Local History & Genealogy Resources – Aurora Public Library District

Local History Resources

Discover your hometown and Dearborn County’s past with us!

Genealogy

Discover your family tree with this FREE genealogical resource. This site can only be visited on APLD WiFi.

This FREE resource allows for searching through the U.S. Census, city directories, high school yearbooks, including yearbooks from Aurora High School, and much more!

Family Histories

Explore our full list of our family histories on file at the Depot! These cannot be removed from the library.

Newspapers

Newspapers.com Library

As of 2023, all newspapers on microfilm at the Depot have been digitized and made searchable on Newspapers.com! Search through 26 titles from 1836 to 2020. This resource is currently only available on library WiFi, unless the user has a paid Newspapers.com subscription.

Newsbank

This resource expands beyond Dearborn County and across the globe! Click the link above to search news from 1968 to the present day covering a wide variety of topics. Want to stay local? Click this link to search through The Journal-Press from 2009 to 2022.

Newspaper Archive

Search through newspapers across the nation, including right here in Aurora! Log in with your library card number to get access from wherever you are.

Aurora and Dearborn County

Yearbooks

The Local History Library is currently home to Aurora, Dillsboro, and South Dearborn High School yearbooks from 1912 to 2023, as well as a small collection of Moores Hill College yearbooks.

Dillsboro High School yearbooks from 1912 to 1978 are also available at the Dillsboro Public Library.

All yearbooks must be kept in-house. All Aurora and Dillsboro High School Yearbooks have been digitized and are available on FamilySearch.

We do not own any copies of SDHS yearbooks from the years 2019 through 2022. If you are willing to donate a copy, please email contact@eapld.org.

Yearbook Advertisements

Advertising in the local school’s yearbook is a great way for businesses to support their community’s students while also attracting new customers. Looking through past yearbook advertising is a great way for those curious about local history to learn about businesses, their year’s of operation, and often their locations or even pictures of the buildings or the employees.

The following spreadsheets document the businesses that advertised in Aurora High School, Dillsboro High School, and South Dearborn High School yearbooks. The spreadsheet for each school has tabs along the bottom to separate the advertisements by decade. Each listing includes the year of the advertisement, the page number within that yearbook, the name of the business, the address (if it was listed), and either “yes” or “no” to indicate whether the advertisement includes a photograph directly relevant to that business.

Vertical Files

**COMING SOON**

Look through every document we have on file at the Depot using our spreadsheet!

Aurora Public
Library District

Local History Resources

Genealogy

Newspapers

Aurora and Dearborn County

Need any assistance with your research or have any questions? Ask us!

Aurora Public Library

Dillsboro Public Library

The Depot

Follow On Social