LibGuides: Chicago Municipal Records Guide: City Council Records

Chicago City Council Records at the Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD) at Northeastern Illinois University

Office of the City Clerk Archival Collections
Finding aids for archival collections of the Office of the City Clerk will be released to the Chicago Collections Consortium site as they become available. Many of the collections are directly related to the Chicago City Council.
City Council Committee Genealogy Guide
The Office of the City Clerk prepared an informal guide to understanding the genealogy of City Council Committees. Some of these committees have records such as meeting minutes and reports available from the Office of the City Clerk. This list was updated in 2025.
Office of the City Clerk City of Chicago web site, Council Division page
For current records related to the City Council visit the "City Council Division" page of the Office of the City Clerk's web site which has legislative and budget documents, journals and reports, executive orders, video recordings of council and committee meetings and other resources. Some series go as far back as 1981.

City Council Meeting Audio Recordings, 1970-2012, Office of the City Clerk, City of Chicago
Explore over 800 audio recordings of Chicago City Council meetings from 1970 to 2012, covering more than seven mayoral administrations. All City Council meeting recordings can be accessed from the finding aid. This project was supported by a Recordings at Risk grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The grant program is made possible by funding from the Mellon Foundation.

Chicago City Council Proceedings Files, 1833-1871, Illinois State Archives
The Illinois State Archives offers a searchable online index of over 35,000 Chicago City Council legislative files, covering the period from Chicago's incorporation as a town in 1833 to the Great Fire of 1871.
Index to Legislative Documents, 1833-1998, Office of the City Clerk, City of Chicago
The Index to Legislative Documents is a chronological record of official actions by the Chicago City Council. From 1833 to 1998, these indexes were kept in handwritten ledgers. 57 digitized ledgers are now available on the Chicago City Clerk's Internet Archive collections page.
Guide to copies available on the internet for the Journal of the Proceedings of the City Council of Chicago, Chicago History Museum
The Chicago History Museum created a guide for accessing the digitized holdings of the Journal of the Proceedings of the City Council of Chicago and all previous iterations of the proceedings. Also included is a list of links to available digitized editions of the Annual Index to the Journal of the Proceedings for the years 1929-1942.
Annual Index to the Journal of the Proceedings, 1983-2004
Digitized Annual Indexes to the Journal of the Proceedings for the years 1983-2004 can be found on the City Clerk's Internet Archive page.

City Council-related Records in Chicago Public Library's Municipal Reference Collection
The Municipal Reference Collection at Harold Washington Library Center includes materials related to the City Council including biographical materials on aldermen, reports, transcripts, and the Journal of the Proceedings of the City Council of Chicago, including the volumes which are currently not digitally available.
Irene Alexander papers, 1937-1986, Newberry Library
Includes records from her role as Special Supervisor for the Committee on Cultural and Economic Development of the City Council under Mayor Richard M. Daley.