If you happen to be looking for federal primary sources from Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, or Illinois, a good spot to check is the Chicago office of the National Archives and Records Administration. Records available include bankruptcy records, Chinese Exclusion case files from Chicago and St. Paul, Michigan and Illinois Selective Service System Name Index records, and naturalization records. Other topics represented in the collections include, but aren't limited to, African American history, Depression era history, disasters, espionage, and maritime history.

Consider looking through the site's finding aids to get a sense of the collections available on location.

When visiting, be ready with an official photo ID and willingness to fill out a short form concerning your interests. Leave your pens behind (pencils are permitted), and prepare to leave your belongings in a locker or in your car.

Looking for more directed opportunities? Check out the archives' upcoming events. If you teach in Illinois or Indiana, you may even be eligible for continuing education credit.

In addition to the aforementioned public programs, there are workshops designed specifically for teachers. Find them (and more opportunities) under the Workshops heading.

Archivists are ready and willing to help your students define their research topics and select appropriate primary sources, for National History Day projects or other endeavors.

The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center preserves and interprets Stowe's Hartford home and the Center's historic collections, promotes vibrant discussion of her life and work, and inspires commitment to social justice and positive change. A visit to the Center includes the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, a Victorian Gothic Revival home (1871) which includes Victorian-style gardens; the Katharine Seymour Day House (1884), a mansion adjacent to the Stowe House; and the Stowe Visitor Center (1873), with changing exhibitions.

The center offers exhibits, tours, reference library access, and occasional recreational and educational events.

The Museum is the only museum in the world dedicated exclusively to recognizing the contributions of women artists.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, research library access, educational programs, and educational and recreational events.

In 1772, George Washington purchased a house from Michael Robinson in Fredericksburg, Virginia for his mother. Mary Ball Washington spent her last 17 years in this comfortable home. A mirror Mrs. Washington called her "best dressing glass" and other possessions are on view in the house. Her sundial still tracks the time of day in the garden.

The house offers tours.

Willa Cather, Nebraska's Pulitzer Prize-winning author, spent her formative years in Red Cloud. Many of the scenes and characters in her writings are based on the people, streets, and landscapes Cather encountered here in her youth. Visitors to the site encounter eight period structures that influenced her writing, including her childhood home; the Catholic and Episcopal churches; the Garber Bank; the Burlington Depot; and the Pavelka Farmstead, home of Annie Pavelka, the basis for the title character of Cather's most famous novel, My Antonia.

A second website for the site, maintained by the Cather Foundation, can be found here.

The site offers exhibits, tours, research library access, and occasional recreational and educational events.

The Dilue Rose Harris House was home to one of the few female writers living in colonial Texas during the 19th century. Ms. Harris' memoirs have given historians valuable insight into the lives of early Texas settlers.

Group tours and special events only are offered.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum honors Major League and Negro League players, umpires, managers, and executives who have excelled within the sport of baseball. The museum focuses on the evolution of baseball as a U.S. sport and the ways in which the game has impacted the greater national culture. Exhibits include inductee plaques, artifacts related to the inductees, changes in the sport over time, Babe Ruth, women's connection to baseball, no-hitters, African Americans and baseball, baseball in the Caribbean Basin, youth league champions, baseball cards, recent events, baseball in film, sports journalism, ballparks and ballpark music, current records, and World Series moments of note. Collection highlights include a ticket booth from Yankee Stadium. The museum's research library claims more than 2,600,000 documents.

The museum offers a 13-minute introductory multimedia presentation, exhibits, curriculum-based educational programs, distance learning opportunities for students, summer educational programs, education ambassadors, teacher workshops, children's overnight programs, Scout programs, and research library access. Appointments, made at least one week in advance, are encouraged for library use. Student educational program topics include women's history, industrial technology, fine art, labor history, cultural diversity, economics, civil rights, and popular culture, among other options. The website offers online exhibits, thematic education units, electronic fieldtrips, and podcasts.

The North West Company Fur Post is a living history museum interpreting fur trading in the year 1804. That year, a trader from the North West Company erected a winter trading post on site. From there he conducted business with the Ojibwe before moving on again in late April. Topics addressed include Ojibwe culture, changes in Ojibwe culture which occurred after European contact, European barter systems, the fur trade and the global economy, trader life, women in the fur trade, communication between cultures, and archaeology. As the site is a reconstruction, it permits visitors a hands-on experience.

The post offers interactive exhibits, living history interpreters, period skill demonstrations, day camps, guided group tours, field trip programs, nature trails, interpretive signs, canoeing opportunities, and a picnic shelter. Field trips include a guided tour, an educational game, a fire making demonstration, and a craft activity. Canoes are not available on site. The website offers history articles.

The Belcourt Castle was the home of built in 1894 by the famous American architect Richard Morris Hunt. It was designed as Louis XIII style hunting lodge to be a summer cottage during the Gilded Age. The mansion contains historical furnishings and memorabilia.

The Castle offers guided group tours for students that include showcase the Tinney family's (the current owners) antiques and the variety of architectural styles of the home. The tour covers the history of the Gilded Age and the home's illustrious residents O.H.P. Belmont, a representative of the Rothschild Banking empire and Congressman, and his wife Alva Vanderbilt, the former wife of William Kissam Vanderbilt.

The Margaret Mitchell House was the adult home of American author Margaret Mitchell and the place where she wrote Gone with the Wind. The site also houses the Literary Center, which honors Mitchell's legacy through writing education programs.

The Museum offers exhibits, guided tours (with group tours available by arrangement) writing classes, summer camps, lectures, and other recreational and educational events.