Local History Online - April 2011

April saw 1,633 records in 23 record series added to the Historical and Genealogical Index database. Indexing of County birth registers once again led the count, with 618 records created.

The work of creating records for materials contained in the Museum of the Grand Prairie's Doris K. Wylie Hoskins Archive of Cultural Diversity was begun this month. Over 670 files, pertaining to African American genealogy and history in East Central Illinois, are contained in this rich collection.

Historical and Genealogical Index database totals as of April 30, 2011:

Records 616,837

Headings 3,455,762:

Names 1,809,357

Subjects 41,981

Addresses 40,254

Newspaper article titles 390,622

Digital content (jpg, pdf, audio, links to web pages) 8,264

Local History Online - October 2010

2,773 records in 30 record series were added to the Historical and Genealogical Index database in October.

Entry of obituaries and other news items from pre-1900 Champaign County newspapers continue to be a focus of inputting, as 935 records were added this month. Many of these records include a pdf version of the indexed article.

Notable is the completion of indexing the names of Champaign County people, places, and businesses mentioned in the 253 biographical sketches found in the Brink, McDonough and Co.'s 1878 History of Champaign County. Work has now commenced on revising the indexing already entered for the biographical sketches presented in Judge J.O. Cunningham's 1905 History of Champaign County, Illinois.

Two other major projects are also in progress. The first is the entry of data pertaining to various Champaign and Urbana buildings into the Archives ready reference file online. This data, compiled by the Preservation and Conservation Association and consisting primarily of the construction date and name of the architect and contractor for each structure, is presented on more than 1,000 index cards that PACA has graciously loaned to the Archives for this purpose. In addition, photographs presented in Frank Heiztman's Architectural Survey of Champaign-Urbana collection, compiled in 1974, are being scanned and the accompanying historical data about the photographed structures being entered.


Historical and Genealogical Index database totals as of October 31, 2010:

Records 610,462

Headings 3,425,913
Names 1,792,741
Subjects 40,423
Addresses 39,773
Newspaper article titles 381,177

Digital content (jpg, pdf, audio, links to web pages) 7,291

Local History Online Updates, September 2010

September saw the addition of 1,856 records in 29 record series to the Historical and Genealogical Index database.

749 articles, obituaries, and other news items from seven Champaign County newspapers were added to the database, as were 618 Champaign County official records.

Notable is the completion of indexing the names of Champaign County people, places, and businesses mentioned in the 848 biographical sketches contained in J.R. Stewart's 1918 work, The Standard History of Champaign County. Archives staff are now concentrating on completing similar indexing of the biographical sketches found in the Brink, McDonough and Co.'s 1878 History of Champaign County.


Historical and Genealogical Index database totals as of September 30, 2010:

Records: 607,689

Headings: 3,411,535

• Names: 1,785,865
  
• Subjects: 39,693
  
• Addresses: 39,530
  
• Newspaper article titles: 379,293

Digital content (jpg, pdf, audio, links to web pages): 6,732

Historical and Genealogical Index database for July 2010

3,663 records in 33 record series were added to the Historical and Genealogical Index database in July, bringing the overall record total to more than 600,000 records. Below is a list of other significant milestones in HGI database growth.

203,457 records July 2001

305,620 records December 2003

400,951 records November 2005

502,835 records August 2007

602,822 records July 2010

Leading this month's indexing are Champaign County newspapers. 1,355 articles, obituaries, and other news items were added to the database in July. Of note is the return to indexing current birth, wedding, and anniversary announcements of Champaign County people printed in the News-Gazette. Indexing of these items was suspended April 1, 2007, because of staff time constraints. At this time, we do not plan to retrospectively index those missing months for these series, but merely resume indexing as of July 1, 2010.

Inputting of Champaign County official records continues to be another large part of the overall work completed, with 1,280 records entered from four series. Important in this group of records is the beginning of inputting of the Archives' Champaign County Recorder's deeds records. These records, located on 53 microfilm reels, span the period 1833 through 1886. Entries will include the names of grantors, grantees, and a simplified description of the location of the land purchased. A pdf image of each deed will then be linked to the indexing record in HGI.

