Naperville Illinois FamilySearch Center

Center Contacts and Hours
Location &amp; Map:


 * Address: 1320 Ridgeland Avenue, Naperville, IL 60563
 * The Center is located just north of the intersection of Ogden Avenue and Naper Blvd, immediately north of the McDonald's. As you face the building, the Center entrance is on the left hand side of the building and around back. There are also signs posted at the front doors that will direct you to our entrance.  When you reach the Center entrance, ring the door bell and then pull on the door.
 * To find the Naperville Family History Center on a map, click this link: g.co/maps/xkzdf.
 * Phone: 630-505-0233
 * E-mail: [mailto:il_naperville@ldsmail.net il_naperville@ldsmail.net]
 * Center Director: Christine Bell, [mailto:marieb98@yahoo.com marieb98@yahoo.com]

Open Hours:


 * Tuesday and Thursdays: Noon to 9 pm
 * Wednesdays: 9 am to 9 pm
 * Fridays: 10 am to 4 pm
 * Saturdays: 9 am to 1 pm

Closings:Saturday, April 6 for General Conference

July 4 for Independence Day

Saturday, October 5 for General Conference

Closing Early at 3 pm on October 31

Saturday, November 23 for annual Tools for Finding Your Ancestors Conference

December 15-January 1, 2014 for Christmas/New Year's hoilday

Upcoming Classes:
Wednesday, February 20 at 1:30 pm and Thursday, February 28 at 7 pm*

Using the Family Search WIKI Available from any computer is the same resource that staff in the main Family History Library uses to help patrons. Come learn how to research using Family Search WIKI and/or contribute to it.

Wednesday, March 20 at 1:30 pm and Thursday, March 28 at 7 pm*

Family Search Family Tree A new feature available on Familysearch.org is Family Tree which provides the opportunity to create your family tree online with the goal to facilitate collaboration among researchers. By working together, we can help one another acquire the best information available.

Wednesday, April 10 at 1:30 pm and Thursday, April 25 at 7 pm*

Family History Blogs Ever thought of blogs as a family history tool? We will explore how you can find blogs to read to help with your research. Also some reasons why you might want to author your own blog and how to get started.

Wednesday, May 15 at 1:30 pm and Thursday, May 23 at 7 pm*

Family Search Record Collections An ever-growing collection of original records is available at Familysearch.org in the Records Collection. Class will cover search techniques for both the indexed records and the larger collections of Browse Only Images

Wednesday, June 19 at 1:30 pm and Thursday, June 27 at 7 pm*

Heritage Quest Online Available for free through your public library website, Heritage Quest Online offers several valuable tools.

Thursday session of each class will be a repeat of Wednesday, not part 2.

Register for any or all of these classes at: https://sites.google.com/site/napervillefamilyhistorycenter/classes-for-2013

Tools for Finding Your Ancestors 2013 will be held on Saturday, November 23, 2013. As conference details become available they will be posted at:  https://sites.google.com/site/napervillefamilyhistorycenter/home

