Library Guides: Iowa-Related Resources: Home

Welcome to All Things Iowa!

Whether you have lived in Iowa a long time or are new here, this guide is sure to help you discover things you never knew about Iowa!

The ISU Library has a wealth of resources related to Iowa, on a surprisingly diverse range of topics: famous Iowans, Iowa inventions, fun facts, etc., and, of course, many resources related to Iowa tourism and/or published in Iowa. This guide is intended to accompany a book display of library resources - but can also be used as a stand-alone resource.

Encyclopedia of Iowa
Call Number: F621 E53 2000 (Reference Collection - Tier 2)

Small - 2 volume set. This Encyclopedia is the definitive reference on the state and its history. This reference work contains detailed articles on the State Symbols and Designations, Geography, Indians, History, Chronology, Governors, Dictionary of Places, Political Directory, Directory of State Services, State Constitution, State Historic Places and more.
Dictionary of Iowa Place-Names by Tom Savage
Call Number: F619 S385 2007 (Reference Collection - Tier 2)

Accessible online to those with a current ISU ID. Savage includes information on the place-names of all 1,188 incorporated and unincorporated communities in Iowa that meet at least two of the following qualifications: twenty-five or more residents; a retail business; an annual celebration or festival; a school; church, or cemetery; a building on the National Register of Historic Places; a zip-coded post office; or an association with a public recreation site. If a town’s name has changed over the years, he provides information about each name. He also includes information about the state’s name and about each of its ninety-nine counties as well as a list of ghost towns.

Iowa (Wikipedia)
Iowa Digital Library
The Iowa Digital Library is a University of Iowa platform. It features more than a million digital objects created from the holdings of the University of Iowa Libraries and its campus partners. Included are illuminated manuscripts, historic maps, fine art, historic newspapers, scholarly works, and more. Digital collections are coordinated by the Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio.
Iowa Publications Online
Maintained by the State Library of Iowa and the Iowa Department of Administrative Services, this website is an electronic depository for documents intended for the general public produced by Iowa state agencies.

Iowa Trivia

In 2014, Iowa ranked third in the nation for the "highest motorcycle ownership per capita with 18 people per motorcycle. Considering it’s the home of Polaris Industries, owners of both Victory and Indian motorcycles, its ranking on the list isn’t surprising." However, note that although the information was published in an article from motorcycle.com - - the original source of the data was fool.com owned by Motley Fool (a stocks and investment company).

Iowa actually has an island city—Sabula—which had 543 inhabitants according to 2023 American Community Survey, from the US Census Bureau.

In 2024, pigs outnumbered humans 7.3-to-1 in Iowa. See other fun facts about pigs in Iowa courtesy of a Des Moines Register article from March 1, 2024.

Iowa farmland was roughly 84% of the total state acreage in 2022. Iowa has approximately 35.7 million acres of land and, according to the 2022 Census of Agriculture, almost 30 million of those acres are farmland.

Iowa has a funicular! It is the Fenlon Place Elevator in Dubuque. It is also the world’s steepest and shortest railway.

Iowa has great fall foliage views from the highest double track railroad bridge in the world, the Kate Shelley Bridge, is located at Boone.

Snippets from Iowa: Off the Beaten Path - 2017 edition:

Iowa averages 34 tornados annually.

More than 25 percent of the nation's best crop soil is found in Iowa.

One Iowa farm grows enough food to feed 279 people.

Iowa boasts the highest literacy rate of any U.S. state (99%).

After the Civil War, Iowa was the first state to give the vote to African Americans.

Iowa is home to the largest cereal mill (Quaker Oats) in the world and the largest spice plant (Tone's) in North America.