40Titles
Explore publications and collections from the past.
Community History Archive Partner
Pella Public Library
Pella, Iowa
Explore this community history collection to discover the people, places, organizations, and events of Pella.
1855 to 2020Dates represented
See individual titles for available dates.
302,368Archive pages
Historical pages reported for this collection.
Explore local history
Discover the people, places, and stories of Pella, Iowa.
Get to know Pella, Iowa in earlier years through the newspapers shared in the Pella Public Library's digital archive. Its forty titles include material from 1855 to 2020.
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Selected titles
The collection from Pella Public Library includes “Booster Press” and “Weekly Visitor”.
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Free and open access
No subscription or payment required.
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A closer look
Newspaper pages connect individual accounts with a wider story, preserving how events were reported and presented to the readers of the day.
Historical newspapers can connect a family name with the events and everyday concerns of an earlier time, offering more than a date or a name on its own. Bring a family connection, a question about a familiar place or an interest in local history, and see where the sources lead. Explore the archive online for free, without a subscription.
Explore the collection
Titles in this collection
Browse forty titles and 302,368 digitized pages, with material from 1855 to 2020. A partnership between Pella Public Library and Advantage Archives makes this collection available. Some years or items may be missing between the dates shown.
Explore the titles below for a closer look at the places, people and everyday life of earlier generations.
Booster Press
10,208 pages from 1915 to 1926
Central Ray
18,056 pages from 1876 to 1968
Chronicle
55,576 pages from 1988 to 2018
Daily Advertiser
24 pages in 1897
Osceola Tribune
4 pages in 1971
Pella Blade
9,882 pages from 1886 to 1899
Pella Chronicle
27,966 pages from 1909 to 1987
Pella Chronicle Advertiser
12,900 pages from 1966 to 1973
Pella Gazette
690 pages from 1855 to 1860
Pella Republican
1,078 pages from 1890 to 1891
Pella Twice A Week Press
658 pages in 1931
Pella Weekblad
38,560 pages from 1886 to 1942
Pella Weekly Blade
40 pages in 1878
Saturday Advertiser
1,768 pages from 1896 to 1898
The Advertiser
232 pages in 1898
The Baptist Record
32 pages in 1922
The Chronicle
17,652 pages from 2004 to 2020
The Collegium Forense
58 pages in 1892
The Cosmos
68 pages in 1892
The Pella Advertiser
2,160 pages from 1898 to 1901
The Pella Banner
846 pages from 1904 to 1905
The Pella Blade
2 pages in 1865
The Pella Chronicle
77,064 pages from 1901 to 1988
The Pella Gazette
264 pages in 1855
The Pella Herald
370 pages from 1892 to 1895
The Pella Press
10,542 pages from 1927 to 1938
The Pella Press And Shopper
466 pages from 1938 to 1939
The Pella Times
254 pages from 1895 to 1901
The Pella Weekly Gazette
798 pages from 1857 to 1859
The Pella Weekly Herald
876 pages from 1891 to 1892
The Ray
6,878 pages from 1900 to 1969
The Record
3,928 pages from 1920 to 1922
The Red Oak Express
12 pages in 1965
The Scentral Bray
8 pages from 1954 to 1956
The Scentral Fray
12 pages in 1950
The Simpsonian
60 pages in 1891
The Weekly Herald
16 pages in 1892
Weekly Pella Blade
1,086 pages from 1873 to 1901
Weekly Pella Gazette
44 pages in 1860
Weekly Visitor
1,230 pages from 1880 to 1883
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About the Library
About The Pella Public Library
The Pella Public Library serves as a cornerstone for the Pella community, providing a welcoming space where people of all ages can gather to learn, grow, and create. The library offers a variety of engaging activities, training in essential topics such as job searches and emerging technologies, and access to current and accurate information resources in multiple formats. Additionally, the library provides a wide range of materials for leisure and entertainment, catering to the diverse interests of its patrons.
Library History
The History Of The Pella Public Library
The Pella Public Library has a rich history of serving the local community. Established to provide educational resources and a gathering place for residents, the library has grown to become a vital institution in Pella. Over the years, the library has expanded its services to include a wide range of programs and technological resources, ensuring that it remains a relevant and essential part of the community.
About the Community
About The City of Pella
Pella, Iowa, located in Marion County, is a vibrant town known for its rich Dutch heritage and strong community spirit. The town's history is deeply rooted in its cultural traditions, which are celebrated through various festivals and events. The Pella Public Library plays a crucial role in preserving this heritage, providing access to a wealth of local historical resources and serving as a hub for community engagement and education.
More ways to explore and share local history
Research Guidance
Trace a name across nearby issues
Start with something you would like to understand about the past of Pella. It might be a person, a neighborhood or an event remembered in your family. Use the digital archive shared by the Pella Public Library to follow that question into the historical record. When using historical newspapers, try alternate spellings and nearby dates, then read the surrounding page to place a local story in its time. Compare later reporting or another available title to explore different perspectives rather than treating one account as the whole story.
If a name does not appear, try an alternate spelling or a related term, then read around any match. Note the issue date and page so a result stays connected to its context. Use those details to follow a story without treating one search result as a complete answer.
Build a trail through the past that someone else can follow: record the title, date, page or item reference, and a link when available. Keep historical quotations distinct from your own interpretation. If accounts disagree, note what each source supports before deciding how the details fit together in a family or community story.
Community Partnership
Keeping local history a community resource
This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the Pella Public Library, its community, and Advantage Archives. Together, these partnerships preserve local sources and give people a way to explore, learn from, and share the history around them.
Advantage Archives covers ongoing archive hosting, storage, development, and maintenance. The institution and its community do not pay a subscription, seat license, annual support contract, or other recurring archive-service charge. Local history remains a community resource, not a subscription to maintain.
Would you like to see more of your community's history preserved and accessible? Start a conversation with your library, newspaper publisher, historical or genealogical society, museum, or school about the materials they would like to share and a possible partnership with Advantage Archives.
Learn about partnerships
Stories, research tips, and archive news
Read All About It connects archive research with the people and institutions preserving local history. Explore partner and community stories, project updates, research ideas, and perspectives on digitization, education, and working with primary sources. Use the articles as a starting point for your next question or a new way to share a discovery.
May 7, 2025
Why Microfilm is still important in 2023
Preserving documents on microfilm has been a popular method of storage for many years, and it still holds many benefits today. Here…
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May 7, 2025
Don’t Search For An Obituary By Only Searching For An “Obituary”
In the quest to trace our roots and understand our heritage, obituaries often serve as a crucial starting point. Obituaries are undoubtedly…
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April 9, 2025
Unveiling the Hidden Mysteries: Exploring Cold Cases and Unconventional Clues
Even the most esteemed police forces in the county encounter perplexing cold case files. These unsolved mysteries often leave investigators and genealogists…
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April 1, 2025
This Week in History: March 31st through April 6th
Discover History in The Community History Archives. This week in history, there is absolutely nothing to talk about… April Fools! April…
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March 24, 2025
This Week in History: March 24th through March 30th
Discover History in The Community History Archives. It has officially been a year since I started writing This Week in History,…
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March 18, 2025
It’s Your Community’s History, So Why Rent Something You Own?
We believe that history belongs to the communities where it was made - not locked behind paywalls or inaccessible due to budget restrictions. Subscription-based services and large content aggregators are generally more concerned with "content" and less concerned with the history that content contains. Their models typically involve a reoccurring charge for a plan that renews annually or licensing agreements with the library based on population served or circulation numbers. You are essentially Renting Access To YOUR History.
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