Please note: unless otherwise specified, all Call Numbers referenced on this site are Newberry Library Call Numbers.
American Terra Cotta Company
The American Terra Cotta Company was founded in 1881 as a drain tile factory by W.D.Gates. In 1888, the company took the name American Terra Cotta Company and established a plant near Crystal Lake, Illinois, outside of Chicago. The Northwest Architectural Archives at the University of Minnesota holds the American Terra Cotta Company Papers (1905-1964). Over 500 images from this collection are available in an online image database. ChicagoAncestors provides links to photos of installed terra cotta pieces in Chicago.
CB&Q Collection
Photographs from the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (CB&Q) archives at the Newberry. The archives document the nineteenth and early twentieth century operations of the Burlington and its component roads.
Chicago Genealogist
The Chicago Genealogist is the quarterly publication of the Chicago Genealogical Society. This collection cites articles that can be mapped to a particular location, such as a church, school, business or family residence.
Chicago Neighborhood Research Guide
This collection is made up of Chicago neighborhood and community histories accessible at the Newberry Library- both print and online resources. It is organized by community area. For more information about Chicago's official community areas, see this entry from the Encyclopedia of Chicago.
ChicagoPC
This collection links to images on ChicagoPC, a Chicago postcard and history website. Their purpose is to be an archive of images of historic Chicago buildings, featuring primarily postcard views and a few blotters and early illustrated billheads.
Chicago Tribute Markers of Distinction
This collection contains links to Chicago Tribute's Markers of Distinction website. The project is a collaboration between the Chicago Cultural Center Foundation, the Chicago Tribune Foundation, and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The markers commemorate notable Chicagoans by marking the places where they lived or worked. Chicago Tribute website.
Cushman Photographs
The Charles W. Cushman collection of photographs is a digital archive from Indiana University. ChicagoAncestors links to selected images from the digital collection. For more information about Cushman and to see more images, visit the Cushman Collection website.
Digital Past
This collection maps images of Chicago restaurants within Digital Past Digital Past, based at the North Suburban Library System, offers a treasure trove of photographs, postcards, diaries, oral histories, documents, movies, interpretive exhibits, and other historical materials from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural venues throughout Illinois.
Great Houses of Chicago
This collection plots the houses described in Great Houses of Chicago, 1871-1921. by Susan S. Benjamin and Stuart Earl Cohen. (Urban domestic architecture series. New York: Acanthus Press, 2008.)
“Three dozen vintage mansions - including 28 landmarks - are examined in the book. The publication, loaded with hundreds of photographs, visits residences on such city streets as Astor, Prairie, Lake Shore Drive, Drexel, Lakeview, Greenwood and Woodlawn.” Chicago Sun-Times, March 23, 2008. Also included are brief biographies of 25 architects and their firms.
Historic American Buildings Survey
The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) began during the Great Depression in December 1933, when Charles E. Peterson of the National Park Service submitted a proposal for one thousand out-of-work architects to spend ten weeks documenting "America's antique buildings." The collection is among the largest and most heavily used in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress and is available online at Historic American Buildings Survey.
Homicide in Chicago
The data in the Chicago Homicides collection is drawn from a database created by the Chicago Historical Homicide Project at the School of Law at Northwestern University. That database indexes original homicide case files of the Chicago Police Department, now held by the Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD) at Northeastern Illinois University. Librarians and interns at the Newberry geocoded this data for inclusion in ChicagoAncestors. We are in the process of entering homicides from 1870-1930. Currently, the data in ChicagoAncestors covers the years 1912-1917 and 1870-1879. The mapping of many pre-1910 cases is approximate; they are plotted on the correct city block, but may not be exactly plotted on the correct parcel of land.
In some cases, the records were corrected or supplemented with information from the Chicago Tribune or Chicago Daily News. In many instances, cases from the Northwestern University database were not included because they lacked adequate geographical description. Researchers will find additional cases and alternative search options by visiting the Homicide in Chicago website.
