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Iowa City and Johnson County Historical ResourcesIn an attempt to help preserve the historical record and to aid individuals seeking family history information, the library purchases materials relating to Johnson County and Iowa City history as they become available. Many of the resources listed below were purchased with funds received from the Iowa City Host Noon Lions Club's Irving Weber Memorial Fund, which honors the late Irving Weber, known as Iowa City's historian. The list that follows, while not a complete record of useful materials, should provide valuable information for the researcher. Resources marked with * are available at the Page Station. |
Census Materials*
Microfilm copies of the State and Federal Censuses for Johnson Country (only) are available for the following years:
Federal: 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910 and 1920
Print copies of the 1840 and 1850 census rolls are also owned.
State: 1856, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915 and 1925
A print copy of the 1885 census is available as well. An index, for Iowa City residents only, is available for the 1925 census.
Vital Statistics*
(These records were compiled by the Iowa City Genealogical Society)
Johnson County Mortality schedules from 1850-1880 (Storage/Ref/Iowa/929.2/Mortality)
Johnson County Marriage records from 1838-1899 (Storage/Ref/Iowa/929.2/Marriages)
Johnson County Probate – Probate Index (Storage/Ref/Iowa/929.2/Probate Index)
Cemeteries*
(Iowa City cemeteries also have good records of more recent burials.)
The Iowa City Genealogical Society's index to all Johnson County cemeteries (Storage/Ref/Iowa/929.5)
Sanborn Fire Maps on Microfilm*
Detailed drawings of businesses, public buildings and residences compiled by the Sanborn Fire Insurance Company. Parts of Iowa City are covered on maps from the years 1883 through 1933.(Storage/REF/912.777/Iowa)
Landowner's Map Indexes*
ICPL has the 1859 and 1870 landowners map and index for Johnson County compiled by the Iowa City Genealogical Society.
(Storage/Ref/Iowa/912.777/Index)
Directories*
Iowa City City directories: 1848, 1857, 1868, 1875, 1878 and a fairly complete run from 1890 until the present
Iowa City telephone directories: Complete run from 1925 to present
University of Iowa directories: Complete run from 1922 to present
High School Yearbooks
City High School: 1910, 1912, fairly complete run from 1917 to present
Clear Creek Amana: 1969, 1977, 1982, fairly complete run from 1986 to present
Regina High School: fairly complete run from 1977 to present
University High School: fairly complete run from 1961 until it closed in 1971
West High School: fairly complete run from 1973 to present
Ellen Buchanan Video Biographies
Two series, One of a Kind and Tell Me Your Story, present interviews of nearly 100 Iowa City residents. These were conducted by Ellen Buchanan beginning in 1989. (Video/977.7655/Tell and Video/977.7655/One).
The library's collection of newspapers on microfilm begins with the Iowa Capitol Reporter (1841-1846), includes many of the numerous papers published during the late nineteenth century, and continues through the currently available titles – The Iowa City Press-Citizen, The Iowa City Gazette, The Daily Iowan and Icon.
A local newspaper index currently goes back to 1970 and continues retrospectively. It is available in a print edition (Ref/IOWA/977.7005/Iowa City) and an online edition.
A column titled "A Fact a Day About Iowa City", which appeared from 1927-1946 in the Iowa City Press Citizen, has useful information, but are not indexed. (Storage/Ref/Iowa/917.77655/Fact)
Irving Weber (1900-1997) wrote over 800 newspaper columns for the Iowa City Press-Citizen.
About 460 of these were collected in 8 books, entitled Historical Stories about Iowa City, (also known as Irving Weber's Iowa City). All 800+ columns are available on the Press-Citizen microfilm.
An index to the columns was compiled by ICPL (977.7655/Weber V.1 and V.2). An index to the first seven of his books was edited by Shaner Magalhães of the State Historical Society of Iowa (977.7655/WeberYl).
A Searcher's Aid to Irving Weber's 860 Press-Citizen Articles…compiled by Lolly Eggers (977.7655/.WeberYe) is also very useful.
- There are many books related to Johnson County and Iowa City history. Most
are cataloged in the 977.7 or 977.7655 numbers. The titles which are most helpful
for finding names of early residents are:
- Leading Events in Johnson County, by Clarence Aurner, Vol. 1 and 2, 1913 (977.7/Aurner)
- The Old Stone Capitol Remembers, by Benjamin Shambaugh, 1939 (977.7/Shambaugh)
- Old Settlers' Association Yearbooks 1866-1925, reproduced by Johnson County Historical Society, 1978 (977.7655/Old Settlers)
- The History of Johnson County, Iowa 1836-1882, author unknown, originally published in 1883, (977.7655/Johnson) (these volumes are also in Iowa Reference).
