Government, Law & Politics

Photographs from Chicago Public Library's special collections. View photos of Civil War artifacts, Millennium Park's construction, Mayor Harold Washington and Chicago neighborhoods. Search the Chicago Examiner newspaper and playbills from Chicago's early theaters.

Articles from the Chicago Sun-Times from 1986 to the present.

Research Chicago history through the Chicago Sun-Times Historical and Current Collection with coverage from 1929 through current. Study trends, issues, events, advertisements, companies, and more through historical and current full newspaper pages, full-text articles and content only published online.

Historical Archive

• Chicago Sun-Times (1929 - 1985)   
  • Daily Times (1929 - 1947)
  • Chicago Sun (1941-1948)
  • Chicago Sun-Times (1948-1985)

Current Collection

• Chicago Sun-Times (1986 to the present)

Information about the activities of the U.S. Congress. Find text of legislation, as well as summaries and status, voting records, the Congressional Record, committee reports, and legislative actions on presidential nominations and treaties.

Articles from general-interest magazines and scholarly journals. Search two separate databases (MasterFILE Complete and OmniFile Full Text Select) covering more than 3,500 publications.

Features robust searching capabilities suited for complex research, but remains intuitive for novice users.

Find encyclopedia articles in a variety of subject areas from more than two hundred reference titles.

A catalog of publications of the U.S. government, including congressional reports, hearings, debates and records, as well as materials produced by the federal courts and documents issued by other federal agencies. Most are available in the Harold Washington Library Center's Government Publications Department, and many are available online. Coverage begins in 1976.

Information to help you understand and solve legal problems. Find useful forms, listings of free legal clinics and attorney referral services.

Explains the complex world of law and legal matters of all kinds. It includes exclusive full text for many top consumer legal reference books, as well as thousands of legal forms.

Information about contemporary policy issues, including congressional publications and Congressional Research Service reports, non-partisan policy and legal analyses written by Library of Congress staff. Especially helpful for students working on persuasive essays or debates.

Articles from hundreds of newspapers and newsfeeds from around the world, including the Chicago Defender, Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald (Arlington Heights), New York Times, USA Today, Globe and Mail (Canada), The Times (London), The Times of India and Daily Yomiuri (Japan).Find additional newspapers in America's News.

Statistics on a wide variety of topics in publications from the U.S. government, state governments, major international intergovernmental organizations, commercial publishers, independent research organizations and universities. Microfiche of most publications is available at the Harold Washington Library Center, and many of the publications are available online.

Statistics from hundreds of U.S. government and nongovernment sources.

Learn how to file an application for a patent or trademark.

One-stop access to information on benefits, health, jobs and more from hundreds of government agencies, departments and programs. Available in English and Spanish.