Explore the Collections

Wilmette Historical Museum Online Database

Welcome to the Wilmette Historical Museum's online collections. Here you can search all records in our online database using Keyword Search or Advanced Search. You can also narrow your search through focused Catalog Searches of the Archives, Photographs, and Objects catalogs in our holdings. Browse gives you the chance to look through randomly selected records. For help with searching, scroll down to "Tips for Searching." Please note that this digital database excludes our library collection, general reference materials, and our recent donations.

Catalog Searches

Tips for Searching

Keyword Search allows you to perform a general search across multiple fields for any catalog records online. If you are interested in all records about railroads, for example, type railroad in the field, and all records including the word "railroad" will be listed.

Advanced Search helps you be more specific with your search. You can search for a word or phrase within a particular search category or use multiple categories to further narrow down your search results. If you're searching for a family or family name, for example, you can find people in the records by putting the name into the Description field.

Browse is a great way to view a random selection from the collection.

Catalog Searches allows you to narrow down your search by catalog using Archives, Photos, or Objects categories.

Other search tips:

• To search a specific phrase like No Man's Land, put quotes around the phrase: "No Man's Land”.
• Use boolean search terms (AND, OR, NOT) to narrow your search. For example, searching Wilmette NOT Bowl will avoid retrieving results related to Wilmette Bowl.
• An asterisk (*) can be used as a wildcard. A search for histor* would come up with records containing history, histories, historical, etc.
• Searches are not case sensitive.

Need help?

If you need assistance, would like to find out about our Museum, or have any further questions, please contact us at museum@wilmette.com or 847-853-7666, or visit wilmettehistory.org. See our Research FAQs for more tips. You can also read our Collections Overview to discover more about our collections, donations, and what we collect.

Requesting Reproductions/Copies

To request reproductions and copies, go to the catalog record, click the thumbnail photo to enlarge the image, and then select Request Image at the lower right corner. Permission must be granted to use an images from the Museum's collections online, in print, or in scholarly publications. Please allow 2-3 weeks to receive these high resolution files. Fees and additional charges may also apply. Credit all images as Courtesy of the Wilmette Historical Museum.