E-mail:[1] Ask a Librarian form.
Address:[2]
- 107 NE Monroe
Peoria, Illinois 61602
Telephone:[2] 309-497-2000.
Hours and holidays:[2] Monday through Saturday 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.; Holidays.
Map, directions, and public transportation
- Directions:
- from the north (Akron, IL) on IL-40: Turn onto N State Route 40/IL-40 toward Peoria. IL-40 becomes N Knoxville Ave, 7.1 mi. Stay straight to go onto Fayette St, 0.4 mi. Turn right onto NE Monroe St, 0.1 mi. 107 NE MONROE ST is on the right.
- from the east (Bloomington, IL) on I-74: Merge onto I-74 W toward Peoria. Take the IL-29/US-24/Adams St exit, EXIT 93, toward Jefferson Ave/Downtown Peoria, 0.2 mi. Merge onto Spalding Ave/IL-29, 0.09 mi. Take the 1st left onto NE Jefferson Ave/US-24 W/IL-29. Continue to follow NE Jefferson Ave/US-24 W, 0.2 mi. Turn right onto Hamilton Blvd, 0.2 mi. Take the 2nd left onto NE Monroe St. 0.05 mi. 107 NE MONROE ST is on the right.
- from the south (Lincoln, IL) on I-155: Merge onto I-155 N toward Peoria/Hartsburg. Merge onto I-74 W via the exit on the left toward Peoria, 7.9 mi. Take the IL-29/US-24/Adams St exit, EXIT 93, toward Jefferson Ave/Downtown Peoria, 0.2 mi. Merge onto Spalding Ave/IL-29, 0.09 mi. Take the 1st left onto NE Jefferson Ave/US-24 W/IL-29. Continue to follow NE Jefferson Ave/US-24 W, 0.2 mi. Turn right onto Hamilton Blvd, 0.2 mi. Take the 2nd left onto NE Monroe St. 0.05 mi. 107 NE MONROE ST is on the right.
- from the west (Galesburg, IL) on I-74: Merge onto I-74 E toward Peoria. Take EXIT 92B toward IL-40 S/Glen Oak Avenue/Downtown Peoria, 0.3 mi. Merge onto N Knoxville Ave, 0.1 mi. Stay straight to go onto Fayette St, 0.4 mi. Turn right onto NE Monroe St, 0.1 mi. 107 NE MONROE ST is on the right.
- Public transportation: Peoria bus routes 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 12, and 14 stop within two or three blocks of the Peoria Public Library Main branch.
Internet sites and databases:
- Peoria Public Library hours, research, using the library, events, e-books, friends, contact us,
- RSAcat online catalog by keyword, title, author, subject, or ISBN. Also available in WorldCat.
They enjoy a large genealogy and local history department, including many indexes, DAR files, and basic genealogy resources for the plains states.[3] Their subscription databases include Ancestry Library Edition, Heritage Quest, Digital Sanborn Maps, Historic Map Works, Peoria Journal Star obituaries 1991-present, and ProQuest Newsstand (300+ newspapers).[4]
If you cannot visit or find a source at the Peoria Public Library, a similar source may be available at one of the following.
Overlapping Collections
- National Archives I, Washington DC, census, pre-WWI military service & pensions, passenger lists, naturalizations, passports, federal bounty land, homesteads, bankruptcy, ethnic sources, prisons, and federal employees.[5]
- Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana, premier periodical collection, including Midwestern genealogies, local histories, databases, military, censuses, directories, and passenger lists.[6]
- National Archives at Chicago old federal court and agency records for Illinois and Midwest U.S. federal censuses 1790–1940; military service and pension indexes, passenger lists, naturalizations, Ancestry.com, HeritageQuest, Fold3.[7]
- Newberry Library, Chicago, a large repository with genealogies, local histories, censuses, military, land, indexes, vital records, court, and tax records mostly from the Mississippi Valley, eastern seaboard, Canada, and the British Isles.[8]
Similar Collections
- Arlington Heights Memorial Library a huge collection, with printed genealogies, manuscripts, periodicals, newspapers, special aids, surname folders—a great overall genealogy collection.[9]
- Chicago Public Library reference books, how-to-guides, histories, biographies.
