Research

Featured This Month: Military History

Jacques Perret, Des fortifications et artifices, 1601.

Ballistics and Politics: Military Architecture Books at the Newberry

This exhibition highlights the ways in which architectural books were developed from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries to display the military and political power of European rulers and states.

L.S. Willard. Photograph of George Deal. 1862. Case MS 10030, Bx. 1, Fl. #55.

Civil War and Reconstruction

More has been written about the Civil War than any other military conflict in which the United States has been involved, and the Newberry has a very large selection of these writings. From its inception, the Newberry has collected these publications from both North and South, and consequently has one of the best Civil War collections in the Midwest. Anyone wishing to research the Civil War using published primary sources should consider the Newberry a library of first resort.

E.L. Loder and M.A. Collier. Eliza's Flight: A Scene From Uncle Tom's Cabin. Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1852.

Civil War in Art

This project aims to provide a more complete understanding of the complex nexus of issues, events, and people that contributed to the causes and effects of the Civil War.

National Melodies-Star Spangled Banner, Driscoll Box 161, Fl. 2.

Border Troubles in the War of 1812

Today most Americans remember the War of 1812 for inspiring Francis Scott Key to write “The Star Spangled Banner.” Many of the conflict’s most familiar events—the battle of New Orleans, impressment of American sailors into the British Navy, and the British assault on Washington.

Core Collections

The Newberry collections focus on the humanities. Please also browse our Research Guides and check our Online Catalog.

American History and Culture

American Indian and Indigenous Studies

Chicago and the Midwest

Genealogy and Local History

History of the Book

Manuscripts and Archives

Maps, Travel, and Exploration

Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern Studies

Music

Religion

Digital Resources

Frontier to Heartland

By combining image galleries and original scholarship, this exhibit explores how central North America first became known as the “Frontier” and eventually as the “Heartland.”

Everywhere West

This exhibit contains a selection of unique black and white photographs focusing on Illinois scenes, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, and its workers.

Ayer Art Digital Collection

This collection illuminates the expanse of visual material on American Indian history and culture found within the Library’s world-renowned Edward E. Ayer Collection.

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