The Iowa Room
Access non-circulating items such as:
- Microfilm of the Grinnell Herald Register
- Community cookbooks
- Books on the history of Iowa
- Grinnell City Directories
- Grinnell history resources
- Grinnell High School yearbooks
- Grinnell College yearbooks
The library also provides tools to help preserve and share your own history. At the Preservation Station, you’ll find:
- A flatbed scanner for photographs, slides, and negatives
- A document camera and book scanner for digitizing or creating videos of print materials
- Audio tools, including:
- A digital recorder for capturing conversations or oral histories (saved as mp3 files)
- A Cassette Capture device for converting old cassette tapes into digital files
- A portable video projector for displaying digital files from a computer or mobile device
Grinnell Archival Collection
Our archival collections focus on the history of Grinnell, Iowa, and the surrounding area. These physical archives include microfilm of area newspapers from 1871 to the present, city directories, records of many local organizations, Grinnell High School yearbooks, and various personal papers and photographs. All materials are kept in a secure, climate-controlled room in the library. These physical archive materials are only accessible with staff supervision. Staff are available to pull restricted material by appointment and can assist with basic archive questions as availability allows. Make an appointment to view the restricted archival collection.
Grinnell College Libraries maintains the database of Drake Community Libraries shelved collections, pamphlet files, and family collections in ArchivesSpace.
Poweshiek History Preservation Project (PHPP)
The Poweshiek History Preservation Project (PHPP) was a collaboration between Drake Community Library and the Grinnell College Libraries to locate, digitize, and present the history of Poweshiek County online. Launched in 2013 with an ILEAD (Innovative Librarians Explore, Apply, and Discover) grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the project encouraged individuals and organizations to contribute historical photos, documents, and other materials, coordinated their digitization and data collection, and ultimately added the items to the Digital Grinnell archive hosted by Grinnell College. The digital archive includes materials from community members, the Drake Community Library archives, and area historical museums. The project is now fundamentally complete, and we are not accepting additional volunteers or materials.
Obituary Database
Search our database of thousands of scanned obituaries from the newspapers of Grinnell and Poweshiek County, from the late 1800s to early 2025.
Early Grinnell Newspapers
The library is excited to provide online searching for area newspapers that are in the public domain (anything before 1925). Additional years become available as content moves into the public domain.
The Grinnell Herald (1871-1925)
The Grinnell Register (1911-1925)
Poweshiek County Herald (1870-1871)
The Signal (1882-1886)
The Malcom Bulletin (1871-1871)
The Montezuma Standard (1871-1872)