Illinois State Genealogical Society Blog

The Fox Valley Genealogical Society will hold their next in-person meeting on Thursday, September 8th. Tina Beaird will present, "Old MacDonald had a Farm." The meeting will be held at the Naperville Municipal Center- CLICK HERE for more info! The Peoria County Genealogical Society will hold their next hybrid meeting on Thursday, September 8th. Gena Philibert-Ortega will present, "25 Websites Every Genealogist Should Know." Join via Zoom or in-person at the Peoria Public Library- CLICK HERE for more information! The Polish Genealogical Society of America is holding a Virtual Conference September 16th-18th! Featuring 6 informative lectures from Polish & American researchers- CLICK HERE for more info and to register! The Wisconsin Historical Society is hosting a series of Fall Genealogy Workshops, starting with an African American research workshop on September 10th, presented by Patricia Glover. CLICK HERE for more info and to register! The Winnebago & Bo...

The ISGS Booth has been out touring genealogy conferences- both virtual and in person! At our booth, you can find publications for sale, flyers and brochures with information about ISGS and State Archives features and services, and friendly ISGS volunteers available to answer your questions! Where is the ISGS booth going? ISGS has a virtual booth at the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree, where we raffled off free death certificate lookups. One lucky winner received a 1-year individual membership to ISGS! The ISGS Booth will be attending the CAGGNI GeneaQuest conference in Schaumburg on September 17th! The ISGS Booth will be highlighting German heritage at the Hoffman Estates Platzkonzert, September 10th and 11th! And in a special virtual partner event, ISGS past president and Website Chair, Laura Kovarik, will be presenting a lecture on Illinois research tips for the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society's "Heritage From the Heartland" series, October 1st! Be su...

Here is your first SNEAK PEEK at the fantastic lineup we have planned for the ISGS 2022 Fall Virtual Conference! This year's conference will be jam-packed with learning opportunities, including: A special keynote event  to open the Conference on October 16th: Michelangelo Sabatino and Susan Benjamin will present, "Modern in the Middle," based off their book, Modern in the Middle: Chicago Houses 1929-75.  Join us to learn more about unique architecture found in mid-century Chicagoland homes! Pre-recorded lectures covering a variety of mid-to-late 20th century research topics, including house histories, using the 1950 census, newspaper research, and much more The return of our live Q&A "Spark Sessions" with experts from the Newberry Library, Chicago History Museum, Illinois State Archives, Illinois State Library, Black Metropolis Research Consortium, and more! Exclusive workshops, including a brand-new workshop from Laura Kovarik, who has been providing in-dep...

The Illinois Regional Archives Depositories (IRADs) are now all fully staffed and ready to help you with your genealogy research! Each of the 7 IRAD locations contains local government records from the counties, townships, municipalities, and school districts within its region. New interns are starting their positions at each of the IRAD locations, and are happy to assist you via mail or telephone! CLICK here to visit the IRAD home page, learn more about their records collections, and how to contact your local IRAD. Are you planning an in-person visit to an IRAD? If you are an ISGS member, be sure to check out our "Good to Know" series, available on the member page of the ISGS website. This series walks you through the logistics of visiting several of the IRAD locations- including where to park, what to bring, and even where the outlets and vending machines are located. Be prepared with "Good to Know!" © 2022, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society

The ISGS website has been updated! Check out our new "Links" page, with updated links and a new, streamlined look! The Links page will feature a new home page link on a regular basis. There are 3 categories of links: ISGS Links will direct you to commonly-visited pages on our website, including the 25-year Quarterly Index and the Death Certificate Lookup page Illinois Links includes links specific to Illinois research, including common research pages on the Illinois State Archives website, IRAD, and more General info includes other genealogy links- check back for more added links soon! © 2022, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society

ISGS Members- Did you know we offer 3 Special Interest Groups? These groups meet every month to discuss different research topics. This is a great opportunity to work through your own family history brick walls and collaborate with others! Discovering Documents / Meets the 2nd Mondays @ 7PM, starting 14 Feb 2022 Discovering Documents is a new venture, more a hands-on workshop/teaching group, aimed at advanced-beginners and intermediate genealogists, taking one document type a month, and learning how to read beyond the words on the page.  Challenging Record Sets / Meets the 1st Mondays @ 7PM, starting 3 Jan 2022 The Challenging Documents SIG is an open forum where members describe situations they find "challenging" and the group offers ideas to deal with the obstacles.    Military Records / Meets the 2nd Wednesdays @ 7pm Military Records is also a continuing group, dealing with the many documents which are generated by military forces. This is a continuing S...

The Polish Genealogical Society of America is holding a special "Members Sharing Knowledge" webinar on Sunday, August 21st. A panel of 3 Polish research specialists will help answer questions. CLICK HERE for more info and to register. The Southern California Genealogical Society's 9th Genetic Genealogy Conference begins on August 19th! Be sure to check out the ISGS Virtual Booth in the Jambo Expo Hall, where we will be raffling off FREE Death Certificate Lookups and a 1-year membership! The North Suburban Genealogical Society will hold its next Zoom and in person meeting on Saturday August 13th at 1:00pm. The in-person meeting will be at the Glenview Public Library. Richard Clark will present, "Revisiting the Great Chicago Fire." CLICK HERE for more info and to register! © 2022, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society