Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD)

IRAD is a system of Illinois Regional Archives Depositories managed by the Illinois State Archives, housing the archival recotrds of local Illinois counties, townships, municipalities and school districts. The seven Regional Depositories are housed on state university campuses scattered throughout Illinois.

Contact Information
Illinois Regional Archives Depository Illinois State Archives Springfield, IL 62756

While the system is managed by the Illinois State Archives, inquiries should be directed to the appropriate Regional Depository.


 * Eastern Illinois University      EIU–IRAD Online
 * Illinois State University     ISU–IRAD Online
 * Northeastern Illinois University     NEIU–IRAD Online
 * Northern Illinois University      NIU–IRAD Online
 * Southern Illinois University    SIU–IRAD Online
 * University of Illinois at Springfield      UIS–IRAD Online
 * Western Illinois University     WIU–IRAD Online

County Records

 * County board proceedings files and meeting minutes
 * Records of births, deaths and marriages
 * Land deeds, mortgage and tax sale records
 * Assessors' and collectors' tax books
 * Poll books and voter registers
 * Naturalization records, including declarations of intent
 * Probate records, including wills and will records, case files, administrators' and executors' records, guardianship records, and inventory and appraisement records
 * Civil and criminal court case files, chancery court case files (including divorces), docket books and court proceedings, and insanity proceedings and records
 * Coroner's inquest records and inquest files
 * Miscellaneous county records, including almshouse/county home records and jail registers.

Township, municipal, and school records

 * Township meeting minutes
 * Highway commissioners' minutes
 * School trustees' minutes
 * Pupil registers
 * School land sale records
 * City council proceedings files
 * Meeting minutes
 * Ordinance records
 * City election records

Pre-1871 City of Chicago Records

 * City Council proceedings files (1833-1942)
 * Plats, atlases, and Sanborn Maps
 * Election registers (1888, 1890 and 1892)
 * Ordinance records (1837-1916)

How to Use IRAD

 * 1) Discover which county records are held by IRAD.
 * 2) Click on the linked depository name above.
 * 3) Click on “IRAD Local Governmental Records Database”.
 * 4) Click on “Search the Local Governmental Records Database”.
 * 5) Select your county of interest and submit.
 * 6) Results are records held by IRAD for your county.

Some counties have records included in statewide databases. Discover the records held by IRAD.


 * 1) Click on the linked depository name above.
 * 2) Click on your county of interest.
 * 3) Scroll to the bottom of the page to view databases pertinent to your county.

IRAD welcomes mail and telephone requests for research help. No e-mail requests are available at this time. There is no charge for research help, except for photocopy costs. You will be informed if your copies exceed $5. Otherwise you will be billed for your copy requests. IRAD requests that you limit your request to 2 names at a time and that you wait for that response before submitting additional requests. Send your request directly to the IRAD regional depository holding the county records of interest. You may send requests to up to 5 different depositories at a time.