Part 2
Search the
Library Book Catalog for your city with these subjects:
Chicago (Ill.) Politics and government.
Chicago (Ill.) Race relations.
- County and City Data Book
- Contains data on city government finances, government employment and government climate. Also available in reference: REF HA 202.A36
- Gimpel, James. Patchwork Nation: Sectionalism and Political Change in American Politics.
- Overviews of the states politics, including the major cities. Location: on reserve at the Circulation Desk.
State & Local Government on the Net links to official pages for states and cities. The city's home page should provide you with a brief history of the city, the structure of the government, links to officials and departments, and information on the budget.
Search the Internet for the historical societies, libraries, and museums for the city and state, which may provide more historical information. Find books
Use the Library Book Catalog to find books on your city.
- Search for the city as a subject heading. Example: Chicago (Ill.) In the subject list, look for subheadings for "economics," "history" and "politics and government."
- If we do not own the book, you can order it from another library. Allow at least one week for books to be delivered.
Find articles in magazines and journals
EbscoHost
Periodical Abstracts
Finding Newspapers for your city
News and Newspapers Online lists newspapers for different states. Most newspapers have the most recent issues available for free on their site. Find Journals - Older issues of your newspaper may be available online through one of the library databases. Use this search to check.
Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe contains full-text articles from many major newspapers. Choose "U.S. News" and then select your state. Click "source list" to see which newspapers are included for that state. If you find the right newspaper, check the box in front of it and click "paste to search."
EbscoHost Newspaper Source also has a large number of newspapers. Click on "Newspaper search" to see if it has your newspaper.News Databases - check our other newspaper databases.
Using the census
Quick demographic data
Find quick census data from 1980-2000 on
population, race, and housing.
American Factfinder - economic data - gives # of businesses, sales, payroll, number of employees. Select "economic place" and then choose your state and city. More detailed census data
Use the U.S. Census to find more detailed data and historical data on population, race, income, and poverty. The 1990 Census and Census 2000 are online. Previous censuses going back to 1880 are in print in the reference room. Look at the following guides for instructions on using the census:
-
American
Factfinder - search for your city in the search box to get general
population, social and economic data.
Online census - instructions for finding more detailed data from 1990 Census and Census 2000.
Printed census - instructions for finding data from earlier printed censuses.