Contact Information
E-mail:[1] archives@urbanafree.org.
Address:[2]
- 210 West Green Street
Urbana, Illinois 61801
Telephone:[1] 217-367-4025.
Archives Hours and holidays:[3] Mon-Tue, Thu-Sat 10:00am-6:00pm; Wed 10:00am-9:00pm; Sun 1pm-5pm; Holiday closings
Map, directions, parking, and public transportation: Find Us.
Internet sites and databases:
- The Urbana Free Library hours, find us, contact, books, eResources, services, children, teens, local history and genealogy, events.
- The Urbana Free Library Catalog online by keyword. Also available in WorldCat.
- Local History and Genealogy about us, resources, Chanute Collection, News-Gazette Collection, digital exhibits, how to order copies, blog.
- Local History Online Catalog comprehensive catalog to holdings of the Champaign County Historical Archives. If you locate items of interest but can't visit in person, you may request items online or by mail.
- Local History and Genealogy Blog
Collection Description
Their strength is Champaign County history, but they have good basic genealogy for the entire United States including printed genealogies, manuscripts, family folders, and microfilm.[4] They have online subscription databases such as Ancestry Library Edition, Findmypast, Fold3, Heritage Quest, MyHeritage Library Edition, and Newspapers.com. Their regular collection includes 25,000 books, directories, newspapers, and school yearbooks.[5]
The Champaign County Historical Archives in The Urbana Free Library is the official repository for non-current county records including Champaign County birth, marriage, death, naturalization, and county and circuit court records. Their local history collection includes photos, maps, oral histories, as well as records of local organizations, businesses, and families. [5]
The Urbana Free Library is also a FamilySearch Affiliate Library.[6]
Alternate Repositories
If you cannot visit or find a source at The Urbana Free Library, a similar source may be available at one of the following.
Overlapping Collections
- National Archives I, Washington DC, census, pre-WWI military service & pensions, passenger lists, naturalizations, passports, federal bounty land, homesteads, bankruptcy, ethnic sources, prisons, and federal employees.[7]
- Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana, premier periodical collection, including Midwestern genealogies, local histories, databases, military, censuses, directories, and passenger lists.[8]
- National Archives Great Lakes Region (Chicago) old federal court and agency records for Illinois and Midwest U.S. federal censuses 1790–1940; military service and pension indexes, passenger lists, naturalizations, Ancestry.com, HeritageQuest, Fold3.[9]
- Newberry Library, Chicago, a large repository with genealogies, local histories, censuses, military, land, indexes, vital records, court, and tax records mostly from the Mississippi Valley, eastern seaboard, Canada, and the British Isles.[10]
Similar Collections
- Arlington Heights Memorial Library a huge collection, with printed genealogies, manuscripts, periodicals, newspapers, special aids, surname folders—a great overall genealogy collection.[11]
- Chicago Public Library reference books, how-to guides, histories, biographies.
- Lincoln Library, Springfield, indexed obituaries, city directories, the Sangamon Valley Collection has photos, yearbooks, histories, and maps for studying Sangamon and surrounding counties.</ref>
- Peoria Public Library enjoys a large genealogy and local history department, including many indexes, DAR files, and basic genealogy resources for the plains states.</ref>
Neighboring Collections
- Champaign County Clerk births, marriages, and deaths online
- Champaign County Clerk of the Circuit Court recent probates, civil, criminal records.
- Champaign County Recorder of Deeds land records, military discharge DD-214s.
- Champaign County Coroner suspicious or unusual deaths.
- U.S. District Court Central District of Illinois recent civil and criminal court records.
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Main Library one of the best book collections in America, including county histories, and farmers registers. Think of it as another archives for Illinois.</ref>
- Repositories in surrounding counties: Douglas, Edgar, Ford, McLean, Piatt, and Vermilion.
- Illinois Dept. of Health Vital Records, Springfield, birth, marriage, death, adoption, and divorces.
- Illinois State Archives, Springfield, county/state records, pre-Chicago fire sources, indexed vital records, early land grants, military records, all fed/state censuses, surname card index.[12]
- Illinois State Library, Springfield, state/federal records, federal censuses to 1920, plat books, IL county histories, Sanborn fire insurance maps, Rev. War pensions and bounty land warrants.</ref>
- Illinois State Genealogical Society, Springfield, research guidance, teaching via webinars and the ISGS blog for free, death certificates 1916-1947 for a fee. No research requests.[13]
- Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD), Springfield, HQ of 7 regional archives of local Illinois county/town records: birth, marriage, death, land, tax, voting reg., probate, naturalization, civil & criminal court, coroner, poorhouse.[14] For Champaign County see IRAD-Illinois State University.
- Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, genealogy, plat maps, atlases, oral and county history, cemeteries, census, vital records, naturalizations in many counties.[15]
- Chicago History Museum 20 million manuscripts, letters, certificates, diaries, genealogy charts, logbooks, journals, memoirs, minutes, muster rolls, scrapbooks, sermons, speeches, and telegrams.[11]
- Chicago Title and Trust for a fee they will search property records prior to the Chicago fire.[11]
- John A. Logan College Library, Carterville, this library is a focal point of Southern Illinois genealogy. Their collection is huge.</ref>
- Pritzker Military Museum and Library, Chicago, 45,000 military history books, unit histories, photos, uniforms, equipment, insignia, and ships of many world militaries. They help genealogists.[16]
- South Suburban Genealogical and Historical Society, Hazel Crest, a very good collection with local histories, genealogies, naturalizations, Pullman Car Works personnel, obituaries, church histories.[11]
- Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville Lovejoy Library best library in southern IL with a large genealogical collection of newspapers, biographies, county histories, family folders, and maps.</ref>
- Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center, Rock Island, IL, Swedish church records, census, passenger lists, lodges, newspapers, directories.[17]
- University of Chicago Library plentiful historical records, including Durrett Collection of historical Kentucky and Ohio River Valley manuscripts of early people in the Ohio Valley.[11]
- University of Illinois at Chicago, biography, periodicals, newspapers, oral history, ethnic studies.
- Asher Library, Chicago, Spertus Institute for Jewish Studies 500,000 books, and films.
- Brethren Historical Library and Archives, Elgin, IL, cultural, socio-economic, theological, genealogical, and institutional history of the Brethren.
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Archives, Elk Grove Village, IL, serves historians, congregations, synods, genealogists and others interested in Lutheran history.
- Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago Archives parish records, priest biographies, sacramental, school, or orphanage records.
- Repositories in surrounding states: Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Wisconsin
- National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), St. Louis, MO, military and civil services personnel records. For servicemen and servicewomen discharged from 1912 to 1953.[18] [19]
- Polish Genealogical Society of America, Milwaukee, WI, 60,000 books on Polish history, art, culture, reference.
Sources
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