Iowa Death Records (1921-1940) have been digitized and are now online through FamilySearch and accessible at the Iowa State Historical Society's Research Centers in Des Moines and Iowa City.
City directories are published annually. Newer directories are in order by street address while older ones are in alphabetical order by business or personal name. For example, in commercial areas it gives the name of each business, in residential areas it lists the head of the household and their occupation.
To locate directories for a specific city, use Quick Search on the library homepage and use the city name and "city director*" - e.g., Des Moines AND "city director*"
Ames City Directory
This publication has changed names several times. The ISU Library has sporadic volumes available from 1922 to the present. Story County towns are included in the Ames city directories. Ames Public Library has 1917, 1919, 1921 and some other years that the ISU Library does not own.
Des Moines City Directories
The ISU Library has sporadic holdings from 1914-1999.
In the late 1800's, there was a national effort to document U.S. county histories, including brief biographical sketches of prominent families. These histories can be located using the Quick Search box on the library homepage. The most effective search is to use Advanced Search and change "Any Field" to "Title" and then search for:
"history" AND "[fill in county name here] County" AND "Biographical Sketches"
In addition, the ISU Library owns many Iowa county histories or maps which contain genealogical information. The most effective search is to use Advanced Search and change "Any Field" to "Subject" and then search for:
"[fill in county name here] County" AND iowa AND history
"Between 1854 and 1929 an estimated 200,000 orphaned, abandoned, and homeless children were placed out during, what is known today as, the Orphan Train Movement. The name is derived from the children's situations, though they were not all orphans, and the mode of transportation used to move them across forty-seven states and Canada."
Iowa was one of many states in which the Orphan Trains stopped. For more information on Orphan Trains and their passengers, see the following links:
The Jackson County (Iowa) Historical Society Museum is the repository for a large collection of organized records from the orphan train movement. For more information, see: http://www.jciahs.com/sites/county-museum
Ames Public Library is home to the Farwell T. Brown Photographic Archive. This archive containsimages"from Farwell T. Brown’s lifetime collection of original photographs, postcards, advertisements, and news articles which chronicle the history of Ames, Iowa. The dates of the photographs range from the 1860s through the 1990s, with the majority from the 1900s through the 1930s."
The full print collection and catalog can be viewed by making an appointment through the Ames Public Library information desk (239-5656). You can browse the collection by subject at the link below.
The library's collections and services are available to all ISU students, faculty, and staff and Parks Library is open to the public.
