The archives and the museum contain many different opportunities for research. Many people come in to research their house or property; others to explore the history of a particular business in Boone County. Some may want to research a particular era, place, township, village, or product. And we welcome students to research school reports and projects!

Research material exists in books, newspapers, videos, slides, microfilm, pictures, maps and more. Files exist on area businesses, industry, agriculture, arts & entertainment, prominent people, crimes, government, events, wars, organizations, military people, architecture, schools, churches, and fashion. Bound notebooks contain clippings from newspapers dating back to 1860 and are a wonderful resource for gaining insight into everyday life in Boone County throughout the years.

The Landmark files include buildings such as the Chamberlain Hotel, Baltic Mill, or the Boone County Courthouse. There is an extensive collection of archival materials on the National Sewing Machine Company. Mike Doyle's weekly column in the Rockford Register Star is about Boone County and can be found in teh archives as well. We also have the 1990's Belvidere Daily Republican series called If Walls Could Talk, which were articles on the history of many of the older homes.

The Archives also include:
Descriptions of every artifact donated to the museum
Local History Books
Over 10,000 Obituaries
Cemetery Records
Belvidere City & Rural County Directories 1896-1995
Scrapbooks on people, events, eras, etc.
Slides & Videotapes
Framed maps of 1858 & 1870 Boone County
Journals & Diaries
Framed maps of 1856 & 1870 Belvidere
North Boone High School / Belvidere High School yearbooks
Boone County Platt Books

Old newspapers from the 1850's to the present include:
Belvidere Daily Republican
Belvidere Standard
Boone County Ink
Belvidere Republican
Boone County Journal
Northwestern