in your address and searching. The nearest centers will come up on a map.
 * Clicking this Family History Center searchfor you will find a list of articles about the centers in Illinois. Each article will give you the address and location.

Web Sites
You can find research tips and information about ancestors from Illinois in a variety of sources at local, state, national, and international levels. Much of the information is available at little or no cost. The following sites are important gateways to additional sites:


 * Cyndi's List: Links to a wide variety of Illinois resources.


 * Illinois USGenWeb. Volunteer-created list of genealogical databases, libraries, bulletin boards, and other resources available on the Internet, for each county.


 * Linkpendium: categorized links to many genealogy resources.