Library Guides: Historical Primary Sources: United States: East North Central Midwest

Regional Collections

Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, 1820-1910
Portrays the states of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century through first-person accounts, biographies, promotional literature, local histories, ethnographic and antiquarian texts, colonial archival documents, and other works drawn from the Library of Congress.
Upper Mississippi Valley Digital Image Archive
Online visual collection of historical images showcasing the Mississippi River region along the Iowa/Illinois border.

Illinois

Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project
Focuses on Lincoln's life before he became president and includes substantial information about Illinois’s early statehood.
CARLI Digital Collections
Collections dealing with Illinois history
Chicagoan 1926-1935
Chicago's version of the New Yorker magazine
Chicago Committee of Fifteen Records 1909-1927
26 volumes of records (also known as Manuscript Codex 1028) gathered for an investigation of Chicago crime, focusing on prostitution and the illegal sale of alcohol. Notes are from on-scene investigations, summaries of court records and newspaper clippings.
Encyclopedia of Chicago History
Provides access to the primary source materials that the encyclopedia articles refer to.
Explore Chicago Collections
Digital portal providing access to images, maps, descriptions of archival collections, and other resources allowing users to explore Chicago's history by topic.
Hart, Schaffner and Marx Labor Agreement Records 1919-1920
Documents related to the labor agreement that grew out of the unsuccessful nineteen-week strike of workers in the Chicago men's clothing industry in 1910.
Homicide in Chicago, 1870-1930
Searchable database of homicide records
Illinois Digital Archives
A clearninghouse for the digital collections of Illinois State Library as well as other institutions in Illinois
University of Chicago Library Digital Collections
Includes photographs, maps, and manuscript collections
more...less...
Collections include:
University of Chicago Photograph Archive
American Environmental Photographs, 1891-1936
A Century of Progress: The 1933-34 World's Fair
Cervantes: Text and Image
Chopin Early Editions
The Chicagoan
Enrico Fermi and the Nuclear Chain Reaction
The First American West: The Ohio River Valley, 1750-1820
Goodspeed Manuscript Collection
Italian Women Writers
Philip M. Klutznick: Community Builder, Jewish and Civic Leader, Diplomat
Middle Eastern Posters
Rose & Chess: Le Roman de la Rose & Le
Jeu des échecs moralisé
Soviet Posters: The Dr. Harry Bakwin and Dr. Ruth Morris Bakwin Soviet Posters Collection
The Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae Digital Collection
University of Chicago Centennial Exhibitions
Pictures of the Civil War
A collection of Matthew Brady and Alexander Gardner photographs from the collections of the National Archives.

Indiana

Ball State University Digital Media Repository
Varied collection includes oral histories, maps, and images documenting Indiana history and life
Brevier Legislative Reports, 1858-1887
Verbatim reports of the legislative history of the Indiana General Assembly 1858-1887
Indiana Digital Archives
Includes photographs and a wide range of historical records.
Indiana Historical Society Digital Image Collections
Digitized resources on African-American Indiana history, Abraham Lincoln, notable Hoosiers, military history, and other prints, photographs, and maps.
Indiana Memory
Clearinghouse of digitized collections from across the state
IUPUI Digital Collections
A wide range of digital collections, many relating to Indiana history, but also British and Irish history, Muslim American history, the Turner movement, and the records of the Organization of American Historians.

Michigan

American Black Journal
Digitized episodes of the series produced by Detroit Public Television that began airing in 1968
Civil War Collection at Michigan State University
Online collection of scanned letters, newspaper articles, images, photographs, diaries, and more, focusing on the experiences of Michigan soldiers.
Making of Modern Michigan
A collaborative project involving 52 Michigan libraries that includes local history materials from communities around the state. Michigan's unique heritage is represented through over 4,500 different subjects of photographs, family papers, oral histories, genealogical materials, and much more.
Michigan County Histories and Atlases
More than 400 digitized county history and atlases published prior to 1923
Michiganology
Includes state and county records, letters, diaries, photographs, postcards, and video
Virtual Motor City Collection
More than 30,000 images from the Detroit News collection

Ohio

Captain Pearl R. Nye: Life on the Ohio and Erie Canal
Captures the culture and music of the men, women, and children who worked and lived along the Ohio and Erie Canal.
Cleveland Memory Project
Collection of historic photographs and other items detailing Cleveland history
May 4 Archive
Includes oral histories and photographs from the archive on the 1970 Kent State shootings
Ohio Memory Project
More than 75,000 primary sources from libraries across Ohio

Wisconsin

Children in Urban America Project
Online archive funded by Marquette University and NEH that shows the many ways children experienced city life during the last century and a half.
March on Milwaukee Civil Rights History Project
Photographs, unedited news film footage, text documents, and oral history interviews illustrating the history of civil rights in Milwaukee
Recollection Wisconsin
More than 100,000 resources from Wisconsin communities, including photos, postcards, maps, letters, diaries, and more
Senator William H. Proxmire Collection
Manuscripts, press releases, newsletters, photographs, articles, interviews, books, and correspondence seelected from the Proxmire papers
State of Wisconsin Collection
Books, manuscripts, sound recordings, and more related to the history of Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
Materials selected for this project are owned in the original by the UW-Madison Libraries, but because of age, condition, and vulnerability, most can no longer be circulated.
Wisconsin Historical Society
Online collections include manuscript collections, oral histories, decorative arts, pioneer histories, and maps and atlases.

Secondary menu

Historical Primary Sources: United States: East North Central Midwest

Regional Collections

Illinois

Indiana

Michigan

Ohio

Wisconsin