Fifth-grade students at North Cedar School in Mechanicsville help to reset a tombstone at historic Pioneer Grove Cemetery as part of their Prairie Voices project. Part of Iowa's Local Legacies projects.

Iowa

The collections of the American Folklife Center contain rich and varied materials from Iowa that document the diversity of the state's folk traditions. Among its unique recordings are hammered dulcimer music; German festival music; fiddle tunes; cylinder recordings of Mesquakie songs collected in the 1910s; Amish and Mennonite music; tapes of the 1976 Iowa Folk Festival; and duck calls. In 1982, the Center's Ethnic Heritage and Language Schools Project documented a Czech school in Cedar Rapids and a Dutch school in Pella. The material created during this project has been incorporated into the collections of the Folklife Center.

Collections

Finding Aid: View a complete list of our Iowa collections.

Local Legacies: This project provides a "snapshot" of local culture as it was expressed in the year 2000. View Iowa's Local Legacies projects.

Veterans History Project: Browse state collections from the Veterans History Project.

Songs of America: Browse an interactive state map for selected songs from the American Folklife Center’s collections, as well as songs from the Library’s Music Division and Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division.

Webcast

Natasinh Dancers & Musicians: Lao music and dance from Iowa. Recorded July 26, 2006. [webcast and event flyer]

Additional Resources

Educational Resources: View a list of educational materials related to Iowa from A Teacher's Guide to Folklife Resources.

Folklife Resources: Find state folklife-related agencies, societies, archives, higher education programs, and more, in Folklife Sourcebook: A Directory of Folklife Resources in the United States.

Publication: "Czech School," Ethnic Heritage and Language Schools in America. [catalog record]