Digging Up the Past Together

Fold3, one of the largest online collections of original historical American documents, is offering free access to its Black History Collection throughout February.  In there you will find “colored troop” service records, court slave records, slave registries, Amistad court records, and many more.  If you like what you see, remember that at the Newberry, you have access to the Black History Collection and the rest of Fold3’s databases year-round without cost to you.  (Fold3 used to be called Footnote.com.)

Alison Hinderliter, Project Manager of the Newberry’s Everywhere West project, has posted part 2 of an excellent article on the use of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad’s land records for family history research.  She follows the case of Swedish immigrant Axel Frisk.  Check part 1 of the article out here.  For further information about Everywhere West’s efforts to preserve and enhance access to the CB&Q records, follow the project at http://publications.newberry.org/cbq/

Date:   Saturday, February 4th
Times:  10:00 am
Where: National Helenic Museum of Chicago, 333 S. Halsted St., Chicago
More information: http://www.chicagogenealogy.org
Email: chgogensoc@att.net

Young Greek boys and men began arriving in Chicago in the 1840’s to escape extreme poverty and war. These were primarily seamen who became engaged in the commerce on the Great Lakes. The 2000 federal census counted over 100,000 people of Greek ancestry in the Chicago metropolitan area. Learn about the impact of Greek immigration on Chicago.

At 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, February 4th, Matt Rutherford, Curator of Genealogy and Local History, will introduce novices to the basics of research with a free informal orientation. No reservations are necessary. The session will be held in the Towner Fellows’ Lounge on the second floor of the Newberry Library. Click here for directions to the Newberry.  Click here for a list of all genealogy orientations for 2012.

ChicagoAncestors.org is a free website designed to help genealogists and local historians discover and share historical information about Chicago. ChicagoAncestors.org allows you to search for historical data by address, neighborhood, type of information or keyword. The results are plotted on a Google map. Users are also able to add tags, comments or new points to the map simply by becoming registered users.

 Here are just some of the types of information you’ll find:

• Locations of many synagogues and churches for a variety of denominations, along with information on where to access their records
• Locations of schools whose yearbooks are held by The Newberry Library or the Chicago History Museum
• Bibliographies for each of Chicago’s 77 community areas
• Homicide records covering over 3,400 crimes.
• Images of Chicago from Jazz Age Chicago, ChicagoPC Postcards, the Charles W. Cushman Photograph collection and more
• Chicago Tribute Markers commemorating notable Chicagoans
• Information on locations such as: public housing, historic restaurants and cemeteries
• Submissions from other users of ChicagoAncestors – locations where their ancestors lived, worked and played.

We’ll be publishing helpful tips on using ChicagoAncestors in future postings.  If you’re interested in Chicago history or genealogy, be sure to check it out!

Chicago Genealogy 101

Date:   Saturday, January 28
Times:  10:00 am
Where: The Scottish Home, 2800 Des Plaines Ave., North Riverside
Who:    Grace Dumelle
More information: http://www.thescottishhome.org

Learn the challenges of searching for Windy City relations, such as address and street name changes and scores of unindexed newspapers.  Then discover some resources family historians often overlook: fire insurance maps, inquest records, and probate cases.  Grace will offer copies of her book, Finding Your Chicago Ancestors, after the program.

History of the U.S. Federal Census

Date:   Tuesday, January 24
Times:  7:00 pm
Where: Helen Plum Memorial Library Genealogy Club, 110 W. Maple St., Lombard
Who:    Matt Rutherford
More information: Library Adult Services, (630) 627-0316  http://www.helenplum.org

In genealogy research, we often refer to the decennial U.S. Federal Census simply as “the census.”  But, in fact, it really is twenty-three separate historical documents, each reflecting the purpose, politics, and idiosyncrasies of its era.  We will place each of the censuses in its proper historical context in order to better interpret and apply them to our research.

by Grace Dumelle, Genealogy and Local History Assistant

Recently a patron made a trip from the suburbs to the Newberry, looking for the films he’d ordered.  He received an email notification that they had shipped, and assumed they’d be at the Newberry a couple days later.

That assumption was not correct.  In the online ordering system, an email is sent automatically by FamilySearch when we enter the film as Received.  There can be delays in receiving films because of delays in shipping, such as bad weather and postal holidays.

Sometimes the film has arrived, and been checked in, but there is a problem with email reception.  Your notification may go to your spam folder, or may not reach you if there was a typo in the address you typed when you created your FamilySearch account. The email is the only notification you’ll receive.

If you have gotten a Shipped notice but do not get a Received notice after a week or two, call us at the genealogy reference desk, 312-255-3512. We want to save you an unnecessary trip.

by Katie McMahon, Reference Librarian

Looking for information about an old Chicago hospital? Or maybe some insight into how a neighborhood looked 100 years ago?  Are you researching a Chicago hotel, church, company, or school from the 1800s?

For each of these research problems, a Chicago guidebook from way-back-when may be able to provide some answers.  The Newberry has several Chicago guidebooks from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  Some of them were published around the time of the 1893 World’s Fair and the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition.  Like today’s guidebooks, these publications highlight the major city  institutions, buildings, stores, companies, historical sites, streets, and neighborhoods . 

For example, Chicago: The Marvelous City of the West (1892) offers a detailed 31-day walking tour of the city.  It also includes descriptions of cemeteries, libraries, city government, railroads, clubs and societies, theaters, occasional illustrations of buildings and offices, streets and parks.  A general index at the front will help you make your way through this dense book.  

Published a few years earlier, Marquis’ Guide to Chicago (1885) includes sections on “charitable, benevolent and human institutions” such as hospitals and orphanages, and business houses.  It also features an index to the guide’s text and illustrations.

All About Chicago (1933) has chapters for each area of the city (Loop, North Side, South Side, West Side), as well as chapters on parks and “where to dine and dance.”  It also features beautiful woodcuts of Chicago spots.  

If you are like me, you may find yourself completely distracted from the task at hand as you browse through these guidebooks.  They offer a fascinating picture of yesterday’s Chicago, and may come in handy in your research.

You can find additional Chicago guidebooks in the Chicago Browsing Section in the General Reading Room and by searching the Newberry’s online catalog under these subject headings:

Chicago (Ill.) – Description and Travel
Chicago (Ill.) – Description.

Happy hunting!