The Cook County Historical Society has begun to put the collections located at our museums online.

Click Here to View the Online Collections Catalog.

Our online collections catalog works like a library catalog. We have put online a listing of the contents of specific collections. The collections currently online include a complete listing of our Vertical Files (definition below), Obituaries, Oral Histories, Articles and a limited number of photographs, videos and audio. We still have the following collections to put online: artifacts, art, library (published books and media) and maps as well as adding the thousands of photographs still to be scanned and uploaded. Photographs are our current focus and will be added incrementally.

 This online collections catalog is a listing of the items at the museum, to gain full access to these items contact the Museum at 218-387-2883 or history@boreal.org. It is very important that you reference the "Catalog Number" from the online record so that we can help you locate the item in our archival storage facility.

Information on our online collections catalog is for your research and enjoyment. Any reproduction, distribution or use of the materials from the Online Collections Catalog requires written permission from the Historical Society.

Obituary "catalog numbers" (for example OB1947) correspond with the year of death. Within the catalog record “Date” indicates the birth-death dates of the individual. “People” will contain the individual whose obituary you are seeing, but often also a spouse (“sp.”) and parents (often listed together). A few obituaries contain the entire text from the newspaper, but most must be requested from the museum at this time.

Oral histories are often audio recordings done on cassettes as well as transcriptions of those recordings. Most oral history records contain a brief introduction or summary of the content of the recording. Very few (at this time) also include a short clip of interest. “Search Terms” also help to indicate the content of the oral history.

Photographs will contain scanned images when available. It is important to remember that these images are for reference only. The Cook County Historical Society requires written permission for all use of items from our collection.

Vertical Files are file folders that often contain multiple items related to the “Subject” and “Title”. Newspaper clippings are one of the most common items within these files, but there are also many other documents in the vertical file collections. “Search Terms” and “People” will relate to contents of the Vertical File.

Start searching our catalog, click here.

For more information please, please call (218) 387-2883 or email us history@boreal.org