Illinois State Genealogical Society Blog

Guest Author, Stephanie Carbonetti Just a few blocks west from the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, you can find another magnificent Chicago treasure, The Newberry Library. The Newberry is an independent research library that houses an extensive non-circulating collection of rare books, maps, music, manuscripts, and other printed material. The Library's holdings span the history and culture of Western Europe from the Middle Ages to the mid-twentieth century and the Americas from the time of first contact between Europeans and Native Americans. Its strengths include: European discovery, exploration, and settlement of the Americas; the American West; local history, family history, and genealogy; literature and history of the Midwest, especially the Chicago Renaissance; Native American history and literature; the Renaissance; the French Revolution; Portuguese and Brazilian history; and British literature and history. The collections number 1,500,000 printed titles, five million manuscri...

Guest Author, Dennis Suttles One of Springfield’s best kept secrets for genealogical research is the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library (ALPL). The Illinois General Assembly created this library in 1889 as the Illinois State Historical Library charged with the collection of the history of Illinois and its people. In October 2004 the library’s name changed to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and moved from the basement of the Old State Capitol to its present location at the corner of Jefferson and Sixth Streets, just south of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. The ALPL houses published, manuscript, audio-visual, newspapers on microfilm, and Lincoln collections documenting all aspects of Illinois history. Its collection strengths include Lincoln, the Civil War, 19 th -century Illinois history, genealogy, biography, and geography. The reference desk in the Steve Neal Reading Room on the first floor of the library services the books and maps housed in both the general ...

Guest Author, Dax Dixon One of Springfield’s most often overlooked genealogical resources is the Illinois State Library. The building is located at 300 S. Second Street, Springfield, Illinois, directly east of the Illinois State Capitol Building and is open from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday. The Illinois State Library houses a large number of collections that pertain to the history of the state of Illinois. One of the more prominent collections is the map collection. This is the second largest collection of Illinois maps housed in the state, the largest being the University of Illinois map collection. The maps stored here cover all the counties in the state and a variety of cities and individual towns throughout the state. Also included in this collection are landowner maps, topographical maps, some cemetery maps, and a variety of maps from other countries throughout the world. County plat books and atlases are also included in this collection. When visiting the library...

Guest Author, Becky Higgins If you have ancestors from the Elgin, Illinois area, here are a couple of places you’ll really want to check out. The Gail Borden Public Library ( www.gailborden.info ) is a treasure not to be missed. Their holdings include how-to guides, name indexes, family and county histories, cemetery indexes, census records, death records, and over one hundred thirty-five years of local newspapers on microfilm. The microfilmed Elgin death records contain wonderful information that may not be found anywhere else. The Elgin Genealogical Society has been gleaning vital record information from the microfilmed local newspapers found at Gail Borden for many years. Gail Borden personnel and volunteers have and continue to include these findings in the online Local Newspaper Index . With the information found in the index, the researcher may go to the newspaper and find the actual announcement/obituary. Also, at Gail Borden in the Genealogy Section is a card file of informa...

ISGS Conference Chair, Stephanie Pierce Carbonetti, wrote an excellent article about researching at the Newberry Library in Chicago.  The article, written for the FGS Conference News Blog , offers a great overview of the library’s holdings and what you would expect to find during your visit. In addition to serving on the ISGS Governing Board, Stephanie is also the 1st Vice President/Program Co-Chair of the Chicago Genealogical Society .

If you plan to attend the ISGS Fall Conference in Peoria, Illinois on Saturday, October 23, 2010, you might want to check out the genealogy collection at the Peoria Public Library. Contrary to information you may have read or heard, the collection is accessible  during the construction of the Main Library and is housed in the WTVP building at: 101 State Street Peoria, Illinois 61602 View Larger Map Directions from the Père Marquette Hotel : East on Main Street to Washington St. Right on Washington St. to State St. Left on State Street. WTVP building in on the right. U.S. Post Office is next to WTVP. Rizzi's Restaurant is directly across the street from the library. Plenty of free parking in area. Hours for the library: Closed on Sunday and Wednesday Monday, Tuesday, Friday 9am to 6pm Thursday 9am to 9pm Saturday 9am to 4pm (From Labor Day until June) Phone +1 (309) 497-2155 for more information. © 2010, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society

This week's Follow Friday pick is the genealogy blog for the Glenview Public Library in Glenview, Illinois. GPL's blog is not only a great place to learn about upcoming genealogy events in the suburbs north of Chicago, but also many resources are listed among their posts.  As the site states in its Genealogy Service Policy: The GPL genealogy collection supports lifelong learning in the areas of genealogy, family history, and local history. General assistance identifying resources in the collection and online is provided. Reference librarians cannot undertake genealogical research. Patrons may be referred to specialized genealogy libraries or services for further assistance. Take a minute to visit GPL's blog and you'll be surprised at what you can find! © 2010, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society

Thanks to Tony's Genealogy Blog at the Schaumburg Township District Library for the heads up to this great resource! The Newberry Library has a 359 page PDF available for free download at http//www.newberry.org/genealogy/cbif.pdf which lists surnames of Illinois ancestors and where they are listed in various biographies.  Take a few minutes to download this file and then search for your surnames - you might be surprised at what you find! © 2010, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society