Research

Understanding and telling stories of the past requires a lot of research and referencing of a wide variety of materials to help the historian understand the life and times people lived in at the time of a momentous event or moment in history.  Below are some of the reference and research materials used to create the content presented on The Lens of History  website.

Carnegie-Stout Public Library

Carnegie Stout Public Library – The City of Dubuque Carnegie-Stout Public Library has a host of online and in-library resources to aid in your search into histories mysteries.  Tools include Ancestry.com, Dubuque City Directories, HeritageQuest Online, ProQuest Historical Newspapers, Telegraph-Herald Archives, and much, much more! City library card may be required to use services.   https://www.dubuque.lib.ia.us/357/research

Baseball Reference

Baseball statistics from 1871 to the present for major league players, teams, and leagues. Complete postseason and managerial data is included as well. Minor league stats back to 1877, and box scores, game logs and splits back to 1904. Updated daily. www.baseball-reference.com

Beacon-Schneider County Assessors

A website with links to multiple state and county assessor maps to look up property boundaries, owners, and view a variety of basemaps from through the years, including LiDAR topography maps. https://beacon.schneidercorp.com/

Dubuque City Directories 1856-1991

Online city directories for the City of Dubuque from 1856 to 1991. http://cityofdubuque.advantage-preservation.com/

Dubuque County Historical Society 

The Dubuque County Historical Society Captain William D. Bowell, Jr. River Library, housed at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium, has thousands of items for research. Among them are historic photographs, books, blueprints, original documents, and other reference materials. The collection also includes materials related to National Rivers Hall of Fame inductees and important river people.  http://rivermuseum.pastperfectonline.com/

Encyclopedia Dubuque

Encyclopedia Dubuque is Dubuque’s definitive online resource to the history and culture of Dubuque, Iowa.  http://www.encyclopediadubuque.org/

Find A Grave

Largest collection of registered graves around the USA. Search by individual or surname or by cemetery. https://www.findagrave.com/

Google Books

An archive of scanned books created by the Google Books project.  Contains many downloadable books and will provided local libraries that may contain an addition of a book.  https://books.google.com/

Google Newspaper Archives

An archive of national newspapers from around the United States scanned and provided online by Google. https://news.google.com/newspapers

Internet Archive

Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.  https://archive.org/

Iowans in the Civil War

List of IAGenWeb resources related to Iowans and Iowa regiments during the Civil War including a list of each regiment and those who served by company. www.iagenweb.org/civilwar/index.html

Iowa Genealogy Website

IAGenWeb is a source of Iowa county genealogy databases and information.  http://iagenweb.org/state/links.htm

Iowa Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War

iowasuvcw.org inlcudes multiple links to Iowa Civil War service records, state county records, Civil War monument locations, etc.  www.iowasuvcw.org 

Library of Congress

The LOC Digital Collections is a treasure-trove of old newspapers, documents, books, manuscripts, legislation, photographs, movies, music, maps and much, much more.  https://www.loc.gov/

National Park Service

The National Park Service maintains a searchable list of veterans of the Civil War, North and South. www.nps.gov/civilwar/people.htm

Newspaper Archive

An online newspaper archive services for a fee.  Free searches.  Very useful with the largest alone archive selection of newspapers from around the United States as well as the world. https://newspaperarchive.com/

Protoball

Protoball is a researcher-writer collaboration to gather and promote knowledge of the development of early baseball prior to 1870, and other bat-base-ball games such as rounders, two old cat, etc. www.protoball.com

Rooster and Records of Iowans in the Civil War

Links to the Roster and Records of Iowa Soldiers, War of the Rebellion and Historical Sketches of Volunteer Organizations. www.iagenweb.org/civilwar/books/logan.htm

Society for American Baseball Research

SABR is dedicated to researching and telling the history of early baseball in America and is sanctioned by the National Baseball Hall of Fame. www.sabr.org

Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War

SUVCW is a hereditary organizations and legal heir to the Civil War veterans’ group Grand Army of the Republic. Members are committed to perpetuating the memory of the Civil War veteran, “Lest We Forget.” www.suvcw.org

State Historical Society of Iowa

The State Historical Society of Iowa has been a trustee of Iowa’s historical legacy since 1857. With a dual mission of preservation and education, it maintains a museum, two research centers, preservation office, and eight historic sites. The society preserves and provides access to Iowa’s historical resources through a variety of statewide programs, exhibitions and projects while serving as an advocate for Iowa’s past and connector to the future.  https://iowaculture.gov/history/research/collections

The National Map – USGS

A source for different topographical maps and historical data views.  https://viewer.nationalmap.gov/launch/

U.S. Census Bureau

The Census Bureau’s mission is to serve as the leading source of quality data about the nation’s people and economy.  https://www.census.gov/data.html 

U.S. National Archives

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation’s record keeper. The most valuable records are preserved and are available to you, whether you want to see if they contain clues about your family’s history, need to prove a veteran’s military service, or are researching an historical topic of interest.  https://www.archives.gov/ 

Wikipedia

The free online encyclopedia provides insight into people, places and events throughout time.  https://en.wikipedia.org

Wisconsin Historical Society

The Society’s world-class collections contain an extraordinary range of artifacts and information about American history, from the remote archaeological past to current events. North American genealogy and Wisconsin history are particular collection strengths.  https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS15310