Digital records from Northern Illinois University

It turns out we're not quite done with the final 2008 issue of the St. Clair County Genealogical Society Quarterly. Writing on paper but in a bloggy spirit, editor Diane Walsh calls attention to the Northern Illinois University Libraries' Illinois Historical Digitization Projects online, which if you drill down a bit contains loads of searchable source material, from Civil War letters to one man's account of what it cost him to track the fellow who stole his horse. You can search transcriptions of original sources within any of the four historical periods covered, or search 'em all using the fifth link down on the main page. It's always been a peeve of mine that the Illinois historical journals aren't well indexed over time; this collection includes a number of articles from earlier issues including many transcribed and annotated letters. (And if you have DeKalb County research targets, scroll down a bit for more possibilities.) You can get lost in this site; don't foget to leave a trail of breadcrumbs behind you!

Walsh also mentions a new article in volume 4, number 1, of the online journal, Annals of Genealogical Research: "Rauschkolb: Finding the Belleville Roots," by Carol Tuck. The publication is not peer-reviewed but the editor does insist on documentation. (The archives contain an article I wrote four years ago on a Wisconsin relative. Now I know how much better I could have done it!)