LibGuides: Researching People: Iowa-Specific Resources

Overview of Iowa Resources

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Court and Assessor Resources

Iowa Courts Online
Click on the "Case Search" link on the top right under the Trial Court heading to search for information about that person's past involvement with the courts. Using Iowa Courts Online, you can find information about whether the person has any traffic violations (like speeding tickets), whether criminal charges were ever filed against them, and whether they've ever finalized a divorce or custody agreement in Iowa. Other states may have similar websites. This resource will list any case to which the person was a party--for criminal proceedings, remember that it might show cases where the person was found not guilty or was not convicted.

Iowa Land Records
You will need to make a free account to utilize this resource. Iowa Land Records allows for much greater search functionality compared to county assessor pages. You can search across multiple counties, view the ownership history of a parcel of land, and access scans of real estate closing documents such as deeds and mortgage notes. Note that historical coverage only goes as far back as the county assessor has digitized records--Polk, for example, has coverage back only to the late 1980's.
Polk County Assessor Property Search
If the person you are researching owns property in Polk county, you can search for their address using the Assessor's site. Click on "Simple" under the Basic heading to search by name. Note that each county in Iowa has its own Assessor's page, so if you're researching someone who lives in another county, you can search online for "[county name] county assessor" to access the correct website. Note that not all counties allow searching by owner's name.
Iowa Secretary of State Business Entity Search
Search by business name to find information about the business' current status, its name(s), where its home office is located, and who its registered agent is. The registered agent is required to provide an address, which depending on who the agent is, might be either a business or home address.

General Searching Tips

When searching, remember that you may need to try different variations on the person's name to get results. Variations might include:

Alternative spellings of names (i.e., Jacqueline, which can also be spelled as Jacquelyn, Jacklyn, Jackeline, etc.)
Nicknames/full names (if searching for information about Jacqueline Smith, you might also search for information about Jackie Smith)
Middle names/middle initials (maybe your search for Jacqueline Smith returned no results, but a search for Jacqueline Q. Smith would)
Name changes (such as a married name)

Remember to use or not use quotes as needed. Searching for "Jacqueline Smith" will only pull up results where those two names are right next to each other (as compared to searching for Jacqueline Smith, which will pull up anything where the name Jacqueline and Smith appear, even if paragraphs apart).

Newspaper Search

You can search newspapers to find out when and where the person has been mentioned in the news.

State Historical Society Archive of Iowa Newspapers
Scroll down to the heading "Manuscripts, Newspapers, Photographs & Documents" and click on the link to NewspaperArchives Iowa Database to access both recent and historical news sources from around Iowa.

Des Moines Register (full-text version)
Iowa's largest and most influential newspaper, focusing on Des Moines and its suburbs with news coverage including regional, national, and international issues and events. Coverage: 1871 - date.

Newspaper Search in SuperSearch
Newspapers are not part of the default SuperSearch content. Click the link above (or the Newspapers link at the top of SuperSearch) to search for newspaper articles.

Newspaper Source Plus
Newspapers, television and radio news transcripts.

Researching People: Iowa-Specific Resources

Overview of Iowa Resources

Court and Assessor Resources

General Searching Tips

Newspaper Search

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