- Lincoln Library, Springfield, indexed obituaries, city directories, the Sangamon Valley Collection has photos, yearbooks, histories, and maps for studying Sangamon and surrounding counties.</ref>
- Urbana Free Library their strength is Champaign County history, but they have good basic genealogy for the entire United States including printed genealogies, manuscripts, family folders.</ref>
Neighboring Collections
- Peoria County Clerk births, marriages, and deaths online
- Peoria County Clerk of the Circuit Court recent probates, civil, criminal records.
- Peoria County Recorder of Deeds land records, military discharge DD-214s.
- Peoria County Coroner suspicious or unusual deaths.
- U.S. District Court Central District of Illinois recent civil and criminal court records.
- Repositories in surrounding counties: Fulton, Knox, Marshall, Stark, Tazewell, and Woodford.
- Illinois Dept. of Health Vital Records, Springfield, birth, marriage, death, adoption, and divorces.
- Illinois State Archives, Springfield, county/state records, pre-Chicago fire sources, indexed vital records, early land grants, military records, all fed/state censuses, surname card index.[10]
- Illinois State Library, Springfield, state/federal records, federal censuses to 1920, plat books, IL county histories, Sanborn fire insurance maps, Rev. War pensions and bounty land warrants.</ref>
- Illinois State Genealogical Society, Springfield, research guidance, teaching via webinars and the ISGS blog for free, death certificates 1916-1947 for a fee. No research requests.[11]
- Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD), Springfield, HQ of 7 regional archives of local Illinois county/town records: birth, marriage, death, land, tax, voting reg., probate, naturalization, civil & criminal court, coroner, poorhouse.[12] For Peoria County see IRAD-Western Illinois University.
- Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, genealogy, plat maps, atlases, oral and county history, cemeteries, census, vital records, naturalizations in many counties.[13]
- Chicago History Museum 20 million manuscripts, letters, certificates, diaries, genealogy charts, log books, journals, memoirs, minutes, muster rolls, scrapbooks, sermons, speeches, and telegrams.[9]
- Chicago Title and Trust for a fee they will search property records prior to the Chicago fire.[9]
- John A. Logan College Library, Carterville, this library is a focal point of Southern Illinois genealogy. Their collection is huge.</ref>
- Pritzker Military Museum and Library, Chicago, 45,000 military history books, unit histories, photos, uniforms, equipment, insignia, and ships of many world militaries. They help genealogists.[14]
- South Suburban Genealogical and Historical Society, Hazel Crest, a very good collection with local histories, genealogies, naturalizations, Pullman Car Works personnel, obituaries, church histories.[9]
- Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville Lovejoy Library best library in southern IL with a large genealogical collection of newspapers, biographies, county histories, family folders, and maps.</ref>
- Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center, Rock Island, IL, Swedish church records, census, passenger lists, lodges, newspapers, directories.[15]
- University of Chicago Library plentiful historical records, including Durrett Collection of historical Kentucky and Ohio River Valley manuscripts of early people in the Ohio Valley.[9]
- University of Illinois at Chicago, biography, periodicals, newspapers, oral history, ethnic studies.
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Main Library one of the best book collections in America, including county histories, and farmers registers. Think of it as another archives for Illinois.</ref>
- Asher Library, Chicago, Spertus Institute for Jewish Studies 500,000 books, and films.
- Brethren Historical Library and Archives, Elgin, IL, cultural, socio-economic, theological, genealogical, and institutional history of the Brethren.
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Archives, Elk Grove Village, IL, serves historians, congregations, synods, genealogists and others interested in Lutheran history.
- Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago Archives parish records, priest biographies, sacramental, school, or orphanage records.
- Repositories in surrounding states: Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Wisconsin
- National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), St. Louis, MO, military and civil services personnel records. For servicemen and servicewomen discharged from 1912 to 1953.[16] [17]
- Polish Genealogical Society of America, Milwaukee, WI, 60,000 books on Polish history, art, culture, reference.
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