Local History and Genealogy Resources

The Area Research Center Network is a cooperative venture between the Wisconsin Historical Society, 12 University of Wisconsin campus libraries, and the Northern Great Lakes Visitors Center. 

The network's 13 Wisconsin Local Area Research Centers (ARCs) serve specific geographic regions around the state. ARCs provide access to records created by county offices and other local government units, original manuscript collections of regional interest and other resources for their specific regions.  Each ARC can borrow materials from the other ARC collections for local use as well.

ARCs are perfect for local history researchers, genealogists, business people, historic preservationists, schoolteachers, faculty and students, or historians who can’t or don’t want to travel far to do research.