Genealogy

About

The Genealogy & Local History collection is held at the Oswego Campus. The collection includes genealogy books, family histories, yearbooks, periodicals from national and Illinois genealogical societies, materials of local interest, maps, newspapers, databases, and more.

Microfilm

Newspapers on microfilm include The Kendall County Record (1864 – 2015), Oswego Ledger (1951 – 2014), Fox Valley Sentinel (1974 – 1980), Prairie Times (2007 – 2008), and Kendall County News (1881 – 1974).

Yearbooks

Oswego High School and Oswego East High School yearbooks, as well as a small collection of junior high and elementary school yearbooks, are available for use at the Oswego Campus. The earliest yearbook available is from 1938.

Genealogy Databases

The library offers several genealogy databases, including Access NewspaperARCHIVE, Chicago Tribune Historical Archive, HeritageQuest, and Illinois Digital Sanborn Maps 1867-1970. Genealogy databases that can be used at the library are: American Ancestors, Family Search, and Ancestry Plus Library Edition.

 

NewspaperARCHIVE

Access NewspaperARCHIVE
The largest historical newspaper database, containing tens of millions of newspaper pages from 1607 to the present. Click here for remote access: https://libraryaccess.newspaperarchive.com

 

Chicago Tribune Historical

Chicago Tribune Historical
Chicago Tribune articles from the 19th and 20th centuries, including obituaries and death notices.

 

 

Heritage Quest
A genealogy resource that includes U.S. federal census records from 1790 to 1940, Revolutionary War pension records, Freedman’s Bank records, the Periodical Source Index (PERSI™), genealogy and local history books, and more.

 

Illinois Digital Sanborn Maps
Large-scale plans of Illinois cities and towns between 1867 and 1970, providing detailed property and land-use information.
User name:  oswego; password:  welcome

 

For more newspaper resources, visit our Online Resources page.

 

Available for use at the library only:

 

American Ancestors
A genealogy research tool from the New England Historic Genealogical Society.

 

          Ancestry Plus Library Edition
         Comprehensive online source for genealogical and local history research.

 

 

Family Search
The Oswego Public Library District is a Family Search Affiliate Library. Discover the world’s largest collection of free family trees and indexes of records from all over the world. Accessible on the computers in Adult Services.