In the past, genealogists who visited the library at the State Historical Society of Iowa in Iowa City were encouraged to donate copies of their family charts and related information.  Formerly housed in the library, the Genealogical File was moved to Special Collections on the second floor in the mid-1990s.  The folders in the cabinet are arranged alphabetically by the main surname, but volunteer Char Hixon has now indexed the multiple surnames found within each folder.  The index directs the researcher to the folder filed under the main surname.  Typically, the researcher will find handwritten or typed family charts.  In some instances, a folder might contain historical narratives, correspondence, copies of documents, or photocopies of photographs.
 
Some of the folders in the genealogical file were more general in nature or could not be filed under a specific surname.  For example, a list of wills in Story County, early baptisms in Lyon County, or materials from out-of-state can be found.  These files are housed in BL 383 in Special Collections.

The State Historical Society of Iowa no longer accepts Family Bibles for our collections, but over one hundred Bibles have been donated in the past.  Often families recorded vital information such as birth, death, and marriage dates in the volume.  Recently, volunteers Char Hixon and Joni Hindman created an index of surnames for the genealogical information found in the Bibles.  Many of the volumes are fragile and cannot be handled, so the documents have been photocopied for use by researchers.
 
Mary Bennett
Special Collections Coordinator, Iowa State Historical Library