There are many type of records in our collection. This is just a sampling of those you may find.
Thousands of family histories and genealogies that have been written and donated to the library.
Vertical files of family materials, too slim to be on the shelf.
Pioneer Certificate files, consisting of charts and documentation providing proof that a person's ancestor lived in Iowa before 1856, 100 years for a Century Certificate, or by 1846 for a Statehood Certificate.
Labor Contracts of Freedmen Labor contracts between planters and freedmen, Jan 1865-Nov 1868. Many of these contracts can be linked or matched with people found in the 1870 census. [located in the African-American microfilm drawer]
Cherokee Indian Collection [970.1] Numerous books include Those Who Cried (1835 census), Cherokee Emigration Rolls 1817-1835, The Trail of Tears, Cherokee Roots and Cherokee Reserves.
Iowa Old Age Assistance Records, which were a head tax for land owners compiled by the county assessor for the years of1934 to 1937 [on microfilm].
First volumes of the Virginia Genealogist with census indexes, genealogies, and much more.
Periodicals from all over the United States, as published by other state, county, and local genealogical societies. These are searchable on PERSI. IGS has Genealogical Periodical Annual Index for 1962 through 1992.
A complete set of the Hawkeye Heritage, IGS’s own quarterly journal published since 1966, with a topical index published in 1993. [977.7/IOW]
Books of county records that IGS has published, and which are available for purchase.
Canada collection: [971] Our collection includes The Central Canadians and The French Canadians, both book series are an alphabetized directory of the people, places and vital dates covering 1600-1900; also Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867 and Early Ontario Settlers.
Quaker Records [289.6] such as Hinshaw, Mennonite [289.7] materials, books about Palatines, Huguenots, Methodists, and Catholics, to name a few.
Immigration and emigration materials, including all of the series Germans to America [325/GLA] that have published to date. The library also has The Famine Immigrants [325/GLA] about the Irish, as well as The Great Migration Begins, [974.02/AND] which covers New England before 1633.
A complete set of the Hawkeye Heritage, IGS's own quarterly journal published since 1966, with a topical index published in 1993. [977.7/IOW]
Some obituaries taken from newspapers all over Iowa and other states for people with Iowa connections, are index cards. Other drawers also contain births, marriages and deaths on index cards. There are also two sets of obituaries on microfilm.
