Family & Local History

The library’s Illinois Collection can help you research your family and local history. The Illinois Collection houses historic books about McLean County, city directories and other resources for research. The library also has an index to the Bloomington Pantagraph newspaper and copies of the newspaper on microfilm.

Resources Available at Bloomington Public Library

The Bloomington Public Library has a variety of resources useful for local history and family research. All resources are available for use when the library is open. For assistance in locating or working with any of the resources, please ask a librarian at the Reference Desk. Copy machines are available to copy print resources that do not check out. Copies are 15 cents per copy. The materials in this list are located in the Illinois Room Nonfiction, unless otherwise noted. Some of the materials are fragile or rare and are housed in the Illinois Room Locked Case. To use these materials, ask a librarian at the Reference Desk. Materials housed in the Locked Case do not check out. If you’re unable to find what you’re looking for at the library, librarians can assist you in placing an interlibrary loan request.

Research services

Need help finding local history or family history information? Are you from out of town? The library will research for you for a fee. The charge is $5 for each 30 minutes of research, plus the cost of any copies made (15 cents per page).   A “typical” search for an obituary in our local paper costs $5.15. Please email reference@bloomingtonlibrary.org. Requests are researched on a first-come/first-served basis. You can also ask a librarian at the Reference Desk, 309.828.6091 option 2. If we are unable to supply the answer(s) you are seeking, our librarians often make referrals. Bloomington Public Library reserves the right to limit or refuse research requests.

If you live in the area, we invite you to come and visit with us!  

Online Resources

The following resources can help you with your genealogy projects:

Ancestry Library Edition
...is available for in library use only. This is one of the most popular resources for genealogical information. It includes family and history data for more than 500 million names, including census information for 1790-1930, city directories, military records, and much more.
HeritageQuest Online
...includes a complete set of U.S. Federal Census images from 1790-1930, including name indexes for many years. Other indexes include selected records from the Revolutionary War Era Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, and the Freedman’s Bank (1865-1874). You can also find information on people and places described in more than 20,000 family and local histories, and search an index of almost 2 million genealogy and local history articles.
Illinois State Archives
…this link provides access to the materials and information available from the Illinois State Archives. Explore this site for a wealth of family searching information, including databases of Illinois Veterans, Illinois Statewide Marriage Index and Death Index.

Resources

Other Links