Chicago Genealogy – Chicago and Illinois Digital Collections

For a list of other posts on Chicago genealogy resources, click here.

Today's list is of digital collections – places you can see primary source materials about Chicago and Illinois online.

Please note: This list is meant to include resources in addition to the ones found at the traditional genealogical sites like FamilySearch, Ancestry, Footnote, and the like. And the lists are by no means exhaustive, so if you know of other digital collections on Chicago and Illinois that you've found useful in your research, please let me know.

Chicago and Illinois Digital Collections

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Oral History Program – http://www.alplm.org/oral_history/home.html – "Dedicated to preserving the stories and memories of Illinois' citizens, not just those of the famous and prominent among us, but of people from all walks of life."

Chicago Genealogical Society – http://www.chicagogenealogy.org/index.html

Online Databases – http://www.chicagogenealogy.org/online%20data%20intro.html

Publications – http://www.chicagogenealogy.org/publications.html

Chicago History Museum (formerly Chicago Historical Society) Online Resources

http://www.chicagohistory.org/research/resources/online–resources/online

Includes Chicago Daily News photo database, online exhibitions for the Chicago Fire, Haymarket Riot, and other seminal city events

Genealogy resources page: http://www.chicagohistory.org/research/resources/family

Chicago Imagebase – http://tigger.uic.edu/depts/ahaa/imagebase/

Maps, photos, and indexes documenting the built environment of Chicagoland

Chicago Public Library Digital Collections – http://www.chipublib.org/images/index.php

Images from throughout Chicago history
Digital Illinois – http://www.digitalillinois.org/ – Portal to digital collections from Illinois libraries, historical societies, museums, and other cultural institutions

Encyclopedia of Chicago – 

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/

A joint effort by the Chicago History Museum, the Newberry Library, and Northwestern

Homicide in Chicago – http://homicide.northwestern.edu/ – Chicago Police Department Homicide Record Index, 1870 – 1930; searchable database, publications, and interviews


Illinois Alive! – http://www.alsaudioillinois.net/illinoisalive/ – Early Illinois Heroes and Heroines: A Multimedia Montage – photos and stories

Illinois Digital Archives – http://www.idaillinois.org  – “Developed to provide access to primary source materials in Illinois libraries, archives, museums, historical societies and other cultural institutions.” Some overlap with Digital Illinois and Illinois Harvest

Illinois State Genealogical Society – www.ilgensoc.org

Many membership benefits including exclusive lists: Civic and Fraternal Organizations Professional Memberships: School Alumni and Employees.


Illinois Harvest – http://illinoisharvest.grainger.uiuc.edu/ – "A free public gateway combining search, aggregation, and discovery services. We provide organized and thematic access to digitized and born–digital resources about Illinois, created by Illinois scholars, and from the digital collections of The University of Illinois Library."

Newberry Library – http://www.newberry.org/

World-class special collections and research library with stellar genealogical collections

Genealogy overview – http://www.newberry.org/genealogy/collections.html

Genealogy collection guides – http://www.newberry.org/genealogy/guides.html

Genealogy classes and news – http://www.newberry.org/genealogy/news/

ChicagoAncestors.org – http://www.chicagoancestors.org/ – information on neighborhoods, churches, events, and more

Northern Illinois University Libraries Illinois Historical Digitization Projects

Illinois During the Civil War 1861-1865 – 

http://dig.lib.niu.edu/civilwar/index.html

Illinois During the Gilded Age 1866-1896 – http://dig.lib.niu.edu/gildedage/index.html

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Update: Courtesy of Jeffrey Vaillant:

Chicago Public Schools –
http://www.cpsalumni.org/attendeesrecords