Statewide Iowa (RI) – The State Historical Society of Iowa is renewing its partnership with Ancestry.com that will broaden public access to millions of archival documents at no cost to the state’s taxpayers.
Tony Jahn, the state archivist and the historical society’s library and archives bureau chief, says it will offer Iowans and researchers everywhere unprecedented insights into the state’s past.
The agreement between the historical society and Ancestry.com will integrate a wide range of documents from the state archives into the website’s searchable database.
Just scanning the individual pages of documents doesn’t take terribly long, but Jahn says it can be very time-consuming to create the metadata, all of the things that make that information more easily searchable.
In addition to the vital records, this project will see the digitizing of state-level military files including Iowa National Guard enlistment records, World War One and Two casualty files, even records from the prison system, police records and mug shots.
Jahn says the records are of significant genealogical value, not just to Iowans but to people worldwide who can trace their family history back to the state.
Iowans will be able to access the records by using the State Historical Society of Iowa’s complimentary institutional account at the Research Center or through a paid subscription to Ancestry.com.
KIWA Staff Photo
