Free Illinois travel books and Chicago travel guides. Pioneer and 19th century Travel accounts. Collection and suggested titles.This webpage contains links to:
Dozens of Illinois & Chicago Travel Guidebooks, published from the early 1900s until recently,
Narrative descriptions of Illinois by historic explorers from the 1600s to the 1800s,
Accounts of Chicago and other Illinois places by pioneers and travelers in the 19th century.
Table of contents
Book Collections of Illinois and Chicago Travel Guides, Exploration
Chicago Guidebooks Collection
Free online books at the Internet Archive, resulting from a search for books on “Illinois – Chicago Guidebooks”. Among these Chicago travel guides are books for walks in Chicago, living in Chicago, best Chicago attractions, cheap places to eat, a guide to ethnic Chicago, a running guide, and many more specialized and general travel guides.
Illinois Guidebooks Collection
Free online books at the Internet Archive, resulting from a search for books on “Illinois – Guidebooks”. Includes a variety of travel guides, including fun with the family, the Illinois countryside, hiking in Illinois, Illinois attractions off the beaten path, weekends in Illinois, strange places, a nature guide, and day trips from Chicago.
Chicago Region Collection
Free online books at the Internet Archive, resulting from a search for books on “Illinois – Chicago Region”. Some of the guidebooks here include where to take your dog in Chicago, weekend escapes from Chicago, a shopper’s guide to outlet stores, Chicago museums, hiking in the Chicago region, natural wonders in Chicago, Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in Chicago, and historic preservation sites in the region.
Suggested Illinois Travel Guides and Explorers’ Books
Documents, Papers, Materials and Publications relating to the Northwest and the State of Illinois
Beckwith, H.W.
Springfield, ILL: Illinois State Historical Library. 1903
This is a collection of documents (translated into English) for the early history of French Canadian exploration of the Illinois region, and also for the conquest of Illinois country by George Rogers Clark during the Revolutionary War. The editors have added introductions and explanatory notes to each group to assist readers and provide background information. There is a separate index for each document group. Illinois explorers.
The topics or titles of documents are:
-Voyages and Discoveries of Father James Marquette in the Mississippi Valley
-French Plans of Conquest
-Hennepin’s Narrative
-La Salle’s Voyage down the Mississippi
-Memoir of Henry de Tonty of 1693
-The Aubry Manuscript
-George Rogers Clark’s Conquest of the Illinois
-Letters from the Canadian Archives
Also see: Explorers and Travelers in Great Lakes History; Illinois General History; and Great Lakes General History
See our free books on Illinois economic topics
Letters from Illinois
Birkbeck, Morris
London: Taylor and Hessey. 1818
Morris Birkbeck (1764-1825) was a political ‘radical’ who emigrated from England to Illinois in 1817 with George Flowers to establish a colony of English emigrant farmers. They bought 26,000 acres in Edwards County, calling it the English Prairie Settlement, and also laid out the town of Albion. Birkbeck was a progressive farmer, and organized the Agricultural Society of Illinois.
For this book, Birkbeck collected a number of letters that he had written to acquaintances in England, providing information about Illinois and encouraging them to come to the English Prairie. The book was very widely read in Great Britain, and was also translated into German and French.
For several early-19th century descriptions of the Great Lakes states and adjoining areas, see: Settlers’ Guides for the Great Lakes Region
Travel and Description, 1765-1865, together with a list of county histories, atlases, and biographical collections and a list of territorial and state laws
Buck, Solon
Springfield, ILL: Illinois State Historical Library. 1914
This is Volume 2 in the Illinois State Historical Library’s Bibliographical Series. It contains annotated bibliographies of books that are significant in Illinois history for the following subject areas:
–Travel and Description, 1765-1865
-County Histories, Atlases and Biographical Collections
-Historiography of Illinois Counties
-Territorial and State Laws
Western Portraiture, and Emigrants’ guide: A Description of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa; with Remarks on Minnesota, and Other Territories
Curtiss, Daniel S.
NY: Colton 1852
“Based in part on personal observation, this is one of the best descriptive books of the period. The first part is in the form of “trips from Buffalo by the lakes to Chicago and by the Illinois and Mississippi rivers to St. Paul with descriptions of the towns and counties along the route. Later a section of about a hundred pages is devoted to a more formal description of the state of Illinois, its towns, counties, people, rivers, canals, and railroads. Another section contains extensive extracts from letters written by a Mr. Thompson while traveling down the Illinois and up the Mississippi rivers in the summer of 1851 ; his accounts of Chicago, La Salle, Peoria, Jacksonville, and Galena being of especial interest. Valuable, also, is the list of papers and periodicals in Illinois which gives the location of each, its frequency of publication, and its political or other character.” – Solon Buck in ‘Illinois Historical Collections
Illinois
Des Garennes, Christine
Moon Handbooks 2009
A volume from the ‘Moon Handbooks’ travel guide publisher, for the present-day Illinois explorer.
