Research Guides: Iowa History: Iowa County Histories

Iowa County Histories

Hundreds of Iowa County histories - of varying quality - were written during the 19th and early 20th century. Now no longer in copyright (pre-1927), most of these history books can, if found, be accessed freely and publicly online.

Iowa State University Library Digital Collections has archived thirty such books in their Iowa County Histories collection.

Iowa County Histories by Iowa State University Library Digital Collections
Digital Collections provides free online access to over 20,000 of the Iowa State University Library’s rare and unique resources. Many of its resources have been digitized from the library’s Special Collections and University Archives. The resources support the teaching, learning and research needs of scholars, educators, students, and the public. New items are added on a regular basis. If you’re interested in contributing to or creating a digital collection, please reach out. You'll find the ISU Digital Initiatives Selection Policy publicly available in our Digital Repository.

To locate many of the other Iowa County histories not found in this collection simply perform a basic search (which defaults to “full view only”) in HathiTrust that includes the names of the county, Iowa and “history”

For example, to find an O’Brien County history search for: O’Brien County Iowa history

Past and Present of O'Brien and Osceola Counties, Iowa (1914) by J. L. E. Peck and O. H. Montzheimer
“In placing the “Past and Present of O'Brien and Osceola Counties, Iowa,” before the citizens, the publishers can conscientiously claim that they have carried out the plan as outlined in the prospectus. Every biographical sketch in the work has been submitted to the party interested for correction, and therefore any error of fact, if there be any, is solely due to the person for whom the sketch was prepared.”

To find more recently published Iowa county histories - books only available in print - choose the Advanced catalog search option in HathiTrust

Set all the dropdown menus in the Advanced catalog search to “Subject” and type in the county name, Iowa, and “history” in the first three blanks e.g., Adams County, Iowa, and history.…

For books found using this method that are not available for free full viewing - type the title of the book in a WorldCat search e.g., “A Brief history of Corning and Adams County, Iowa”

Check the resulting record in the “Find a copy in the library” to see if a nearby library owns a print copy.

You can request print books owned by other libraries via Interlibrary Loan.