Genealogy & Local Info

Thousands of detailed international maps (countries, regions, states, etc.), as well as topographic maps, climate maps, and more.

From newspapers across the U.S. Note: Chicago Tribune obituaries are in ProQuest Newsstand.

Extensive genealogical searching for census, vital and military records. From the New England Historic Genealogical Society. 

NOTE 6/22/20: Full remote access will be available to cardholders while the library building has limited public access.

Non-cardholders outside the library still have limited access to some records here.

Family history data, census information, immigration, etc.

NOTE: Ancestry Library Edition will be available to home users until JULY 31, 2020.

Source for Swedish genealogy. Contains millions of historical documents, including church records, court records and estate inventories. | Login Tips

During the library's closure, you can ask for at-home access to ArkivDigital, which is normally only available inside the library. Use the library's contact form and specify "research" as the option for how to direct the feedback.

Local daily newspaper Covers January 1966 to June 1970.

From the Illinois Digital Archive. Includes village history/directories, local military history, and people & places.

Articles from 1/1/86-present. Approximately three months' daily issues are also available via PressReader.

Search the complete text of The Chicago Tribune from 1849-present. The most recent four days' daily issues are also available via PressReader.

1849-1984.  Less complete than the Proquest Chicago Tribune, but has easier obituary/death notice searching.

Articles from 1/1/95-present. For historical articles (1901-present) search the Arlington Heights listings in the Access Newspaper Archive.

Collection of millions of scanned historic images, documents and media from libraries, museums and universities across the country.

Large genealogy database maintained by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Anyone may use FamilySearch from home, etc., but additional content is available only when used inside the library. NOTE: Requires creation of a free personal profile.

Access to over 2 billion records from the U.K., Ireland and the British Commonwealth, including census records, military collections, immigration and naturalization records, and the PERiodical Source Index (PERSI).

You can temporarily ask for at-home access to FindMyPast, which is normally only available inside the library. Details here.

Census records 1790-1930, family/local histories, PERSI article index, Revolutionary War applications.

Immigration lists, census records, vital records, parish/land records, etc. Replacing World Vital Records.

Historical access to scanned pages from hundreds of newspapers. Coverage varies by paper. [Note: Newspapers.com and Access Newspaper Archive both cover different sets of newspapers, with some overlap.]

Full-page scans of recent Chicago Tribune issues (2008-3 months ago).

Full-page scans of recent NY Times issues (2008-3 months ago).

Searchable database of the fire insurance maps published by the Sanborn Map Company housed in the collections of the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress.