Discover more than one million photographs, films and recordings documenting Iowa history from the 1840s to the present. Materials in the collection include photographic prints, daguerreotypes, tintypes, glass plate, lithographic, slides, film, video cassettes and digital formats.
Some or all of the photograph image categories listed below are available to search in the Iowa History Collections Catalog , of which some may contain detailed descriptions of the digitized images.
Collection Highlights
- Businesses
- Churches
- City of Des Moines
- Domestic Life
- Farms
- Government
- Landmarks
- Main Streets
- Notable Iowans
- Oral History
- Political Events
- Postcards
- Recreation
- Schools
- Social Events
- Stereographs
- Topography
Photo Collections in Des Moines
- Des Moines (Iowa) Subject Files
- General (Iowa) Subject Files
- Iowa Cities Files
- Personal, Family and Organizational Collections
- Portraits of Notable Iowans
- Online Gallery of Select Photographs