ILLINOIS STATE LIBRARY
Route 66 Archives and Research Collaboration (ARC) Network
The Illinois State Library is the Illinois representative in the eight-state Route 66 Archives and Research Collaboration (ARC), a network sponsored by the National Park Service. The mission of the Route 66 ARC is to make research and oral history materials accessible to the general public and Route 66 stakeholders for the purpose of education, preservation, and management of the historic Route 66 corridor. Resources at the State Library consist of books, maps, documents, and periodicals on Route 66 in Illinois and across the eight states. These are listed in the bibliographies below.
The State Library also maintains a vertical file on Route 66 topics and the personal vertical file of Route 66 Association of Illinois founder, Tom Teague. Donated collections include Mt. Olive Service Station’s ledgers, and a historic run of state Route 66 association newsletters collected by historian and author Keith Sculle. Additionally, the State Library has a collection of aerial photographs of Illinois from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) showing Route 66 as it existed in Illinois between 1937 and 1941. Links to significant Route 66 collections in the Illinois Digital Archives are also provided.
Bibliographies
- Route 66 Books and Media at the State Library
- Route 66 Government Documents at the State Library (state and federal)
- Route 66 Magazines and Selected Magazine Articles at the State Library
- Primary Resource Maps of 1900-1939 for Route 66 Research
- Secondary Resource Maps Showing Historic Route 66
Directories
- Route 66 Archives and Research Collaboration Founding Institutions
- Route 66 in Illinois: A Select Preliminary Guide to Library, Museum and Archival Resources
Indexes to Route 66 Vertical Files at the State Library
- Index to the State Library’s Route 66 Vertical File
- Index to the Tom Teague Vertical File Collection
Route 66 Collections in the Illinois Digital Archives
- Illinois State Highway Maps 1917-2008. Illinois State Library.
- Postcards from Route 66. James R. Powell Route 66 Collection, Lake County Discovery Museum.
- Towanda Area Historical Collection. Towanda District Library, Towanda Area Historical Society. Search on "Route 66" within this collection.