Your Librarian
Subjects: Government Information; Regulatory Compliance; Gender & Sexuality Studies
Northwestern University Library
1970 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208
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Key Resources
City of Chicago Homepage - www.cityofchicago.org
- City Departments
- Data Portal (part of the City's Transparency Initiatives)
- Civic Police Data Project (see also data on Public Safety at the Data Portal)
- LocalView - an open-source data portal providing the largest database of local government public meetings as they are captured and uploaded to YouTube.
- Chicago Municipal Records Guide - created by the Archival Specialist in the Office of the City Clerk, this guide provides an overview of the municipal records of the City of Chicago and where to access them at local repositories.
- Chicago City Government Records - Archival records for the City of Chicago are held by many repositories. This guide, created by a team at Northeastern Illinois University Library, provides information to support discovery and use of these resources. NEIU also hosts one of the seven Illinois Regional Archives Depositories (IRAD). Video interviews with the various repository archivists about their respective collections of municipal records AND video advice for History Day researchers!
Encyclopedia of Chicago
The Encyclopedia of Chicago contains thousands of historical resources related to Chicago's history.
Google Books
Many publications from the City of Chicago have been digitized and those in the public domain (pre-1929) can be viewed in their entirety. The screenshot below highlights the option to filter search results by date.
Chicago History Resources: Chicago Public Library
Explore Chicago's past with these resources from the Chicago Public Library. Its Municipal Reference Collection is a comprehensive group of documents from the City of Chicago, the Chicago Housing Authority, and the other local taxing bodies in the City.
IRAD: Illinois Regional Archives Depositories
Illinois Regional Archives Depositories (IRAD), a system administered by the State Archives to manage the archival records of local governments. IRAD at Northeastern Illinois University houses selected governmental records for Chicago and Cook County from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. Consult this invaluable guide to the scattered archival records for the City of Chicago
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Chicago History MuseumMuseum, Research Library & Archive with extensive holdings. Material produced by agencies of the Chicago city government are included but not comprehensively. One option is to search ARCHIE the Online Catalog for materials whose AUTHOR includes "Chicago Ill." Combine with other search strategies and consultation with the Research Library staff.
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World Cities and Local Governments This link opens in a new windowMillions of rare and hard-to-find reports, surveys, and research reports from cities and local urban agencies around the world.Major cities are larger than some countries. City governments are addressing urgent societal issues that transcend regional boundaries—homelessness, urbanization, climate change, income inequality, and transport. But lack of discoverability and impermanence make these the hardest policy documents to find and cite. World Cities and Local Governments finds, indexes, and preserves these critical publications. – Publisher
City of Chicago on TV
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Chicago City Clerk's OfficeAll you need to keep up to date with activities of the City Council and other city functions. Calendars, agendas, how to participate using the public comment process, and video archive for both City Council and Council Committee meetings.
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CAN TVAn independent nonprofit established in 1983 as the public’s space on cable television free of commercials, filters, and censors. With 5 local channels.
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City of Chicago TVYouTube Channel - a broadcast forum for the City of Chicago to highlight public and cultural events, the operations of, and, most importantly, the services that City departments and its sister agencies offer to residents.
Government Transparency Report
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Open Government Report Card.How open is your government? City Bureau analyzed data from over 100 government agencies serving the Chicago area about how they conduct public meetings.
New in 2025-26
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World Cities and Local Governments This link opens in a new windowMillions of rare and hard-to-find reports, surveys, and research reports from cities and local urban agencies around the world. Major cities are larger than some countries. City governments are addressing urgent societal issues that transcend regional boundaries—homelessness, urbanization, climate change, income inequality, and transport. But lack of discoverability and impermanence make these the hardest policy documents to find and cite. World Cities and Local Governments finds, indexes, and preserves these critical publications. – Publisher