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More than 3,000 databases and census records with more than 1 billion names.
- Ancestry can help you find the name of the ship your grandparents sailed when immigrating to the U.S.
Primary sources including speeches and eyewitness accounts of important historical events organized by timeline.
- You can read a letter written by Christopher Columbus describing the new world!
Access to full page and article images with searchable full text from 1849 to 1986.
- You can see how dramatic events unfolded online — such as the sinking of the Titanic and the return of the crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft!
Articles, maps, and special features from the Chicago History Museum, Newberry Library, and Northwestern University.
- The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed 18,000 structures in the city. However, within one year most visible evidence of the disaster was gone.
Encyclopedias and other reference resources on a wide range of subjects, from art, business, and history to literature, medicine, and science.
- Gale Virtual Reference Library contains full-text entries from the Encyclopedia of World Biography, as well as many other reference resources.
Genealogy warehouse with U.S. Census data from 1790-1930, family and local histories, Revolutionary War Era Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application files, and Freedman's Bank records.
- You can find out if any of your ancestors filed for a Revolutionary War Pension.
Reference materials and primary sources on American, Women’s, African-American, American Indian, Modern World, and Ancient & Medieval history.
- You can find biographies for thousands of historical figures, from Susan B. Anthony to Zoroaster.
Full-text information about Naperville's history from primary source materials. Annotated list.
- Telephone numbers used to be 1-3 digits! Take a look at the Naperville phone directory from 1910.
Access to full page and article images with searchable full text from 1851 to 2004.
- You can look at some real advertising from the era of Mad Men in the New York Times Historical Archive!
Viewpoint essays, articles, statistics, primary documents, and other reference sources on social issues.
- You can read opinion essays about the big political and social issues of the day.
A vast collection of art images, subject indexes, and biographies, with thematic timelines and other learning resources.
- You can view the entire content of the Grove Dictionary of Art by using Oxford Art Online!
Historical maps of Illinois towns dating from 1867 to 1970.
- You can look at the layout and building data of the Kroehler Furniture Company in 1921.
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