Iowa History Online - Main Page

Iowa History Online provides online support for teachers of Iowa history at the elementary and secondary levels. Included are Iowa history benchmarks, scope and sequence models, curriculum guides, Iowa literature, Iowa history textbooks, field trips, primary source materials and a listing of contact persons for assistance in teaching Iowa history. The purpose of this website is to provide teachers across Iowa quality resources for Iowa history. Within this website there are tabs to assist teachers on State Requirements, Benchmarks, National Standards, Scope and Sequences, Curriculum Guides, Literature, Textbooks, Primary Source Materials and Field Trips.

Material Type: Diagram/Illustration, Lecture Notes, Primary Source, Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy, Textbook

Iowa History Special Project

Friends of IAGenWeb provides financial support for the IAGenWeb Project. If you like what you see here, please visit the Friends Website and find out how you too can participate. This websites provides on-line publications pertaining to Iowa’s History. Some of these may include Biographies, County Records, Diaries, Newspapers and many more.

Material Type: Primary Source, Reading

Author: IAGenWeb Project

Explore Iowa History and Culture! · Iowa Heritage Digital Collections

Iowa Heritage Digital Collections is a resource for students, educators, historians, genealogists, and anyone else interested in the people, places and institutions of Iowa. The site provides free access to digital collections from a variety of Iowa cultural institutions. This website is a collection of Iowa History resources for educators, teachers, historians, and anyone interested in Iowa and its people, culture and places. It provides free access to digital collections from Iowa cultural institutions

Material Type: Diagram/Illustration, Primary Source, Reading

Author: Iowa Heritage Digital Collection

Iowa Counties Historic Atlases - The University of Iowa Libraries

Here you can find nearly all of Iowa’s 99 counties atlases in digital collection. In addition, county atlases from the late 1800s and the early 1900s are being digitized.

Material Type: Diagram/Illustration

Author: The University of Iowa

Iowa History and Culture

This is an online resource pertaining to Iowa culture and history from 1987-2013. This project is done by Drake University.

Material Type: Diagram/Illustration, Primary Source, Reading

Author: Drake University

The Goldfinch

What is a goldfinch, you ask? Of course it is a beautiful bird, but it is was also an Iowa history magazine for young people. Published quarterly by the State Historical Society of Iowa from 1975 to 2000, each issue had a theme (such as immigrants) and included articles, games, and fiction. The University of Iowa Libraries has digitized all of these back issues and visitors can scroll through all of them from this site. Visitors might do well to start by looking at the issues titled "Health in Iowa" and "Traveling Entertainment." Educators might consider these works as a model for teaching young people about history as each issues is well-curated and contains a mix of visual materials and thoughtful text.

Material Type: Reading

Iowa Culture Mobile App

Iowa Culture is a mobile app that is a fun and interactive way to discover arts, history and cultural destinations in Iowa. Explore places by category and location, browse featured tours and save favorites to create your own Iowa Culture adventure. The possibilities are endless with mapping tools to direct you to more than 3,500 sites across 99 counties covering 56,272 square miles. Iowa Culture is a project by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. The department empowers Iowa to build and sustain culturally vibrant communities by connecting Iowans to the people, places and points of pride that define our state.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Reading

Explore Iowa History

Discover the people, places, events, and ideas of Iowa history. Explore hundreds of articles, images, videos and websites. Create your own story of Iowa as you go to unexpected places and search the past and present. Travel down side trails and uncover artifacts as you explore your Iowa pathway.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Diagram/Illustration, Interactive, Lesson, Primary Source, Reading

Author: IPTV

Welcome to Prairie Voices

This website provides local Iowa history, lesson plans, fun facts, resources and a timeline of Iowa history. The lesson plan’s collection includes land and built environment, native people, migration and interaction, organization and communities, work and folk life.

Material Type: Full Course, Lesson Plan, Primary Source

Iowa Digital Library - The University of Iowa Libraries

The Iowa Digital Library 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.

Material Type: Primary Source, Reading

Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation

The Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation mission is to educate Iowans with a focus on youth regarding the breadth and global significance of agriculture. This website was created to be a resource for those who want to teach agriculture to Iowa students. One of their goals is to build trust of users by being a credible site.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Homework/Assignment, Interactive, Module

Learning Fields - Living History Farms

Agriculture: the science, art, and occupation of raising crops and livestock for food, fiber, and fuel. Learning Fields was created to help 3rd to 5th graders and their educators learn how agriculture has changed through the years in Iowa. This website includes how livestock, crops, people and power have affected our lives.

