The Champaign County Historical Archives subscribes to over 100 genealogical and local history journals, with several new issues added each week. Most journals are located in the Archives open stacks and are available for browsing.
Our journal collection expands beyond Champaign County and the state of Illinois to include regional and national publications, as well as publications dedicated to genealogical research beyond the United States. It is easy to determine if we own copies of a specific publication by searching our Local History Online catalog.
Another resource available for use within the library and to The Urbana Free Library card holders off-site is Heritage Quest. An important feature of Heritage Quest is the PERSI index—PERSI is an acronym for The Periodical Source Index. By logging in and searching the PERSI index, researchers can determine if their ancestors are indexed in any of the more than ten thousand indexed magazines and journals. Though the index is not exhaustive, it is a good starting place for this type of research.
To access the Heritage Quest database from the library’s website, follow the eResources dropdown menu and click the Research button, then scroll down to the Local History & Genealogy section, which lists resources in alphabetical order.
Donica, Archives Librarian