Research Collections

Within its overall collection of more than four million printed volumes, the University of Iowa Libraries holds over 200,000 rare books. It also holds more than 15,000 linear feet of manuscripts, unique archival records, hundreds of thousands of documents, photographs, and ephemeral publications, thousands of non-commercial sound recordings, motion pictures, and videotapes, and, increasingly, records “born digital.”

While nearly all the printed rare books are represented by records in the InfoHawk catalog, most archival materials are described only by “finding aids” which inventory research collections, typically describing content folder by folder or container by container. To key word search these finding aids and other information about the collections, all at one time, select “Library Website” from the Smart Search drop-down menu.

Since items in research collections are typically old, fragile, highly valuable, or easily disorganized, they must be retrieved for readers and their use is supervised. Photocopies, scans, and digital photography are generally permitted, however.   

The largest portion of the research collections resides in the Special Collections Department, located on the Third Floor of Main Library. Some manuscripts and archives that specifically document the lives and work of Iowa women are located in the Louise Noun-Mary Louise Smith Iowa Women’s Archives, also on the Third Floor of Main Library.

To survey and browse these research collections, keyword search using Site Search or go to:

Iowa Women’s Archives

Manuscripts and Manuscript Collections

Other Historical Collections

Resources for the History of The University of Iowa

Special Collections & University Archives 

Two Libraries’ research collections not located in Main Library are:

The John Martin Collection in the History of Medicine, 5000 volumes of medical history dating from the 15th to the 20th centuries, located in the Hardin Library of Health Sciences.

The Rita Benton Rare Book Room Collection, a collection of 2000 books and manuscripts that documents classical music of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, located in the Rita Benton Music Library.