• Research Materials
• Historic Images to Order
• Web Resource Links

Online Digitized Materials
Researching Naperville's past is as close as your computer, thanks to the Naperville Heritage Collection, which includes digitized historic documents available online. Read more about this on our Web Resource Links page. >

The following research materials are available in the Research Library/Archives at Naper Settlement. These items are available for you to use on-site only. They may not be borrowed or checked out.

Types of materials available:

- 25,000+ two- and three-dimensional objects
- 5,000 photographs/images (Daguerreotypes, Ambertypes, Tintypes, Cabinet cards, Cartes de visites, Snapshots)
- Genealogies (Scrapbooks, Diaries)
- Maps/plats
- Deeds/abstracts
- Bound volumes (Fire Department, Cemetery, Business ledgers, Kroehler Manufacturing Co., Municipal records, Clubs and Organizations)
- Letters
- Newspapers
- Periodicals (Harper's Bazaar, Godey's Lady's Book, Scribner's, The Century)
- Family Files (alpha)
- Census Records
- General Reference (Reference books, journals, maps, microfilm, microfiche)

Published Materials Available at Naperville Heritage Society
(Atlases, Maps, Plat Books, City/County Directories, Census Records and Naperville/County Histories)

Atlases, Plat Books:
Combination Atlas Map of DuPage County Illinois. Elgin, Illinois: Thompson Brothers & Burr, 1874.

20th Century Atlas of DuPage County Illinois. Chicago: Middle-West Publishing Co., 1904.

Plat Book of DuPage County Illinois. Rockford, Illinois: W.W. Hixson & Co., no date.

Campbell's New Atlas of the State of Illinois. Chicago: R.A. Campell, 1871.

City/County Directories:
Holland's Business Directory of Naperville, Illinois for 1886. Chicago: Holland Publishing Co., Publishers, 1886.

Naperville, Lisle and Eola City Directory, 1923-24.

DuPage County Illinois Directory, 1924-25. Chicago: McDonough & Co., 1925.

Downers Grove, Hinsdale, Naperville, Western Springs, Westmont City Directory, 1927-28 Edition.

Naperville Telephone Directory. August 1931.

Census Records:
DuPage County Federal Census Records (typed format including all towns, villages, etc., in DuPage County) for 1840, 1850, 1860 and 1870.

Naperville Histories:
Naperville Centennial 1831-1931. Fort Payne Chapter-D.A.R., 1931. 2nd Printing, The Naperville Sun, Inc., 1975.

A View of Historic Naperville from the Sky-lines. Genevieve Towsley. Naperville, Illinois: The Naperville Sun, Inc., 1975.

Souvenir of the Naperville Home Coming. Naperville, Illinois. 1917.

Pioneers of Naperville: A Memorial Volume. Fort Payne Chapter-D.A.R. Naperville, Illinois, no date.

Naperville Pioneer History, Volume II. Fort Payne Chapter-D.A.R. Naperville, Illinois, no date.

The Naperville Sesquicentennial Photo Album, 1831-1981. For the Naperville Sesquicentennial Commission of Naperville, compiled by Jean Wehrli and Mary Lou Wehrli. Naperville, Illinois, 1981.

Footsteps Through Old Naperville: Four Self-Guided Historic Tours. Helen Fraser. Naperville, Illinois: Naperville Heritage Society, 1982.

County Histories:
A History of DuPage County, Illinois. C.W. Richmond and H.F. Vallette. Chicago: Scripps, Bross & Spears, 1857. Commemorative Edition published by the Naperville Heritage Society, 1974.

History of DuPage County, Illinois. C.W. Richmond. Aurora, Illinois: Knickerbocker & Hodder, Publishers & Blank Book Makers, 1877.

History of DuPage County, Illinois. Rufus Blanchard. Chicago: O.L. Baskin & Co., Historical Publishers, 1882.

Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of DuPage County, Volume I & II. Newton Bateman, editor. Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co. Publishers, 1913.

DuPage County Guide 1831-1931. American Guide Series. Compiled and written by workers of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Projects Administration in the State of Illinois, 1931. Re-edited by Marion Knoblauch; Irvin A. Ruby, Distributor; Elmhurst, Illinois, 1948.

DuPage Discovery 1776-1976. David E. Mass and Charles W. Weber, editors. Colombian Lithographing Co., 1976.

DuPage Roots. Richard A. Thompson and contributors. Wheaton, Illinois: DuPage County Historical Society, 1985.

DuPage at 150 and Those Who Shaped Our World. Jean Moore and Hiawatha Bray. West Chicago, Illinois: West Chicago Printing Co., 1989.