Jazz Age Chicago
This set consists of links to the website Jazz Age Chicago. The site explores the everyday social and cultural experiences of Chicagoans during the early 20th Century. Mapped points include brief summaries of information from the site, but researchers will find more information by clicking the links. Jazz Age Chicago was created by Scott Newman of Chicago. For more information, visit this page of Jazz Age Chicago.
Lutheran Churches
The description of Lutheran churches in this collection is partially based upon Lutheran Churches of Chicago - A Genealogical Guide created by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Archives. Newberry Library researchers supplemented the information in the ELCA guide with research in Chicago city directories and the Chicago Tribune. Many of the records in this collection link to the ELCA guide, as well as church records and church histories held by the Newberry Library.
Modern Manuscripts
In the 1950s the Newberry Library began to collect modern manuscripts documenting the history and culture of the Midwest during the 19th and 20th centuries. These holdings now number 500 separate manuscript collections. For more information, check The Newberry Library Website.
New York Public Library Images
This collection consists of links to images in the New York Public Library's Digital Gallery . Chicago images in the collection include stereoscopic images, postcards, book illustrations and ephemera. The collection includes a considerable amount of material on African-Americans in Chicago from the collection of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Roman Catholic Churches
This guide to historical locations of Chicago Catholic churches was compiled by librarians at the Newberry Library. The entries link to church histories held by the Newberry Library and microfilmed church records held by the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Currently, the guide only lists churches with records or histories at these institutions. Most of the congregations in the guide were founded before 1915. The guide lists the founding ethnicity of the congregation.
Sources consulted include:
A History of the Parishes of the Archdiocese of Chicago...
Chicago: Archdiocese of Chicago, 1980.
Call No. Local History Ref BX1417.C45 H57 (2nd floor open shelf)
Bochar, Jack, and Czech and Slovak American Genealogy Society of Illinois.
Locations of Chicago Roman Catholic Churches, 1850-1990.
Sugar Grove, Ill: Czech & Slovak American Genealogy Society of Illinois, 1998.
Call No. Local History Ref F548.62 .B63 1998 (2nd floor open shelf)
Kantowicz, Edward R.
The Archdiocese of Chicago: A Journey of Faith.
Ireland: Booklink, 2006.
Call Number: Local History Ref BX4603.C6 K36 2006 (2nd floor open shelf)
Synagogue Collection
The Synagogue Collection was compiled by Newberry Library staff and interns. This is an ongoing project, starting with congregations founded before 1930.
Sources consulted include:
Kraus, B., & Schwartz, N. D. A Walk to Shul. Allegan Forest, Mich: Priscilla Press, 2003.
Call Number: F548. 9. J5 K73 2003.
Cutler, I., Schwartz, N. D., & Sorkin, S. Synagogues of Chicago.Chicago, Ill: Chicago Jewish Historical Society, 1991.
Call Number folio BM 225.C5 S9 1991.
Cutler, I. The Jews of Chicago: From Shtetl to Suburb. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996.
Call Number Local History Ref F548.9 C87 1996 (2nd floor open shelf)
Meites, H.L. History of the Jews of Chicago, Jewish Historical Society of Illinois, 1924. 1990 Facsimile edition published by Wellington Publishing and Chicago Jewish Historical Society, 1990.
Call Number folio F548. 9 J5 H57 1990.
Packer, R. Doors of Redemption: The Forgotten Synagogues of Chicago and other Communal Buildings. North Charleston, SC: BookSurge, LLC.
Call Number F548. 9.J5 P23 2005.
Yearbook Collection
This collection includes Chicago High Schools whose yearbooks are held by The Newberry Library or the Chicago History Museum. Links to The Newberry Library on-line catalog, the Chicago History Museum's website and the web version of WorldCat are provided.
User Contributions
Information contributed by individual members of ChicagoAncestors.org. Members must be registered to contribute data.