Material Type: Primary Source, Reading, Simulation

Market to Market

Market to Market is a part of the Iowa Public Television. The website includes videos of feature stories and market analysis by analyst Ted Seifried. In addition, there is Market to Market in the classroom where there are videos on business, technology and science of agriculture.

Material Type: Primary Source, Reading

Iowa History Center –

We are committed to preserving and promoting the state’s history and encouraging a public conversation about the story of Iowa. Our mission is to advance the understanding and appreciation of Iowa history among the state’s students, scholars and general public. We have established a number of programs designed to heighten public awareness and interest in Iowa history, expand educational opportunities in Iowa history, and make this history more widely available. This site is committed to maintaining and nurturing the history of Iowa and its story. They have numerous programs to increase public interest and understanding of Iowa history. Their goal is to create more educational opportunities and make Iowa’s history more available for the public.

Material Type: Primary Source, Reading

Author: Simpson College

Geographic Alliance of Iowa

The Geographic Alliance of Iowa (GAI) was established in 1991 with the support of the National Geographic Society (NGS). GAI is composed of K-12 teachers, college and university professors, personnel from a variety of other educational endeavors, and citizens, all of who are concerned with improving geographic instruction in Iowa. As the only entity in Iowa specifically devoted to geography education, the mission of the Geographic Alliance of Iowa (GAI) is to help ensure K-12 graduates are geographically literate citizens. To achieve this mission, the GAI provides resources and expertise to improve the geographic literacy of Iowa students. With a particular focus on K-12 education, including pre-service teachers, the GAI provides exemplary professional development opportunities that follow accepted best practices and offers a clearinghouse of accessible, high quality, standards-based curricular materials.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Iowa Women's Archives - The University of Iowa Libraries

The Iowa Women’s Archives holds more than 1100 manuscript collections that chronicle the lives and work of Iowa women, their families, and their communities. These personal papers and organizational records date from the nineteenth century to the present. Together with oral histories, they document the activities of Iowa women throughout the state and beyond its borders. The Iowa Women’s Archives is open to the public.

Material Type: Diagram/Illustration, Primary Source, Reading

Iowa Folklife

Iowa celebrated its 150th anniversary of statehood in 1996 . [Photo by Dorothy Dvorachek] Meskwaki Singers and Dancers of Tama perform on the grounds of the state capitol at the 1996 Festival of Iowa Folklife. As part of that celebration, some 150 Iowa musicians, craftspeople, storytellers, radio announcers, farmers, cooks, doctors, basketball players, teachers, scholars, and state officials participated in the Smithsonian Institution’s Festival of American Folklife on the National Mall of the United States in Washington, D.C. They demonstrated various aspects of Iowa’s cultural traditions to more than 1.2 million visitors, and received a great deal of media attention—generating some 600 newspaper articles and 50 television and radio segments. This living exposition of Iowa’s cultures was remounted on the State Capitol Grounds in Des Moines in August 1996. Over 85,000 people visited this Festival of Iowa Folklife. In addition, the festivals generated an Iowa Public Television documentary, Iowa Folks ...

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan

Silos and Smokestacks

Experience agriculture hands-on by visiting one of Silos & Smokestacks’ 117 partner sites. Learn about the history and rich culture of farming in America, get up close and personal with livestock and animals, or discover new and amazing innovations in the agriculture industry! Silos and Smokestacks is one of the 49 federally designated heritage areas in the nation and are affiliated with the National Park Service. Their mission is to tell the story of American agriculture and its significance to the world through activities and partnerships.

Material Type: Diagram/Illustration, Primary Source, Reading

Teaching and Learning Iowa's History

Teaching and Learning Iowa History represents a unique way for community members, teachers, and university students to join in the same learning experience with similar goals and curiosities. Whoever you are, we're glad you're here! 

Material Type: Full Course

Migration is Beautiful

This website details the migration patters in and out of Iowa over the last two centuries. Includes the history of Latinos in Iowa.

Material Type: Diagram/Illustration, Primary Source