This guide outlines the functions and procedures of archives, and is designed both for first-time archives users and scholars who have already conducted research in archives. The content covers how archives function, how to identify appropriate archives for your research, how to access historical materials and research at an archives, and more.

Please consult this Visitor’s Guide to learn more about our department’s services. Read about accessibility information, preparing for your visit, requesting materials, using the reading room, and more.

The Canter Rare Book Room contains about 3,000 cataloged books and music scores. Its primary strengths are in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century music theory treatises and texts (including instruction books), keyboard and chamber music of the late eighteenth to early nineteen centuries (Johann Schobert, Hullmandel, Joseph Haydn, Muzio Clementi, etc.), and more than 200 works by Ignaz Pleyel. The collection is searchable online.

The Iowa Archives of the Avant-Garde comprises several major collections representing key movements in 20th-century art and literature. The three main components of the Archives, the International Dada Archive, Alternative Traditions in the Contemporary Arts, and the Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, are internationally recognized as essential resources for the study of modern art and have attracted researchers from around the world.

The Iowa Digital Library features a trove of 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.

Iowa Women’s Archives nourishes creative research, learning, and teaching by providing collections and a separate space dedicated to the women of Iowa and their history. The Archives fulfills its mission by collecting and making available primary sources about the history of Iowa women from all walks of life.

Housed in the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, our nearly 6,500 volumes of original works represent classic contributions to the history of the health sciences from the 15th through 21st centuries. Included are selected books, reprints, and journals dealing with the history of medicine at the university and in the State of Iowa.

View special online exhibitions, including The Brinton Entertainment Company and The Sixties: Uptight and Laid-Back: Iowa City in the 1960s.

Browse a list of popular subject areas and collections, including the avant-garde, book history, cinema, maps, science fiction, and women's history.

The Rare Book Room houses rare and unique books and manuscripts. The Law Library’s rare book holdings contain a variety of materials including early English and Civil law materials, early Iowa legal materials, Confederate legal imprints from the American Civil War, a large collection of Blackstone editions, and more.

Visit the homepage of the UI Libraries Special Collections and Archives to search or browse for materials, plan your visit, or contact staff for assistance.