Finally, mention should be made of some important new and on-going work that does not show up in the HGI's monthly statistics. In the Special Collections series, existing records for the Archives' boxed collections are being reindexed and reformated to more accurately reflect the contents of each collection and provide greater access. PDF images of the inventory sheets of each Special Collections box are also being added to the various collections' indexing records. A final project not reflected in monthly statistics is that being done to reformat existing HGI records for individual photographs. Over 800 records are being upgraded to meet the current Archives standard for description and subject access, along with their corresponding photographs being scanned for presentation in HGI.


Historical and Genealogical Index database totals as of July 31, 2010:

Records 602,822

Headings 3,386,390

Names 1,772,897

Subjects 38,891

Addresses 39,097

Newspaper article titles 376,633

Digital content (jpg, pdf, audio, links to web pages) 5,987

Historical and Genealogical database, June 2010

From Howard:

June saw a significant increase in the size of the Historical and Genealogical Index database, with 4,187 records added in 35 record series. The largest area of growth was in Champaign County records, as 1,210 death register and 233 birth register entries were indexed. In addition, 410 Champaign County Jail incarceration records from late 1936 were added.

Work with Champaign County newspapers prior to 1900 has begun in earnest, with 476 news items, death notices, or obituary articles being indexed from the Champaign County Gazette, the Champaign Daily Gazette, the Champaign Daily News, and the Champaign County Herald. Certain indexed articles, mostly of general historical interest, have also been scanned and are linked to their indexing record in the HGI.

106 records were added for titles in the Archives' Champaign County newspapers collection. These records include bibliographic information about each newspaper title and a detailed statement of the issues available in the Archives both in print and on microfilm.

Finally, two Internet resources pertaining to Champaign County African American men and women were indexed in June. The Early American Museum's "This Legacy Is Yours" and "Your Legacy Too" web pages contain biographical sketches of 129 prominent Champaign County citizens both past and present. Each HGI record includes a link to each individual's biography as presented on the Museum's site.

Historical and Genealogical Index database totals as of June 30, 2010:

Records: 599,159
Headings: 3,368,337

• Names: 1,763,752
• Subjects: 38,243
• Addresses: 38,802
• Newspaper article titles: 374,973

Digital content (jpg, pdf, audio, links to web pages): 5,312

Historical and Genealogical database for May

From Howard, our Local History Online database supervisor:

May saw the completion of long-term projects, the beginning of new projects, and a return to suspended projects. In all, 2,696 records were added in 31 record series.

Mary Margaret Jones completed the retrospective indexing of News-Gazette obituaries from the period 1920-1935. More than 11,000 obituaries and death notices were added due to her painstaking work. Mary Margaret's new project involves the retrospective indexing of obituaries and death notices printed in the Champaign Daily Gazette and Champaign Daily News for the period 1898-1920. She will also be looking for articles and other news items mentioning the construction and remodeling of buildings in Champaign, Urbana, and the surrounding communities in Champaign County. Having such references added to the HGI database will be a tremendous aid to those interested in the architectural history of the area.

Ray and Nancy Sanden are nearing completion of the indexing of the University of Illinois Illio yearbooks, having this month indexed 704 pages that contained Champaign County people. While Ray will bring this project to a close in June, Nancy will begin indexing the second volume of the Archives' four-volume set of Champaign County Sheriff's Department County Jail prisoners' records. The first volume, covering the period 1923 through early 1936, has been input; Nancy work will begin with records from mid-1936, potentially ending some 29,000 records later with records from the mid 1950s!

Two building-related series were added to the database this month. One, consisting of 76 records, is an inventory of downtown Urbana business spaces done by the Urbana Association of Commerce in 1967. The other consists of historic building inventories of Champaign, Urbana, and significant rural buildings done by students in a University of Illinois Urban Planning class in the early 1980s. The original documents in these series have also been scanned and links made to them in the individual indexing records.

Finally, Archives personnel have returned to two sizable projects with the hope of providing complete indexing to two important Champaign County record series in the HGI. In the Death Certificates series (1878-1922), two gaps are being closed, one for late 1912 through 1915 and the other for 1919-1921. In the Register of Births series (1878-1918), a seven-year gap between 1889 and 1896 will be removed. Further work to complete the Register of Births series will also be undertaken, beginning with records from early 1903 through March 1918.

Historical and Genealogical database totals as of May 31, 2010:

Records 594,972

Headings 3,348,680
Names 1,753,958
Subjects 37,934
Addresses 38,912
Newspaper article titles 373,540

Digital content (jpg, pdf, audio, links to web sites) 5,132

The Champaign County Historical and Genealogical Index is available here.