48Titles
Explore publications and collections from the past.
Community History Archive Partner
Sandwich Public Library
Sandwich, Illinois
Explore this community history collection to discover the people, places, organizations, and events of Sandwich.
1838 to 2014Dates represented
See individual titles for available dates.
240,512Archive pages
Historical pages reported for this collection.
Explore local history
Discover the people, places, and stories of Sandwich, Illinois.
Discover another side of Sandwich, Illinois through newspapers preserved in the Sandwich Public Library's digital archive. Its forty-eight titles include material from 1838 to 2014.
Opens in a new tab.
-
Selected titles
In the collection shared by Sandwich Public Library, you will find “Bement Independent” and “Voice Of Illinois”.
-
Free and open access
No subscription or payment required.
-
A closer look
An earlier generation comes into view through the stories its newspapers chose to report, placing familiar names and events within the concerns of their time.
The reporting of earlier years offers a way to explore how events were understood as they happened and how local experiences became part of the historical record. A family story, a classroom project or curiosity about a familiar place can lead to a closer look at the community and the lives of earlier generations. Explore the archive online for free, without a subscription.
Explore the collection
Titles in this collection
Browse forty-eight titles and 240,512 digitized pages, with material from 1838 to 2014. Through a partnership with Advantage Archives, Sandwich Public Library shares these sources from the past. Some years or items may be missing between the dates shown.
If you are tracing a family connection or exploring local history, the titles below offer a place to begin and a thread to follow.
Bement Independent
8 pages in 1879
Chicago Citizen
16 pages in 1927
Current Events
8 pages in 1912
Decatur Herald
16 pages in 1886
Downers Grove Reporter
8 pages in 1896
Fountain Bluff News
28 pages from 1901 to 1974
Free Press
7,794 pages from 1963 to 1972
Illinois Daily Courier
20 pages in 1883
Missouri Democrat
16 pages in 1863
Montgomery Daily Mail
4 pages in 1865
Moultrie County News
112 pages from 1895 to 1925
National Tribune
16 pages in 1911
News-Press
5,188 pages from 1963 to 1976
Oak Ridge Cemetery Association Records Of Deceased
518 pages in 1841
Ottawa Republican-Times
36 pages in 1896
Sandwich Free Press
64,004 pages from 1893 to 1974
Sandwich Gazette
16 pages in 1861
Sandwich Record
114,560 pages from 1985 to 2014
Somonauk Reveille
226 pages from 1894 to 1896
The Akron Daily Beacon
8 pages in 1882
The Amboy Journal
28 pages in 1896
The Argus
1,188 pages from 1882 to 1885
The Bement Register
224 pages from 1875 to 1958
The Camp Point Journal
100 pages from 1919 to 1921
The Chenoa Clipper
16 pages in 1908
The Chicago Daily News
24 pages in 1872
The Daily Argus
996 pages from 1880 to 1882
The Daily Commonwealth
8 pages in 1899
The Decatur Morning Herald
8 pages in 1888
The Detroit News Tribune
12 pages in 1912
The Elgin Weekly Courier
16 pages in 1896
The Hindsboro News
4 pages in 1896
The Kankakee Democrat
18 pages from 1857 to 1858
The Kankakee Weekly Gazette
8 pages in 1859
The Kendall County News
16 pages in 1894
The Little Rock Press
102 pages in 1854
The Mitchellville Index
8 pages in 1883
The Monticello Bulletin
8 pages in 1885
The Piatt County Republican
24 pages in 1905
The Rockwood Illustrated News
8 pages in 1974
The Sandwich Argus
23,172 pages from 1885 to 1918
The Suburban News
32 pages in 1916
The True Republican
12 pages from 1894 to 1895
The Weekly Argus
788 pages from 1878 to 1880
The Weekly Herald
16 pages in 1841
The Youth's Companion
56 pages from 1871 to 1875
Tri-County Today
21,010 pages from 1976 to 1985
Voice Of Illinois
8 pages in 1838
Opens in a new tab.
About the Archive
About the Sandwich Public Library District’s History Archives
The Sandwich Public Library District provides free and open access to a growing digital archive that helps residents explore, discover, and connect with local primary sources—an educational resource for genealogy and community research. In partnership with Advantage Archives , the archive functions as a practical online gateway to “history as it happened,” preserving firsthand accounts from Sandwich and the surrounding region.
