The National Archives at Chicago has more than 140,000 cubic feet of historical records dating from 1800 to the early 2000's, including textual records and non-textual records such as maps and photographs from Federal courts and some 85 Federal agencies in:
Federal law requires that agencies transfer permanently valuable, noncurrent records to the National Archives.
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The National Archives arranges its holdings according to the archival principal of provenance. Archival materials are therefore arranged by the governmental entity that created them into discrete units called Record Groups (RG). Learn More
Records in our holdings include such historical figures as Abraham Lincoln, Al Capone, Jack Johnson, Enrico Fermi, Aaron Burr, Abbie Hoffman, Etta James, Preston Tucker, and Fred Hampton. Historical themes documented range from the early nineteenth century opening of Midwestern public lands to the development of space exploration technology.
The records cover a wide scope of topics including, but not limited to:
- African American History
- Chicago and Regional History
- Civil Rights Movement
- Depression Era
- Disasters
- Environmental History
- Espionage and Sedition
- Ethnic History
- Famous and Infamous Personalities
- Farming and Agriculture
- Film and Entertainment
- Fugitive Slaves
- Immigration and Naturalization
- Indian Affairs
- Infrastructure and Development
- Inventions and Patents
- Labor History
- Legal History
- Maritime History of Great Lakes and Inland Waterways
- Military History
- Military Intelligence
- National Parks and Forests
- Organized Crime
- Popular Culture
- Prohibition Era
- Science and Technology
- Sports
- Women's History
- World War I and II Home fronts
In addition to unique original records, the Chicago facility has extensive holdings of National Archives microfilm publications.
The publications reproduce basic documentation for the study of history, economics, public administration, political science, law, ethnology, genealogy, and other subjects. Learn More
The bulk of the collection is the Federal population census schedules from 1790-1930 for all States. These holdings are complemented by microfilm rolls relating to:
Before using archival holdings, researchers must present a researcher identification card.
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A researcher identification card is not required to view microfilm publications.
This page was last reviewed on September 17, 2019.
Contact us with questions or comments.