Collections

 * Family History Library Catalog: This center has the ability to order any of the films and fiche available through the Family History Library Catalog.
 * The extended microfilm collection includes all the Chicago Catholic Church records and other Cook County Illinois records,
 * FHC Portal: This center has access to the Family History Center Portal page which gives free access in the center to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions. These websites include:
 * Access//Newspaper Archive - World's largest online newspaper archive, Features billions of articles from historical newspapers around the U. S. and the world.; Full page and fully searchable
 * Alexander Street Press – American Civil War – Research database, letters, diaries, photos and posters, 60 collections of audio tracks, videos, images, and playlists in humanities, Literature, Music, Women's History, Black History, Psychological Counseling and Thereapy, Sosial and Cultural History, Drama, Theatre, Film and performing Arts, Religion, Sociology
 * Ancestry Family History Library Edition – U. S. federal and state census records, vital records, passenger lists, Canadian census, church, and vital records, UK census records, birth, marriage and death indexes, and other international records.
 * Find My Past – Create family trees, BMD indexes for England and Wales, parish registers, death duty registers, passport applications, passenger lists leaving UK, 1841 through 1911 censuses, and military records.
 * 19th Century British Library Newspaper Digital Archives – This database provides images from 49 national and regional English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish newspapers from 1800 to 1900.
 * ArkivDigital Online - Swedish Church Records and much more
 * The Genealogist UK information which includes parish register transcripts, census transcripts and images, landowner records, directories, BMDs for England and Wales, military records, electoral rolls, will indexes, and school registers
 * Godfrey Memorial Library – Early American and 19th century U.S. newspaper and unique resources (this content is comprised of Godfrey’s own unique digitized in-house content), donated genealogical books, research materials and projects, Civil war research database, letters and diaries.
 * Fold 3 (as of August 18, 2011) Previous known as Footnote – Resources cover colonial to mid-1900s US records. Includes some census records, vital records, photos, city directories, newspapers, town records, naturalizations, Revolutionary War records and Civil war and later military indexes, World War !!"Old man's Draft"Cards, War of 1812 Pension Files, Mexican War Service Records, World War ! Officer Experience Reports, Confederate Casualty Reports.
 * Heritage Quest Online – Census records (indexed by heads of household, but not years are indexed), digitized searchable books, Periodical Source Index (PERSI), selected records from the Revolutionary War pension and bounty land warrant application files, Freedman’s Bank Records, and U. S. Serial Set.
 * Historical Map Works Library Edition – Over 800,000 property maps covering the U.S. from late 1700’s to the present, over 100,000 antique maps covering the world from 15th to 19th centuries, and city directories, atlases, business ads, bird’s eye views.
 * Paper Trail – Index to Mormon and Oregon Trail Diaries
 * World Vital Records – Worldwide records including immigration, some U.S., Canadian and U.K. censuses, vital records, parish and land records, family histories, directories, court probate records, digitized books and newspapers, Irish wills and censuses, German Hungarian land census, Scottish death records, England and Wales BMD.

Hardware and Equipment

 * 6 computers with printers
 * 9 Microfilm readers including 2 with high magnification lenses
 * 2 microfiche readers
 * Microfilm/microfiche copier that can print a hard copy or save a digital image to your portal drive

Staff Research Specialties
Wednesday mornings 9 to noon: Irish research Ask for Pat or Christine

Wednesday late afternoon and evenings: Property records, probate records, court archives, cemeteries in Cook County Cook County Pennsylvania; Sweden; Germany; Croatia, early farming communities in Cook and Will counties Ask for Linda

1st and 3rd Thursday afternoons Noon to 3 pm; Ask for Ola for help with Polish records, fluent in Polish and Russian, some Latin Ask for Abby for Canadian research or help reading French records

2nd and 4th Thursday afternoons Noon to 3 pm: Ask for Pat for help with Irish and Danish research. Ask for Dave for help with Midwestern States, Tenn., New England and Civil War records. He has genealogical working knowledge of French, German, Spanish, Old German script

Thursday afternoons 3 to 6 pm: Poland, Germany, New England, Midwest; Chicago Roman Catholic church records; passenger list records; can translate Polish, Russian, Latin; Ask for Jerry

Friday mornings 10 am to 1 pm: West Prussia, Norway, Chicago Ask for Janet

Friday afternoons 1 to 4 pm: Migration within the the US, Civil War records, Ask for Jan

Links
Dupage County (IL) Genealogical Society www.dcgs.org/

Fox Valley Genealogical Society: www.ilfvgs.org/

Wheaton, IL Public Library Genealogy and Local History: www.wheatonlibrary.org/refdb/dbgeneal.html

Family Search Affiliate Libraries

Plainfield Public Library: http://www.plainfieldpubliclibrary.org/

Indian Prairie Library: http://www.indianprairie.lib.il.us/

Volunteer at the Center
Additional volunteers are always needed and welcome. The first and foremost quality you will need to volunteer at the Naperville Family History Center is a desire to help other people to research their family history. You do not need any particualr expertise in doing family history research; serving at the Family History Center is a great way to learn how. You also do not need to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christi of Latter-day Saints. Volunteers typically serve a 3 hour shift at least twice a month. If you would like more information about becoming one of our volunteers, contact Center Director Christine Bell at [mailto:marieb98@yahoo.com marieb98@yahoo.com]