University of Iowa students are fortunate to have some amazing archives right on their doorstep. History faculty sometimes take classes to examine original documents and historical artifacts at these archives. Students also conduct independent research in these collections, whether for course assignments or for a History Honors Thesis. Some students choose to do internships at these facilities.

State Historical Society of Iowa

Research Centers in Iowa City and in Des Moines; holdings include manuscript collections of Iowa people and groups, historical newspapers, maps, and objects, U.S. census records, state and county records, and a lot more.

Iowa Women’s Archives

More than 1100 manuscript collections that chronicle the lives and work of Iowa women, their organizations, their families, and their communities. They document the activities of Iowa women throughout the state and beyond its borders. Third Floor, UI Main Library.

Special Collections, University of Iowa

Collections include University Archives and the records of many significant individuals, companies, and other organizations from or associated with Iowa (for example, Henry Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture in the 1930s and the Progressive Party candidate in the 1948 presidential election), in addition to collections on topics from medieval to modern, from the U.S. Civil War to the French Revolution. Railroad records; Chautauqua and vaudeville performers; political cartoons, cookbooks, poster, film, and textiles collections.

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, West Branch, Iowa

Part of the National Archives and Records Administration, the Hoover archives contain more than 300 collections totaling more than 8 million pages relating to Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover, their associates, and American history from 1874 through 1964.