Iowans researching their family history will soon have expanded access to millions of historical documents, thanks to a renewed partnership between the State Historical Society of Iowa and Ancestry.com.
The agreement will allow a vast collection of state archival records to be digitized and added to Ancestry’s searchable database at no cost to Iowa taxpayers. State Archivist Tony Jahn, who also serves as bureau chief for the Historical Society’s Library and Archives, says the project represents a major step forward for genealogy research.
“This is a very big deal,” Jahn said. “We’ve been working closely with Ancestry since 2012 to preserve and digitize primarily government records — birth, death, marriage, divorce and other records of interest to family history researchers. The number of records involved is in the millions.”
Under the new agreement, records that have not previously been available online will be scanned and indexed over the next 12 to 18 months. Jahn said nearly one million additional documents are expected to be digitized during this phase.
“Time has passed since our last major batch,” Jahn said. “There are entire categories of records that are now available to be shared, and we’re excited to bring those online.”
While scanning documents is relatively quick, Jahn noted that creating metadata — the detailed information that makes records searchable — is the most time-consuming part of the process. That data allows users to search by name, date, location, or county and compare records across multiple databases.
In addition to vital records, the digitization effort will include state-level military files such as Iowa National Guard enlistment records, World War I and World War II casualty files, as well as selected prison system records, police records, and historical mug shots.
Jahn said the records hold value not only for Iowans, but for researchers around the world whose family roots trace back to the state.
“In the past, you might spend weeks or months digging through files,” Jahn said. “Today, much of this information can be found at your fingertips. The more records that are available, the more people can learn about their families — who they were, where they came from, and the lives they lived.”
Iowans can access the digitized records for free by using the State Historical Society of Iowa’s institutional Ancestry account at its research centers. The records are also available through personal subscriptions to Ancestry.com.
