Local History

Illinois Room

The Illinois Room at Quincy Public Library is a comfortable place for research. It houses a collection of historical and genealogical books and files, particularly relating to Quincy, Adams County, and the state of Illinois. Materials in the Illinois room may only be examined within the Illinois Room and are not available for checkout.

Items available in the Illinois Room include:

• cemetery, census, and other early records indexes
• family histories
• local histories
• city directories
• plat books
• Quincy Herald-Whig clippings
• Microfilm collections and microfilm readers. Microfilm includes:
  • Quincy newspapers from 1835 to present
  • Adams County and surrounding counties census through 1930
  • local church and funeral home records
  • city directories
  • Sanborn Fire Insurance maps
  • government records, including court records, birth, death, divorces, wills, estates

Quincy Public Library’s reference librarians are available to show you how to use the resources and equipment in the Illinois Room and can help with your research on an appointment basis. Call 217-223-1309, extension 502 to request an appointment.

Members of The Genealogical Society are available from 10 am to noon each Tuesday morning to help with ancestor searches. These volunteers can show you how to use local history material and point out additional options for researching your family. No appointment is needed.

Digital Resources

Quincy Public Library also maintains several digital resources to help local historians and genealogists with research.

Historic Quincy Area Photo Collection 

Historical Quincy photographs from about 1850 through 1950, most from the collection of the late Carl Landrum, have been digitized and loaded onto the Illinois Digital Archives. You can browse or search all collections available there, or choose a particular collection. To search only one collection, go to Advanced Search, select the collection, then enter your search words. Available from anywhere, no library card required.

Quincy Architecture Database

Browse and search Quincy Public Library’s robust collection of digitized historical documents and photos on building in Quincy and Adams County. The Architecture Database is organized by address but can be searched by keyword. Available from anywhere, no library card required.

If you would like to contribute documents to this database, please contact our reference department at reference@quincylibrary.org or 217-223-1309 ext 502.

Quincy Historical Newspaper Archive

Historical Quincy newspapers published in the years 1835 to May 1926 are now available online. The newspaper archive can be searched by date, name or keyword, or even using a combination of search terms. Articles can be viewed and printed, saved to a jump drive, pasted into a document, or even emailed to yourself or a friend. Available from anywhere, no library card required.

Newspapers included in the Archives:

• Illinois Bounty Land Register, from April 17, 1835
• Quincy Whig, from May 12, 1838 (some issues are also named Republican)
• Quincy Herald from October 20, 1848 (some issues are also named Argus)
• Evening Call, from September 5, 1870
• Quincy Journal, from September 11, 1883
• Quincy Daily Journal, from 1919
• Quincy Herald-Whig from June, 1926

Some issues may be missing, due to loss or poor condition, making them difficult to read or index.

>>Click here for links to all our digital resources and databases (including Ancestry, HeritageQuest, and Fold3).