Articles

Slicing Up Chicago: Wards, Communities and Neighborhoods

From the first days of settlement, Chicago was divided into three sections: the north, south and west sides.

Oct 15, 2015
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Researching Small Businesses in Chicago

Do you want to know more about your ancestor’s meat market? Barber shop? Candy store? Tavern? Here are a dozen places to look:

Oct 7, 2015
Tags: business
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City Council Proceedings

The Chicago City Council Proceedings are the primary documents that record the business of the city. The Proceedings include: petitions; ordinances; committee reports; reports on the city’s infrastructure, such as the construction, maintenance and re-naming of city streets....

Apr 2, 2015
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Chicago Directories in the 1870s

Chicago city directories were issued in 1870, 1871, 1872 and 1873, making it appear as if the publishers never skipped a beat following the Great Chicago Fire on October 8, 1871.

Mar 25, 2015

Researching Pre-Fire Chicago

For family historians searching in Chicago, the Great Fire of 1871 still causes problems. The fire destroyed the county courthouse and almost all of its records, including many of the typical ones genealogists rely on: civil registrations, vital records, deeds, and so on.

Nov 15, 2014
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The Missing Directories

Although the Newberry has a complete collection of Chicago city directories, there are no directories in the microfilm drawer (or online) for 1918-1922 or from 1924-1928.

Sep 27, 2014