Illinois History Magazine Articles
Newspapers
For each topic, newspapers are likely to be good sources of information. Just be aware that back issues of local papers are not generally available online. However, a trip to the Urbana Free Library Archives or the University Library's History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library is well worth the effort! See details and links below.
Uni High Library: We keep the previous 10 issues of the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette. The following two databases will get you to older issues. Use your NetID and password to access them from home.
NewsBank Newspapers
This service includes both contemporary and historical databases. Click on Illinois to search for articles from the News Gazetteand other small-town Illinois papers back to 1997. Click on Chicago Tribune to search the Tribune back to 1985.
Chicago Tribune, 1849 - 1985
Use this database to get to articles prior to 1986.
Illinois Digital Newspaper Collection
This UIUC project has currently fully digitized the Daily Illini (1916-1925) and the Daily Urbana Courier (1916-1925). To conduct an advanced search, click on More search options next to the search box.
Public library holdings: Search the catalogs of the libraries that are in the Lincoln Trail Libraries System to find out what's available locally. Here's the trick: do a keyword search on “newspapers” and the name of the city or county you are interested in. You will find that the most comprehensive public library newspaper collection in the area is in the Urbana Free Library Archives department. The index is now online!
Newspaper Library (University of Illinois Library): The University of Illinois History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library is a great resource for this project. They hold tens of thousands of reels of microfilm and subscribe to almost 500 current newspapers. From the search page, type in your city and select Illinois as your state.
Click on these anchor links for help with your specific topic:
Immigration | Lincoln-Douglas Debates | Newspapers
Immigration in Illinois History
Information about the Project(taken from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency web site)
Immigration has been very important in the development of the U. S. and especially Illinois. Select a particular immigrant group that was important to your town, city, or area’s growth. What special skills did that group of people bring? Who were some of their prominent leaders? How did they influence government, sports, art, transportation, literature, or business? Be specific in writing up the details for your paper.
Library Books
Books on Illinois history can be found in the 977s and books on immigration in the 325s. Remember that these call numbers will help you in the school library, at any University Library, and at Urbana Free Library and Champaign Public.
When searching, you can use the following subjects for general information on Illinois immigration:
Illinois—Emigration and Immigration
Immigrants—Illinois
Immigrants—Illinois—Champaign County
Immigrants—Illinois—Chicago
Immigrants—Illinois—History
You can also search for a particular immigrant group in Illinois.
Web Sites on Illinois Immigration
Champaign County Historical Archives
For projects on local immigration, consider taking a trip to the Urbana Free Library to look at their archives. Search and browse the index here.
Illinois Alive!
Click on Illinois in the Nineteenth Century for a general overview and resources on the history of Illinois. Click on Emigration, Immigration, and Ethnicity for a few immigration links.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Information about the Project(taken from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency web site)
The year 2008 is the 150th anniversary of the internationally famous Lincoln-Douglas Debates and they occurred in Illinois.
Pick one of the seven debates: Ottawa (August 21); Freeport (August 27); Jonesboro (September 15); Charleston (September 18); Galesburg (October 7); Quincy (October 13); and Alton (October 15). What important idea or ideas came out of that debate? How did it influence later developments in the U. S.? How did those ideas especially reflect the thinking of Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas?
Or, investigate how the site looked in 1858 where the debate was held. Describe what did the site looked like in 1858. Why was that particular location picked in the town you selected? How has it changed over the years? Describe how it looks today? Be sure to describe any markers that originally existed or have been removed or remain today. Who placed those markers? To get information, be sure to talk with the local historical society or the organization in the town responsible for the Lincoln-Douglas celebration of the 150th anniversary. And, of course, visit the site yourself.
Library Books
Books on the Lincoln-Douglas debates can be found in the 973.7s. Our library's relevant books on the debates have been placed on reserve.
Illinois History and Lincoln Collections
This library in room 422 of the Main Library is a great resource for materials on Lincoln. The collection is non-circulating.
Databases
America: History & Life
Identifies U.S. and Canadian history from journals, book reviews, dissertations, and media reviews.
JSTOR
Older, full text articles from more than 100 journals in the social sciences and humanities.
Web Sites on the Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Librarian's Index to the Internet
This site will direct you to many credible, librarian-reviewed sites about Lincoln. Search within these sites for information on the Lincoln-Douglas debates
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates .
Hosted by the National Park Service, transcripts of all seven Lincoln-Douglas debates can be found here.
The Lincoln Douglas Debates of 1858
This website was created by NIU to provide a gateway to all areas of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Here you can find the debate text, commentary, maps, images, and video.
Lincoln-Douglas Society
General information about the debates and both Lincoln and Douglas can be found here.
Newspapers in Illinois History
Information about the Project(taken from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency web site)
Pick a journalist, newspaper editor, or newspaper and write about the coverage of a famous event or period of time. Or write a biography of a particular journalist or editor. Why were they important? If you write a brief history of your hometown newspaper, explain how that newspaper contributed to your town’s development? Think about how the town would have been different without the newspaper? Read from the newspaper itself for your research.
Databases
American National Biography (Print copy is located in our Reference section at 920.073 Am3523)
Search the ANB for biographies of your specific journalist or editor. Notice the “quick search” in the upper right hand corner--most of the page is devoted to the advance search form. Click on the circled question marks to access the help function.
- Biography Resource Center (via GaleNet)
The Biography Resource Center (BioRC) is a comprehensive database of biographical information on over 325,000 people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas. It combines more than 427,000 biographies from over 960 volumes of more than 135 respected Gale sources with full-text articles from more than 270 magazines. Entries are arranged by narrative biographies, thumbnail biographies, magazine articles, and websites when available. Searchable by name, occupation, nationality, ethnicity, gender, birth and death years and locations, and availablity of images.
*Note: When searching for biographies, only well-known journalists and editors will most likely be available.
Newspapers
Newspaper Library (University of Illinois Library): The University of Illinois History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library is a great resource for this project. They hold tens of thousands of reels of microfilm and subscribe to almost 500 current newspapers. From the search page, type in your city and select Illinois as your state.
Also, check the other newspaper resources listed at the top of this page!