Libraries

All of the Lake County libraries are included in this list. Some have only a few books on genealogy and some have extensive collections. All have some local history books about the particular area served by that library district. As visits are made to each library, the local genealogy and local history holdings for each one will be updated in this list.

Antioch 60002. Antioch Public Library

Barrington 60010. Barrington Area Public Library, 505 N. Northwest Highway. Phone 1.847.382.1300

Buffalo Grove 60089. Family History Center, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 15 East Port Clinton Rd. Phone 1.847.913.5387. Hours: 10-2 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday & Saturday; 7-9:30 on Wednesday & Thursday nights. Has a volunteer staff and library may be closed at times. Call before your first visit. The facility is small with 3 computers, 6 microfilm readers, several microfiche readers, and one microfilm⁄microfiche printer. It is not set up for photocopying although copying a few pages is possible using the church copier. In addition to FamilySearch (i.e., IGI, Ancestral File, Library Catalog), many patrons have rented films on indefinite loan and they are available for everyone's use. Any films you find in their catalog that they don't have on hand you can rent for a small fee. An exploratory visit is worth your effort. They have some published books and a few of the LCIGS publications are among them.

Cook Library, see Libertyville.

Deerfield 60015. Deerfield Public Library

Fox Lake 60020. Fox Lake Library, 255 E. Grand Ave. Phone 1.847.587.0198. Open hours are listed on the web site. The collection includes LCIGS publications of the 1860 & 1870 censuses for Lake County and the 1850 census transcriptions for DuPage, Lake and McHenry Counties. In the Illinois History Area, you will find Bateman's 1902 Encyclopedic History of Illinois and History of Lake County, Ruth Mogg's original land sales plat book, History of Monaville by J. Proper, history of McHenry, and other histories of Lake County.

Fremont Library, see Mundelein.

Grayslake 60030. College of Lake County Library

Grayslake 60030. Grayslake Public Library

Gurnee 60031. Warren-Newport Public Library

Highland Park 60035. Highland Park Public Library

Highwood. Highwood Public Library

Lake Bluff 60044. Lake Bluff Public Library

Lake Forest 60045. Lake Forest Public Library

Lake Villa 60046. Lake Villa District Library

Lake Zurich 60047. Ela Area Public Library has a local history section online.

Libertyville 60048. Cook Memorial Public Library 413 North Milwaukee Avenue, 1.847.362.2330. The library web site has a set of pages for genealogy detailing both its collection and genealogical research in general. A very good site. The Lake County (IL) Genealogical Society was headquartered at this library for 20+ years until the Society collection needed to move to a larger space. Since the collection was a group effort between the Society and the library, there is still an extensive collection of genealogical materials at Cook. Included is the complete series of Germans to America composed of 50+ volumes, census indexes for various years for several states, general references for many states, genealogical periodicals; and much more. A drawback of the site is that it doesn't include any information about Lake County genealogy or local histories.The local genealogy materials were owned by the Society and moved with them but Cook has many items of local history that would be useful to researchers. They are stored in the Local History section of the library.

Mundelein 60060. Fremont Township Public Library, 1170 N. Midlothian Road. Phone 1.847.566.8702. The main library has materials of interest to genealogists in its own collection. The Genealogy Room (on the second floor) contains the collection of the Lake County (IL) Genealogical Society. Phone number is 1.847.918.3208. If there is no answer, try the main library at 1.847.566.8702. The Genealogy Room is open most of the hours that the main library is open and is staffed by volunteers. Volunteers are available at least 85% of the time so it is best to call ahead before making a trip to the library. The Genealogy Room is not open if there is no volunteer on site.

Vernon Hills 60061. Vernon Area Public Library

Wauconda 60084. Lake County Museum Library

Wauconda 60084. Wauconda Area Library

Waukegan 60085. Waukegan Public Library
The former Special Collections Page showed that there is available at the library: an Obituary File that is an index to obits that appeared in the Waukegan newspapers prior to 1900; City Directories for 1874 and several years between 1892 and 1997, Waukegan High School Yearbooks, and local newspapers on microfilm. To see what newspapers they hold, try the online catalog or the reference desk.

Zion 60099. Zion-Benton Public Library District

 

Other nearby libraries

Cook County, McHenry County, and Kenosha County, Wisconsin, share borders with Lake County. People living on the borders sometimes moved back and forth and a researcher must keep in mind that their relatives may be in the records in more than one county.

Arlington Heights 60004.(Cook County)
Arlington Heights Memorial Library, 500 North Dunton Avenue, 1.847.392.0100. Check the main site for location and hours. A description of its genealogy room will give you an idea of its holdings. This is not a Lake County library, but it isn't far away. Has censuses and histories from many counties in Illinois. Books from other states, including the East Coast, DAR publications, Mayflower descent, shelves of publications including NEHGR, GS publications, both local and out-of-state.

Glencoe 60022. (Cook County, Illinois)
Glencoe Public Library

Kenosha 53140. (Kenosha County, Wisconsin)
Kenosha County Library System

Kenosha 53140. (Kenosha County, Wisconsin)
University of Wisconsin, Library Archives at Parkside

McHenry 60050. (McHenry County)
McHenry Public Library District

Mount Prospect 60056. (Cook County)
Mount Prospect Public Library

Palatine 60067. (Cook County)
Palatine Public Library District

Winnetka 60093. (Cook County)
Winnetka-Northfield Public Library District

Other Libraries & Archives

Public Libraries
Family History Centers in Illinois
The Newberry Library
The Illinois State Archives
Illinois Libraries on LibWeb
Illinois Association of College and Research Libraries
University of Illinois
Southern Illinois University
Augustana College Library - Be sure to check out their Special Collections!
Lake County Discovery Museum