Illinois Genealogical Society

Illinois Genealogical Society
Name	Illinois Genealogical Society
Formation	1963
Type	Nonprofit organization
Headquarters	Springfield, Illinois
Region served	Illinois, United States
Purpose	Genealogy, family history, historical research
Leader title	Executive Director

Illinois Genealogical Society The Illinois Genealogical Society is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to promoting family history research, preservation, and access across Illinois. Founded in the 1960s in Springfield, the Society connects amateur and professional researchers with archival repositories, historical societies, and academic institutions to advance genealogical scholarship. Its work intersects with libraries, courthouses, museums, and statewide historical commissions.

History

The Society was founded during a period of growth in public interest in family history, contemporaneous with the rise of organizations such as the National Genealogical Society and trends exemplified by renewed attention to records from the Civil War, Great Migration (African American) families, and mid‑20th century archival reforms. Early leaders drew on models from the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the Illinois State Historical Library, and regional chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution to organize county-level indexing projects. Over subsequent decades the Society collaborated with entities including the Library of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration, and the Genealogical Society of Utah to promote standards developed by groups like the Board for Certification of Genealogists and to respond to technological shifts such as the rise of microfilm repositories, digitization initiatives at the Smithsonian Institution, and online databases popularized by Ancestry.com and FamilySearch. The Society’s history reflects interactions with state institutions like the Illinois State Archives, municipal clerks in Chicago, and university special collections at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign.

Mission and Activities

The Society’s mission emphasizes preservation, education, and access, aligning with professional expectations set by organizations such as the American Historical Association, the Association for Computers and Humanities, and state historical commissions like the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Typical activities echo cooperative efforts seen in collaborations among the Chicago Historical Society, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, and county genealogical societies across regions like Cook County, Illinois, Sangamon County, Illinois, and Madison County, Illinois. The Society advocates for record conservation similar to projects supported by the National Archives, promotes citation standards championed by the Elizabeth Shown Mills school of practice, and participates in statewide indexing modeled on programs by the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.

Publications and Resources

The Society issues periodicals, newsletters, and compiled indexes akin to publications produced by the New England Historic Genealogical Society and the Ohio Genealogical Society. Its printed and digital offerings include county record abstracts, probate indexes, and cemetery transcriptions comparable to resources curated by the Genealogical Society of Utah and the Cyndi’s List directory. Research guides produced by the Society reference holdings at institutions such as the Illinois State Archives, the Chicago Public Library, and university libraries including Northern Illinois University, often following metadata practices influenced by the Library of Congress and cataloging standards used by the American Library Association.

Events and Education

The Society organizes conferences, workshops, and speaker series with programming similar to events held by the Midwest Genealogy Center and national conferences hosted by the National Genealogical Society. Past speakers have included scholars affiliated with the Abraham Lincoln Association, archivists from the National Archives and Records Administration, and authors represented by publishers like the University of Illinois Press. Educational offerings range from hands-on workshops about courthouse research in county seats such as Springfield, Illinois to seminars on immigration records tied to ports like New York City and ethnic research methods paralleling work by the Polish Genealogical Society of America.

Membership and Organization

Membership comprises hobbyists, professional genealogists, librarians, and historians with ties to organizations such as the Federation of Genealogical Societies and the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists. Governance follows nonprofit models observed at the New England Historic Genealogical Society and involves committees focusing on publications, education, and records preservation. The Society communicates via newsletters and listservs comparable to those run by the Western Reserve Historical Society and coordinates volunteer indexing projects similar to initiatives supported by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints genealogy programs.

Collections and Research Services

Collections emphasize transcriptions, indexes, and vertical files assembled from courthouse records, church registers, and newspaper archives like the Chicago Tribune and regional papers archived at the Illinois Digital Archives. Research services assist patrons with probate searches, land records, and vital records paralleling services offered by the Genealogical Forum of Oregon and university special collections at Southern Illinois University. The Society’s holdings include cemetery inventories, county marriage abstracts, and compiled family histories that researchers use in conjunction with federal resources such as the United States Census and military records from the National Personnel Records Center.

Partnerships and Community Outreach

The Society partners with state and local entities including the Illinois State Archives, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, county clerks, and public libraries such as the Chicago Public Library and the Springfield Public Library. Outreach programs coordinate with cultural organizations like the Illinois Council on the Arts, historical reenactment groups focused on Lincoln Home National Historic Site themes, and educational institutions including the University of Illinois Springfield. Collaborative projects have included cemetery preservation efforts, oral history initiatives modeled after the Works Progress Administration collections, and digitization partnerships reflecting models from the Digital Public Library of America.

Category:Non-profit organizations based in Illinois Category:Genealogical societies in the United States