About the State Historical Society of Iowa
Established in 1857, eleven years after statehood, the State Historical Society of Iowa is the official historical repository of the State of Iowa. It is a state agency rather than a membership club, charged with preserving and providing access to Iowa's historical resources, awarding history and preservation grants, running K-12 programs such as National History Day in Iowa, and publishing historical journals and magazines. Its headquarters is the State Historical Building just west of the Capitol in Des Moines, which houses both the State Historical Museum of Iowa and the society's library and archives research center.
The museum holds more than 80,000 artifacts, with about 1,500 on view at a time and others displayed in the State Capitol or loaned around the state. Current galleries cover Iowa before statehood, the natural-resource exhibit Delicate Balance, Civics in Action, the Civil War service of more than 76,000 Iowans, Iowa on film in Hollywood in the Heartland, bicycling and RAGBRAI in Riding Through History, a mammoth skeleton, the USS Iowa silver service and, for the nation's 250th anniversary, Revolutionary Iowans. The society also operates seven historic sites across the state, including the American Gothic House in Eldon, Montauk in Clermont, Plum Grove in Iowa City, the Abbie Gardner Sharp Cabin, the Matthew Edel Blacksmith Shop, and the Blood Run and Toolesboro Mounds National Historic Landmarks.
Collections and Research Services
The library and archives describe their holdings as 209 million documents, photographs, newspapers and other items, searchable through the Iowa History Collections Catalog of government records, manuscripts, books, newspapers and photographs. The society's research pages point genealogists to its guides for finding Iowa birth, marriage and death records, to primary source sets, and to manuscripts, maps and ephemera. Most books and microfilm are on open shelves in Des Moines; State Archives and Special Collections material is retrieved from storage, so staff recommend an appointment and a request list five business days ahead. The Des Moines research center is open Wednesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and admission is free. Pencils only, lockers for bags, and no food or drink are the house rules. Remote researchers can submit reference requests and copy or image orders online, and interlibrary loan is available.
Note that the society's Iowa City branch is in transition: public access to collections still held there has been on hold since a Johnson County court injunction of October 23, 2025, and material already moved to Des Moines is being reshelved through late 2026, so check the Iowa City Branch Updates page before traveling. State Archives records are available only in Des Moines. For a step-by-step approach to this kind of repository, see our guides to free family history research and finding where someone is buried.
Planning Your Visit
The State Historical Museum of Iowa is open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., closed Sunday, Monday and state holidays. Admission to both the museum and the research center is free. Free parking is available in the garage across the street at the northwest corner of East Grand and Pennsylvania avenues, with metered street parking nearby. Stop at the first-floor information desk, (515) 281-5111, for maps and children's activities; the building also offers a cafe and auditorium. Confirm hours and holiday closings at history.iowa.gov. Within a short drive are Living History Farms in Urbandale and, to the east, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch.
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