Illinois in 1837: a sketch descriptive of the situation, boundaries, face of the country, prominent districts …
prairies, rivers, minerals, animals, agricultural productions, public lands, plans of internal improvement, manufacturers, &c., of the state of Illinois : also, suggestions to emigrants, sketches of the counties, cities, and principal towns in the state, together with a letter on the cultivation of the prairies, by the Hon. H. L. Ellsworth: to which are annexed the letters from a rambler in the West
Ellsworth, H. L.
Philadelphia: Mitchell. 1837
From the publisher’s Preface:
“The first 72 pages are devoted to the illustration of the Natural Geography, Minerals, Animal and Vegetable Productions of the State, also its Civil Divisions, Public Lands, Plans of Internal Improvements, Manufactures, Education, Suggestions to Emigrants, Travelling Routes, Remarks on Location and Manner of Building in newly-settled Countries.”
“The next 58 pages are occupied with a descriptive sketch of the Counties, Cities and Towns in Illinois; the remainder of the work is filled up with a Letter from the Hon. H. L. Ellsworth on the Cultivation of the Prairies, together with the Letters of a “Rambler in the West”.
Memorable days in America; being a journal of a tour to the United States …
principally undertaken to ascertain, by positive evidence, the condition and probable prospects of British emigrants; including accounts of Mr. Birkbeck’s settlement in the Illinois; and intended to shew men and things as they are in America
Faux, William
London, Simpkin &Marshall, 1823
Faux describes his trip to America, which began in November 1818. Emigration to America was a hot political issue in England at that time, and some of the accounts coming from America were suspected of being inflated. Faux writes that he was determined to write an objective and factual account of America to help people in England make the right choice about whether to emigrate. Among his stops in America was the English Prairie Settlement of Birkbeck and Flowers, which he described in detail. He also spent two months in Indiana. The book contains a lot of information about frontier life and conditions. Illinois explorers, travel accounts of Illinois.
For several early-19th century descriptions of the Great Lakes states and adjoining areas, see: Settlers’ Guides for the Great Lakes Region
See our books on Illinois cities & other places
Chicago: The Marvelous City of the West. A History, An Encyclopedia, and A Guide
Flinn, John J.
Flinn and Sheppard 1891
Very ambitious compendium of information about Chicago.
“Lewis and Clark in the Illinois Country”
Illinois History Teacher Vol 10, No. 3, 2003, pp 29-33
Hartley, Robert E.
Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
Illinois Explorers, Illinois Exploration
A Winter in the West; by a New Yorker
Volume 2
Hoffman, Charles F.
NY: Harper, 1835
Hoffman spent most of the first three months of 1834 in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, visiting Chicago, Galena and Peoria. He wrote letters to friends throughout his travels, and published some in newspapers in New York. After seeing northern Illinois he went to St. Louis through Springfield, Jacksonville and Alton; and later down the Mississippi and up the Ohio.
Chicago, the Vacation City
Illinois Central Railroad
Chicago: Passenger Department, Illinois Central 1930
For Illinois explorers of the 1930s.
Ten Tours in Illinois: A Guide to the State Parks, Scenic Beauties, Historic Memorials, and Lincoln Shrines
Illinois Development Council
Springfield: State of Illinois 1940
Illinois Tourists Guide
Illinois State Chamber of Commerce
Springfield: State of Illinois 1930?
An early guide for Illinois explorers of the 1930s, on their vacations.
See our Seamanship PDF books
“Following the Westward Star”
Proceedings of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association Vol X, 1918-21, 49-56
Jenks, Chancellor L.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Mississippi Valley Historical Association
Brief article describing migration of author’s ancestors from Pennsylvania to Illinois in 1836, drawing upon extended quotes from a travel journal.
