Adult services librarian Lorena discovered the following local history websites. She says:
I’ve come across a few good websites for local history questions recently, and thought I would share them here.
- First up is Explore Chicago Collections website, http://explore.chicagocollections.org/. You can search by major historical events, by neighborhood, by city (including Evanston), by name, by institution, etc., and get a listing of digitized photos and links to archival collections relating to your subject.
- The Encyclopedia of Chicago is also a good first stop for information on the Chicago area.
- For people looking specifically for pictures of old businesses or neighborhoods, try Chicago’s Extinct Businesses (both on their website and their Facebook page) and the Growing Up In Chicago Facebook page (for “Growing Up In Chicago,” be sure to look for the group with the name hyphenated in the link. There’s another similarly named group that is not as helpful.) Both of these groups have really fascinating collections of historical photos of businesses and neighborhoods in the Chicago area.
Thanks, Lorena!
