The Executive Council was established in 1873, then consisting of the four statewide elected officials; the governor, auditor, secretary of state, and treasurer, or any three of them. Their original assigned duties included: purchasing furniture, utilities and all necessary supplies for state offices, acting as both the State Board of Canvassers and the State Board of Equalization, and managing the states real estate. The following is a partial list of the records in our holdings from the Executive Council. A complete list of series is available at the Research Center in Des Moines.
Some or all of these records are available to search in the Iowa History Collections Catalog
General General Series Title
Date Span
Applications for Authority to Issue Stock for Property
1907-1978
Claims and Vouchers
1885-1918
Correspondence, General Files
1952-1961
Correspondence, Lands, Islands, and Lake Beds
1886-1918
Correspondence, Letter Books
1884-1899
Correspondence, Subject Files
1968-1979
Executive Council Record (Minutes)
1873-1963
Minutes
1889-1907, 1914, 1917, 1935-2008
Minutes, Indexes: Subjects and Departments
1945-1990
Minutes, Requests and Authorizations
1925-1935
Paper Stock Account, Printer and Binder
1885-1920
Resolutions of Executive Council Authorizing Corporations to Issue Stock for Property
1947-1958
⤢ Assessments Assessments Series Title
Date Span
Assessment Record by Executive Council
1900-1929
Electric Transmission Lines - Certificates and Reports
1915-1928
Equipment Car Companies, Lists and Reports
1906-1928
Express Companies - Certificates
1900-1922
Express Companies - Reports
1899-1913
Land, Abstracts and Comparative Value Statements
1901-1915
Land, Returns of Sales and Assessed Values
1901-1909, 1913
Light, Heat, and Power Companies, Reports and Schedules
1914-1920
Railroad Companies, Abstracts of Reports
1894-1916
Railroad Companies, Certificates
1900-1921
Railroad Companies, Lands
1901
Railroad Companies, Lists of Assessment and Taxing Districts
1900 and No Dates
Railroad Companies, Miscellaneous (Affidavits and Arguments, Prospects and Requests)
1886-1916
Sleeping Cars, Reports and Statements
1911-1916
Telegraph and Telephone Companies, Abstracts of Reports and Statements
1904-1910
Telegraph and Telephone Companies, Certificates and Reports
1899-1928
⤢ Capitol Grounds Extension Capitol Grounds Extension Title Date Span Series Title
Date Span
Abstracts of Title
1917-1975
Bids, Bonds, Contracts, and Specifications
1911-1918
Blue Prints, Plans, and Specifications
1918-1921
Contracts and Correspondence
1918-1921
Correspondence
1914-1919
Journals
1904-1918
Ledgers
1913-1918
Lists: Employees, Tools, Sales, Tenants, etc.
1914
Reports
ca. 1917-1983
Time Books
1914-1917
⤢ Census Records Series Title
Date Span
State Census, Population
1915
State Census, Population
1925
Minutes of the Census Board
1851-1873
⤢ Elections Elections Series Title
Date Span
Election Returns, Abstracts
1848-1873, ca. 1910 - 1920
Election Returns, Board of Canvassers’ Abstracts of Votes
1898-1920
Minutes of the Proceedings of the State Board of Canvassers and Soldiers Vote During the Civil War
1848-1873
Minutes of the Executive Council as State Board of Canvassers
1920
⤢ Miscellaneous Misc Series Title
Date Span
Appraisal Documentation
1963-1973
Appropriations Ledgers
1900-1918
Attorney General Opinions
1882-1910
Bids, Bonds, Contracts, and Specifications
1896-1952
Capitol Commission, Specifications
1903, 1966
Lake Bed Abstract Record
1904-1912
Monthly Report of Railroad Accidents within the State
1921
Secretary of State, Corporations, Survey of Oil Companies, Authorization to Issue Additional Stock
1911-1929
School Tax and Property Description Ledgers
1953-1964
School Tax Claims
1950-1962
⤢
