PRESS RELEASE
EXPLORE CHICAGO COLLECTIONS Website Provides Access to Loyola’s Archives
New online portal unites region’s many archival collections, empowering scholars and students with greater access to Chicago history
The Loyola University Libraries is pleased to announce its participation in Explore Chicago Collections— a free, centralized, web-based search engine and record-finding tool that allows researchers, teachers, students, and the general public to locate or access over 100,000 maps, photos, letters, and other archival materials held at its member institutions. In 2016 materials from the Loyola University Archives, Women and Leadership Archives, and the Congressional Archives will be searchable via the Explore Chicago Collections website (explore.chicagocollections.org). Chicago Collections is a consortium of libraries, museums, and other institutions that collaborate to preserve, celebrate, and share the archival collections of Chicago’s rich history and culture, and believes the region’s heritage should be available for everyone to explore—freely, easily, and openly. In addition to Loyola University Chicago, other members of the Chicago Collections group include Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, DePaul University, the University of Illinois, Chicago, the Newberry Library, and more, 21 institutions in all. Users are able to browse an enormous wealth of digital material (as well as guides for locating physical objects related to Chicago history) by topic, neighborhood, city, and more. Additional resources available through the Explore Chicago Collections site will include library guides, a virtual reference desk, educational materials, and eventually, digital exhibits, and more. The free and unfettered access to Chicago history and culture that Explore Chicago Collections affords is unprecedented.
Contact: Bob Seal, Dean of University Libraries, at rseal@luc.edu
