Illinois Archives and Libraries

United States Illinois  Illinois Archives and Libraries



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

Directory of Illinois Museums Including Historical, Cultural, and Scientific Agencies. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois Association of Museums and Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 1996. This source is not available at the Family History Library, but most libraries in Illinois have a copy. An earlier source is:


 * A Guide to the Cultural Resources in Illinois

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

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

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

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

Illinois State Historical Library Old State Capitol 112 North Sixth Street Springfield, IL 62701-1507 Telephone: 217-558-8844 Fax: 217-785-6250 Internet: www.state.il.us/hpa/lib

Illinois State Genealogical Society P.O. Box 10195 Springfield, IL 62791 Telephone: 217-789-1968 Internet: http://www.ilgensoc.org/

Other genealogical societies are listed in the Directory of Illinois Museums and the Reithmaier book, both cited at the beginning of this section.

Illinois State Historical Society Old State Capitol Springfield, IL 62701 Telephone: 217-525-2781 Internet: www.historyillinois.org

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library  112 N. Sixth Street Springfield, IL 62701 Telephone: 800-610-2094 or 217-782-5764 Internet: http://www.alplm.org Holdings include: family genealogies; county histories; cemetery inscriptions; atlases and plat books; indexes and transcriptions of census, vital records, and naturalization records for many counties.

Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI) 100 Trade Centre Drive, Suite 303 Champaign, IL 61820-7233 Telephone: 217-244-7593 or 866-904-5843 Internet: http://www.carli.illinois.edu/

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.

IRAD Depositories
Illinois Regional Archives Depository System (IRAD) Archives Building Springfield, IL 62756 Telephone: 217-785-1266

IRAD—Eastern Illinois University (EIU) Illinois Regional Archives Depository - Booth Library Eastern Illinois University 600 Lincoln Avenue Charleston, IL 61920 Telephone: (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

IRAD—Illinois State University (ISU) Illinois Regional Archives Depository Illinois State University 2016 Warehouse Road Campus Box 1520 Normal, IL 61790-1520 Telephone: (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

IRAD—Northern Illinois University (NIU) Illinois Regional Archives Depository c/o Regional History Center Founders Memorial Library Room 400 Northern Illinois University DeKalb, IL 60115 Telephone: (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

UIS IRAD—University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS) Illinois Regional Archives Depository LIB 144 University of Illinois at Springfield One University Plaza, MS BRK 140 Springfield IL 62703-5407 Telephone: (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

IRAD—Southern Illinois University (SIU) Illinois Regional Archives Depository c/o Special Collections Morris Library – 6632 Southern Illinois University Carbondale, IL 62901-6632 Telephone: (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

IRAD—Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) Illinois Regional Archives Depository Ronald Williams Library Northeastern Illinois University 5500 N. St. Louis Avenue Chicago, IL 60625-4699 Telephone: (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

IRAD—Western Illinois University (WIU) Illinois Regional Archives Depository University Library Western Illinois University 1 University Circle Macomb, IL 61455 Telephone: (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

A useful guide to records in IRAD depositories is:


 * A Summary Guide to Local Governmental Records in the Illinois Regional Archives

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


 * Newberry Library
 * 60 West Walton Street
 * Chicago, IL 60610
 * Telephone: 312-943-9090
 * Telephone to 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.

Major collections at the Newberry Library are described in:


 * Guide to Local and Family History at the Newberry Library

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

Family History Library
To learn more about the history and record-keeping systems of Illinois counties, use the 33 inventories of the county archives published around 1940 by the Historical Records Survey. The Family History Library has copies of most of these. These inventories can be found in the Family History Library Catalog by using a Place Search under:


 * ILLINOIS, [COUNTY]- ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES-
 * ILLINOIS, INVENTORIES, REGISTERS, CATALOGS

Web Sites
You can find computerized 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. Addresses on the Internet change frequently. The following sites are important gateways to additional sites:

FamilySearch™ Internet Genealogy Service. [Salt Lake City, Utah]: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 22 March 1999 [cited 7 October 1999]. Available at FamilySearch.org. At this site you can access the Family History Library Catalog, Ancestral File, International Genealogical Index, Source Guide, lists of Family History Centers, web sites related to family history, and lists of researchers interested in similar genealogical topics. You can also learn about and order Family History Library publications.

Howells, Cyndi. "U.S.- Illinois- IL." In Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet. Puyallup, Washington: Cyndi Howells, 6 October 1999 [cited 7 October 1999]. Available at Cyndislist.com. This list has more links to other Illinois genealogical sites and describes more resources than any other site on the Internet.

Illinois USGenWeb. In The USGenWeb Project [Internet site]. N.p., 1999 [accesssed 18 May 2011]. This is a cooperative effort by many volunteers to list genealogical databases, libraries, bulletin boards, and other resources available on the Internet, for each county, state, and country.

United States Resources: Illinois. In RootsWeb. N.p., 28 August 1999 [accessed 18 May 2011]. Available at rootsweb.com This list of sites and resources includes a large, regularly updated research coordination list.

Most Family History Centers have computers with FamilySearch™. Many centers have access to online services, networks, or bulletin boards. You may also use these services at most public libraries, college libraries, and private locations.