Genealogy Databases

Unless otherwise noted, these resources are available on all Chicago Public Library computers or on non-Library computers with your Chicago Public Library card.

Ancestry Library Edition »
Ancestry Library Edition contains U.S. and U.K. Census images and indexes, the Social Security Death Index, World War I Draft Registration Cards, Civil War Service Records, Immigration Records and many more sources for genealogical research.
Available only on Chicago Public Library computers.

Chicago Defender Historical Archive »
The Chicago Defender Historical Archive allows one to search the complete text, including classified advertisements and death notices, of this nationally significant African American newspaper from 1910 to 1975. (To search for articles appearing in this paper from 1999 to the present, use Black Newspapers or Illinois Newsstand.)

Chicago Tribune Historical Archive »
This database allows one to search the entire text of the Chicago Tribune, including classified ads and death notices, from 1849 to 1988. (To search for articles and death notices appearing in this paper after 1988, use Chicago Tribune (1985-present).)

HeritageQuest Online »
HeritageQuest is a collection of digitized images and indexes that provide genealogists, historians and other researchers a huge array of materials for exploring family and local history. The database contains images of all available U.S. census schedules (1790-1930); scanned images of the complete text of over 25,000 books on family and local history; PERSI, an index to magazine articles in the field of family and local history; images of selected records from Revolutionary War pension and bounty-land-warrant application files; images of the registers of the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, and selected congressional documents and reports from the American State Papers and U.S. Serial Set.