Illinois and the West: with a Township Map, Containing the Latest Surveys and Improvements
Jones, Abner Dumont
Boston: Weeks 1838
“Jones was a New Englander on a prospecting tour in Illinois. He tells of his trip from St. Louis through Alton and Peoria to Tremont in Tazewell County, where he stopped some time; of a side trip to the Rock River country; and of the return to the East via Peru, Joliet, and Chicago. The book contains, also, chapters on education and agriculture in Illinois, advice to emigrants, and Ellsworth’s letter on the cultivation of the prairies, which had previously been printed in ‘Illinois in 1837’.” – Solon Buck in ‘Illinois Historical Collections.
See our Illinois government & politics free books & articles
Not for Tourists Guide to Chicago
Nelson, Craig, ed.
Skyhorse 2012
A city guide that covers neighborhoods, facilities, organizations, etc. with a focus on information important to residents, not tourists.
Eight Months in Illinois, with Information to Immigrants
Oliver, William
Chicago: Hill 1924
A reprint of an 1843 book. Travel account of Illinois.
A River Through Illinois
Overturf, Daniel V.
Southern Illinois University 2007
“A River Through Illinois, a collaboration by journalist Gary Marx and photographer Daniel Overturf, carries readers down the 330 miles of the Illinois Waterway, from the urban landscape of Chicago to the state’s most rural areas. Combining literary impressions, history, and personal narrative with stunning color photographs, this remarkable book transports readers to places most have never been: three hundred feet below the city of Chicago to a wastewater pump station, above the Illinois River to a lift-bridge operator’s hut, and into the wheelhouse of a towboat pushing twenty thousand tons of steel and grain.
The story of the river is told by the people who live along the waterway and work between its banks, people who rely on it for their livelihoods, their recreation, and their spiritual sustenance. More than one hundred original color photographs and dozens of conversations with waterway residents, workers, and visitors capture the essence of the waterway, exposing its course and uncovering its past.”–Jacket
The Present State of the European Settlements on the Mississippi, with a Geographical Description of that River, illustrated by Plans and Draughts
Pittman, Philip (Captain)
London: 1770
Captain Pittman was an engineer in the British army when he was assigned to a unit that sailed up the Mississippi River about 1763 to take possession of French military posts in Illinois country, after the conclusion of the French and Indian war. He also described Spanish towns and posts on the lower Mississippi, on the way north. This is was the first English report of these Mississippi towns in Illinois.
Pittman’s plans and maps of several of the locations are at the back of the volume, including a plan of Kaskaskia and maps of the Mississippi.
Illinois Explorers, Illinois Exploration
See our free novels set in Illinois
Rand McNally & Co.’s Pictorial Guide to Chicago: What to See and How to See It
Rand McNally
Rand McNally 1886
An early tourist guide for Chicago, with many drawn illustrations of the city’s highlights.
Illinois State Parks, Memorials and Conservation Areas. An Illustrated, Descriptive Guide to Scenic Parks, Historic Memorials and Lincoln Shrines in Illinois
State of Illinois
Springfield: State of Illinois 1958?
Two Year’s Residence in the Settlement on the English Prairie, in the Illinois country, United States …
with an account of its animal and vegetable productions, agriculture, &c. &c; a description of the principal towns, villages, &c. &c. with the habits and customs of the backwoodsmen
Woods, John
London, Longmans. 1822
The title of this book is a little misleading. There was great interest in England around 1820 in the English Prairie settlement of George Flowers and Morris Birkbeck, so the emphasis on the settlement may have been the publisher’s way of marketing the book. (See Birkbeck’s Letters from Illinois and William Faux’s Memorable Days in America on this web page for more on the English Prairie.) About half this book by Woods is a description of the trip from England to southern Illinois, and the second half is about the English Prairie as well as descriptions of other towns in the area and of many aspects of the region.
Illinois; A Descriptive and Historical Guide
Writers Program of the Work Projects Administration in Illinois
McClurg 1939
A volume in the American Guide series, in which the New Deal WPA hired unemployed writers for a project to write guidebooks for U.S. states. For most of the profiled states, these became the most comprehensive guides available. In this volume, Part I surveys the history of the state, the economy, government, education and culture. Part II profiles 20 cities and towns. Part III is made up of 12 road tours through various regions of the state.
Kids Love Illinois: Your Family travel Guide to Exploring ‘kid-friendly’ Illinois
500 fun stops and unique spots
Zavatsky, George
Kids Love 2011
Breaks Illinois into 7 regions and groups the sites into those regions. It appears that most of the sites would be of interest to all age groups.
Chicago City Guide
Zimmerman, Karla
Lonely Planet 2011
A guidebook from the distinctive ‘Lonely Planet’ approach.