About the Library
About the Sandwich Public Library District
Located at 925 S. Main St., Sandwich, IL 60548, the Library serves residents with research databases (including genealogy tools), public technology, and local history support. Typical posted hours are Monday–Thursday 9:30 AM–8 PM, Friday 9:30 AM–5 PM, Saturday 9:30 AM–5 PM, Sunday 2–5 PM (verify current hours on the Library’s site).
Library History
The History of the Library & Local Publications
Sandwich’s newspaper landscape spans the late 19th century to the present—from early titles like The Weekly Argus and long-running Free Press , to modern coverage in the Sandwich Record . Title changes and mergers (e.g., the 1974–1976 Plano–Sandwich News-Press ) reflect shifting regional publishing and readership patterns while preserving “history recorded in” the community’s own words.
About the Community
About Sandwich, Illinois
Sandwich sits at the junction of DeKalb, Kendall, and LaSalle counties. Today’s local coverage is part of the Shaw Local network serving Kendall County, connecting Sandwich news to broader county reporting while residents use the Library’s archive for historical research and genealogy.
Local History
Did You Know?
- Library staff highlight genealogy and local-history databases for at-home and in-library use—handy companions to the digital newspaper archive.
- The Free Press masthead reappeared in 1970 and ran until 1974, when it merged to create the Plano–Sandwich News-Press—a useful clue when tracing name changes during the 1970s.
Explore the digitized collection here: Visit the Sandwich History Archives .
More ways to explore and share local history
Research Guidance
Look for the story behind a result
The history of Sandwich includes individual lives as well as events remembered by the wider community. In the digital archive shared by the Sandwich Public Library, begin with a name, place or date connected with the story you want to explore. When using historical newspapers, try alternate spellings and nearby dates, then read the surrounding page to place a local story in its time. Compare later reporting or another available title to explore different perspectives rather than treating one account as the whole story. Search a person, place, or event with a second term, then compare the date and context of each result. A repeated name needs more evidence before it identifies the same person or connects two parts of a story.
After recording the issue and page, search a second term tied to the result and compare the surrounding dates and accounts. Keep matching names provisional until the place and context fit. This can turn one result into a better question without turning a repeated name into a confirmed story.
Capture the title, date, and page or item location for a detail you may want to revisit. Label your interpretation as your reading, not the source's own words. Keep enough context with the note that another reader can retrace it.
Community Partnership
Keeping local history a community resource
This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the Sandwich Public Library, its community, and Advantage Archives. Together, these partnerships preserve local sources and give people a way to explore, learn from, and share the history around them.
Advantage Archives covers ongoing archive hosting, storage, development, and maintenance. The institution and its community do not pay a subscription, seat license, annual support contract, or other recurring archive-service charge. Local history remains a community resource, not a subscription to maintain.
Would you like to see more of your community's history preserved and accessible? Start a conversation with your library, newspaper publisher, historical or genealogical society, museum, or school about the materials they would like to share and a possible partnership with Advantage Archives.
Learn about partnerships
Stories, research tips, and archive news
Read All About It connects archive research with the people and institutions preserving local history. Explore partner and community stories, project updates, research ideas, and perspectives on digitization, education, and working with primary sources. Use the articles as a starting point for your next question or a new way to share a discovery.
May 7, 2025
Why Microfilm is still important in 2023
Preserving documents on microfilm has been a popular method of storage for many years, and it still holds many benefits today. Here…
Read article
May 7, 2025
Don’t Search For An Obituary By Only Searching For An “Obituary”
In the quest to trace our roots and understand our heritage, obituaries often serve as a crucial starting point. Obituaries are undoubtedly…
Read article
April 9, 2025
Unveiling the Hidden Mysteries: Exploring Cold Cases and Unconventional Clues
Even the most esteemed police forces in the county encounter perplexing cold case files. These unsolved mysteries often leave investigators and genealogists…
Read article
April 1, 2025
This Week in History: March 31st through April 6th
Discover History in The Community History Archives. This week in history, there is absolutely nothing to talk about… April Fools! April…
Read article
March 24, 2025
This Week in History: March 24th through March 30th
Discover History in The Community History Archives. It has officially been a year since I started writing This Week in History,…
Read article
March 18, 2025
It’s Your Community’s History, So Why Rent Something You Own?
We believe that history belongs to the communities where it was made - not locked behind paywalls or inaccessible due to budget restrictions. Subscription-based services and large content aggregators are generally more concerned with "content" and less concerned with the history that content contains. Their models typically involve a reoccurring charge for a plan that renews annually or licensing agreements with the library based on population served or circulation numbers. You are essentially Renting Access To YOUR History.
Read article