Two Centuries of US Immigration

Here's an interactive map highlighting two centuries of immigration to the US. It's interesting to watch the changing patterns of immigration from Western Europe to Eastern Europe to eventually the Americas and Asia. You can find more graphs and visualization of US immigration here.

Understanding the history of immigration to the US is an important part of researching your immigrant ancestors. Knowing immigration patterns can help you determine when and perhaps why your ancestor emigrated to America. 

Immigration Records

Need help understanding passenger lists or unsure of where to find naturalization records? On Wednesday, June 29 at 2 PM, we'll be exploring immigration records.

Register for the class online or call the Reference Desk at 847-729-7500.

Northfield Permits to Bury

The Lundberg Collection contains many unique items including much of Gertrude Lundberg's own research. Ms. Lundberg was interested in the history of the Glenview area and in the genealogy of many of its founding families. She was especially enthusiastic about documenting local cemetery records.

Ms. Lundberg made a record of Burial Permits for Northfield Township which can be found with many of her other projects in the Lundberg Archives Box 1. Northfield Township established their burial permit system on March 14, 1903. The records were kept with the township clerk until July 2, 1916 when Cook County began issuing their own burial permits.

These permits contain information about people who died in Northfield Township but not everyone listed in these records was buried in the area. You can search through Ms. Lundberg's transcriptions of the permits or you can search for early Glenview family burial records online with Glenview Family Trees.

German Emmigration

A great resource for finding information on German emigrants is the Deutsche Auswanderer-Datenbank (German Emigrants Database) at the Historisches Museum Bremerhaven. This project collects information on emigration to the United States. The main focus of the database is on European emigrants who left from German ports.

The German Emigrants Database collects passenger manifests principally between 1820-1897 and 1904-1907. The site also studies European emigration to the US and collects information about German emigrant ships.

You can search online for the names of emigrants in their collections or the Friends of the Museum Association will also perform searches for you for a fee.

Summer Programs at the Glenview History Center

The Glenview History Center will be hosting a variety of programs at the Hibbard Library this summer:

Improvised Jane Austen on June 12
Civilian Women of the 1860s presented by Luetta Coonrod on July 17
Dismounted Cavalry Program presented by Barry Burget on August 12

All programs start at 2 PM. Suggested donation of $5.