Located in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago, the Newberry Library is one of the country's most distinguished private research libraries. This particular corner of its lovely website brings together digital collections as well as a detailed research guide to all things Chicago and Midwestern. Here, visitors can avail themselves of cartographic resources, city directories, manuscript...

The quest to document one's family tree is one that stretches back across the human experience, and it can be done through the use of government records, obituaries, and so on. Recently, the Newberry Library in Chicago created this site for persons looking to trace their roots within the Windy City. First-time visitors to the site can just go ahead and type in a street address or browse through...