Iowa History

UNI search engine for books and articles. For books change the "Material Type" option from "All items" to "Books" to turn OneSearch into the library catalog and look for books owned by Rod Library. To find primary materials set your search or results ("Publication Date") to the specific years of your study. Recently published books may also contain primary source material in the form of quotes, diaries, and letters.

Search the full text of over 30 million books.
Full view prior to 1928 and limited preview afterwards.

HathiTrust contains millions pre-1928 books.
Use Advanced full-text search and Advanced catalog search.

Over 10 million digitized texts (e.g. books, magazines).
One of the few archives to offer very high quality color images of older publications.

A directory of over 300 local Iowa newspaper archives providing access to thousands of historical Iowa newspapers ranging from 1836 to the present.

The Library of Congress has archived over 3,000 different U.S. historical newspapers from 1789 to 1963. There are nearly 100 Iowa newspapers available dating from 1836 to 1924.

Advanced Search will also allow you to search for articles that contain two words that are within a specified number of words of each other.

Advanced Search allows searching of a specific newspaper.
Advanced Search can be focused by date/year, by Front page or specific page, and language.
Advanced Search can be focused by looking for “Any” one of multiple words entered, “All” of the words entered, a specific “Phrase”.

Browse papers by choosing “All Digitized Newspapers” option and then limiting by state or ethnicity or language.

Search for primary sources from 1684 to 1850.
British and American newspaper and magazine articles.

1,039 historical newspapers from Iowa ranging from 1800 - present. Coverage varies by year and location. Use the "Advanced Search" option beneath the search blanks. Advanced Search allows limiting by date and location.

On the Magazine Finder website you will find:
1. Digitized subject indexes (HathiTrust) to magazines published from 1802-1881, 1882-1886, and 1887-1892
2. Abbreviation guides for the magazines listed in Poole's Index.
Poole's Index does NOT provide the article - just information about the article - you must take that information and locate the articles yourself. Use the Magazine Finder to find the article online or in print (Google - Rod Library Magazine Finder - or visit https://guides.lib.uni.edu/historical-magazines/1802-1890.

Readers' Guide does NOT provide the article - just information about the article - you must take that information and locate the articles yourself. Use the Magazine Finder to find the article online or in print (Google - Rod Library Magazine Finder - or visit https://guides.lib.uni.edu/historical-magazines).

Search the full text of hundreds of magazines.
Full view prior to 1927 and limited preview afterwards.

HathiTrust contains hundreds of pre-1927 magazines. Use Advanced full-text search and then limit results using the "Serial" option on the bottom left-hand side of the results page.

(Keokuk, Iowa)

"The Iowa Homemaker was founded by the Home Economics Club in 1921. It was the first magazine on Iowa State campus written by women for women. The Iowa Homemaker covers a wide range of issues from “Canning Early Fruits and Vegetables” to “Can a Homemaker be a Citizen?” It contains the excited energy of women trying to find their place in early twentieth century Iowa, and it offers a unique perspective on the history of Iowa State." --- Iowa State University - Parks Library

From the first issue of Iowa Normal Monthly -
"TO ALL FRIENDS OF EDUCATION IN Iowa --GREETING:
At the meeting of Normal Institute Conductors recently held in Des Moines, there was a strong feeling expressed that some one should start an Educational Journal for Iowa. ... Prof. W.J. Shoup of Dubuque will immediately enter upon the work, and I doubt not will furnish to the teachers and school officers of lowa, what is much needed, an IOWA School Journal."

This farming magazine/newspaper - published in Des Moines - has been known by many names including Wallaces' Farmer and Dairyman (1898-1929), Wallaces' Farmer and Iowa Homestead (1929-1958), and Wallaces Farmer.

"The Iowa Digital Library features more than a million digital objects created from the holdings of the University of Iowa Libraries and its campus partners." --- Iowa University Libraries

Welcome to the Primary Source Sets libguide, created for you by Special Collections & University Archives and UNI Museum at Rod Library. In this guide, you will find digital copies of primary sources from various SC&UA and Museum collections organized by topic. These topics include Immigration / Migration, Black Experiences in Iowa, American Indians in the Midwest, Elections and Campaigns, and Women's History.

The purpose of UNI ScholarWorks is to collect, preserve and make available the research and creative and scholarly output from the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) community. Includes the "Old Gold" (the historical UNI Yearbooks), and digitized sources from the UNI Special Collections & University Archives.

"Discover digital photographs, maps, letters, diaries, audiovisual, and more from the Iowa State University Library. Digital Collections provides free, open access to select unique materials from the library’s collections." --- Iowa State University Libraries

The State Historical Society of Iowa has been a trustee of Iowa’s historical legacy since 1857. With a dual mission of preservation and education, it maintains a museum, archives & historical libraries, preservation office, and eight historic sites.

There are other publicly available digital archives that could contain useful primary source material for your project. Focused searches using powerful Google commands can locate digital collections based on the descriptions of archives.