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Resources by Subject - Archives and Manuscripts

For a list of all databases see Alphabetical List of Databases/Indexes.
For large, multi-disciplinary indexes see General Databases/Indexes.

For assistance please visit Electronic Resources - Problems, Tips, & FAQ.


Restricted Resource - UI Access Only - Restricted to faculty, students, and staff at The University of Iowa


Databases / Indexes

Archive Finder Restricted Resource - UI Access Only
Chadwyck-Healey's automated combination of traditional manuscripts finding aids, including The National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (but not including RLIN's AMC file; for that, request Reference assistance), this search tool indexes the holdings of more than 4,400 American repositories, amounting to some 100,000 collections. It is restricted to UI searchers, one at a time. A UI searcher may be bumped off after 15 minutes if another UI searcher begins a search. UI possesses a CD-ROM version, use of which entails no such difficulties, but the information it contains is less up to date, and it is accessible from the UI Main Library only.

NUCMC (National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections)
Records for archival and manuscript collections in North American research libraries, museums, state archives, and historical societies.



Manuscripts and Archives

American Memory Project at the Library of Congress
Primary source and archival materials relating to American culture and history. Most of these offerings are from the Library's unparalleled special collections and include photos, movies, sounds, and documents.

Books at Iowa
From 1964 to 1996, Books at Iowa, issued twice a year and sent to Friends of the University of Iowa Libraries, described collections and acquisitions on a wide range of subjects. The 65 issues stand as an impressive and lasting source of information on the University of Iowa Libraries' key collecting areas.

Iowa Heritage Digital Collections
The Iowa Heritage Digital Collections is an online repository of Iowa history and culture created by bringing together in digital form documents, images, maps, finding aids, interpretive and educational materials, and other media from collections held by a wide range of organizations throughout Iowa.

Iowa Women's Archives
Collects, preserves, and makes available primary source material on the women of Iowa. The Louise Noun - Mary Louise Smith Iowa Women's Archives is located in the University of Iowa Main Library.

Iowa Women's Archives Digital Collections
Selected digital artifacts from over 900 manuscript collections held by the Iowa Women's Archives.

National Archives & Records Administration

University of Iowa Archives
The University of Iowa Archives collects, preserves and provides access to information about the University of Iowa that is of enduring historical, fiscal, administrative, or legal value.

University of Iowa Libraries Manuscripts and Manuscript Collections
More than 10,000 letters or manuscript pieces, principally from the 19th and 20th centuries: agriculture, labor, U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace and his era, journalism, popular culture, politics (especially Iowa), railroads, vaudeville, movies and television, and the American Civil War. Major literary manuscript collections relate to British writers Leigh Hunt, Edmund Blunden, Angus Wilson, and Iris Murdoch, and to over 100 Iowa authors.

University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections
Offers information concerning Special Collections' operations, publications, and holdings, many of which bear importantly on American history and American studies. Also provides links to megasites useful for identifying archival/manuscripts holdings at other institutions.

University of Iowa Museums & Research Collections



Research Collections in Iowa

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum

National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

State Historical Society of Iowa



Other Resources

Links to Special Collections and Other Repositories of Primary Resources on the Web