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Free Online Iowa City Directories – The Ancestor Hunt

Free Online Iowa City Directories

City and business directories are available online from all over the U.S. and are what I consider another important set of information that can assist you in advancing your family history and genealogy research.

This activity of presenting links is a collaborative effort between The Ancestor Hunt and Miriam Robbins, who for years has made available the Online Historical Directories website, which presents links to directories of all types that are available online, including free collections as well as those available only via subscription. I wish to thank Miriam for her help in launching this category of records at The Ancestor Hunt.

So, what kinds of directories are available to the researcher?  Naturally city and business directories, but also telephone directories, and alumni, farm, lodge, rural, and social directories.

What can you find in these records? How about:

  • Full names, including middle names
  • Spouse name
  • Occupation
  • Widows, working women, and adult children at home.
  • Maps
  • Businesses (and index to advertisers).
  • Addresses and maps of churches, schools, funeral homes, cemeteries, post offices, courts, hospitals, benevolent associations, and newspapers.
  • Whether a woman is a widow (including the name of her husband).
  • List of marriages and deaths of the previous year.
  • Death date.
  • etc.

Here are a few good primers on the benefits of searching historical city and other directories:​

And here are various places where you can find other city directories online: 

Note: Some of the links listed take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections’ images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital. To take full advantage, please make sure that you are logged in to FamilySearch. The results may be different if you are signed in, rather than not.

(Updated October 2022)

Links to these free collections are presented initially with statewide collections, followed in alphabetical order by city or county. Generally, the publishing company is included in the reference to the collection, along with the collection title, and the date(s) of the directory:

Statewide

Ackley

Adair County

Afton

Albia

Alden

Allison

Alta Vista

Alvord

Ames

Appanoose County

Atlantic

Bellevue

Boone

Boone County

Buchanan County

Burlington

Butler County

Calhoun County

Carroll

Cedar Falls

Cedar Rapids

Cerro Gordo County

Charles City

Cherokee County

Clayton County

Clear Lake

Clinton

Clinton County

Council Bluffs

Dallas County

Davenport

Decorah

Des Moines

Des Moines and Polk County

Dubuque

Dubuque County

Floyd County

Fort Dodge

Fort Madison

Fremont County

Grinnell

Guthrie Center

Hamilton County

Hancock County

Hardin County

Harrison County

Henry County

Iowa City

Iowa Falls

Jackson County

Jasper County

Jefferson County

Johnson County

Keokuk

Keokuk County

Lakeview

Lee County

Linn County

Louisa County

Lucas County

Madison County

Mahaska County

Manchester

Marion

Marion County

Marshall County

Marshalltown

Mason City

Mills County

Montgomery County

Mount Pleasant

Mount Vernon

Muscatine

Muscatine County

Newton

O’Brien County

Oelwein

Osceola County

Oskaloosa

Ottumwa

Palo Alto County

Plymouth County

Polk County

Pottawattamie County

Poweshiek County

Red Oak

Ringgold County

Sac County

Shelby County

Shenandoah

Sioux City

Siouxland

Spencer

Storm Lake

Story County

Tama County

Union County

Van Buren County

Wapello County

Warren County

Washington County

Waterloo

Wayne County

Webster City

Winnebago County

Winneshiek County

Woodbury County

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

For all Free Iowa Links, click on the category of interest:

Newspapers
Yearbooks
Births
Marriages
Deaths
BMD Records
Alumni Records
Cemetery Records
Church Records
Coroner Records
Criminal Records
Digital Archives
Directories
Divorce Records
Immigration Records
Institutional Records
Military Records
Mortuary Records
Naturalizations
Obituaries
Photos
Probate and Wills
Research Toolkit
School Records
Tax Records
Voter Records

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