The Iowa Women’s Archives currently holds over 1200 collections of Iowa women and their organizations. Among the primary source materials that make up the collections are the letters, diaries, account books, oral histories, scrapbooks, and photographs of individuals and family members. The records of organizations usually consist of meeting minutes and financial records as well as scrapbooks and audiovisual materials. These historical records reflect the social, political and cultural ideas of their times and provide a rich resource for the study and interpretation of history.
Alphabetical List of Collections
This is a nearly complete list of the papers of individual women and the records of organizations held in the Iowa Women’s Archives. It is arranged alphabetically by collection title and includes both processed and unprocessed collections. The finding aids to processed collections are available online and are linked to the collection titles. More finding aids will be added as they become available.
Topical List of Collections
In this list the collections have been grouped into a series of subject areas as an aid to researchers. The topical subject list reflects particular areas of strength in the collections such as social activism and politics, education, African-American women, and rural women. It also encompasses areas which are frequently requested by researchers such as women’s suffrage and nineteenth century collections. The list is intended as a guide and does not attempt to include every collection in the Archives.
Search by Subject
The search by subject allows researchers to navigate the collections through a series of index terms and key words. The object of the search by subject is to enhance visibility of collections or aspects of collections which might otherwise remain hidden or inaccessible. It is intended as a rough guide to highlight more obscure collections rather than a comprehensive index to collections.