28Titles
Explore publications and collections from the past.
Community History Archive Partner
West Union Community Library
West Union, Iowa
Explore this community history collection to discover the people, places, organizations, and events of West Union.
1856 to 2024Dates represented
See individual titles for available dates.
299,460Archive pages
Historical pages reported for this collection.
Explore local history
Discover the people, places, and stories of West Union, Iowa.
Explore the past of West Union, Iowa through newspapers as well as maps and atlases in the West Union Community Library's digital archive. Its twenty-eight titles include material from 1856 to 2024. The collection also includes registers, rosters, and listings.
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Selected titles
In the collection shared by West Union Community Library, you will find “Atlas of Fayette County” and “West Union Weekly Republican Gazette”.
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Free and open access
No subscription or payment required.
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Different views of the past
A familiar name or event takes on another dimension in the newspaper coverage of its time, alongside the stories that mattered to the readers of that issue. Maps and atlases offer a different view of a familiar place through the labels, boundaries and features their makers recorded.
Reporting from the time can reveal how people described the events, work and concerns of their day, placing a local story within the history unfolding around it. Whether you are tracing a family connection, exploring a local event or sharing history with a class, there is more to discover than names and dates alone. Explore the archive online for free, without a subscription.
Explore the collection
Titles in this collection
Browse twenty-eight titles and 299,460 digitized pages, with material from 1856 to 2024. This collection is shared through West Union Community Library's partnership with Advantage Archives. Some years or items may be missing between the dates shown.
If you are tracing a family connection or exploring local history, the titles below offer a place to begin and a thread to follow.
Atlas of Fayette County
96 pages in 1896
Fayette County GAR
2,856 pages in 1901
Fayette County Pioneer
2,948 pages from 1856 to 1864
Fayette County Union
16,424 pages from 2011 to 2020
Observer
64 pages from 2013 to 2014
Observer
80 pages in 2015
Public Review
78 pages from 1859 to 1861
Roster of Iowa Soldiers War of Rebellion Vol 1
2,458 pages in 1865
Roster of Iowa Soldiers War of Rebellion Vol 2
2,420 pages in 1865
Roster of Iowa Soldiers War of Rebellion Vol 3
3,364 pages in 1865
Roster of Iowa Soldiers War of Rebellion Vol 4
3,600 pages in 1865
Roster of Iowa Soldiers War of Rebellion Vol 5
3,590 pages in 1865
Roster of Iowa Soldiers War of Rebellion Vol 6
2,322 pages in 1865
The Argo
15,612 pages from 1885 to 1909
The Fayette County Clarion
248 pages in 1881
The Fayette County Union
83,920 pages from 1867 to 2019
The Fayette County Union and The West Union Argo Gazette
41,060 pages from 1944 to 1969
The Observer
32 pages in 2012
The Union
60,920 pages from 1969 to 1989
The West Union Argo
1,096 pages from 1909 to 1910
The West Union Gazette
216 pages in 1910
The West Union Gazette and Clermont Leader
332 pages in 1868
Union Echo Leader
10,078 pages from 2020 to 2024
West Union Argo - Gazette
17,298 pages from 1910 to 1939
West Union Gazette
20,896 pages from 1874 to 1988
West Union Republican Gazette
5,604 pages from 1868 to 1884
West Union Semi - Weekly Republican Gazette
338 pages in 1884
West Union Weekly Republican Gazette
1,510 pages from 1884 to 1885
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About the Library
About The West Union Library
The West Union Library, initially organized on May 5, 1892, under the sponsorship of the Ladies Tourist Club, has a long and storied history. The original library, bolstered by contributions from the West Union Art Club, operated until June 1907. After a hiatus of nearly two decades, the library was reorganized in January 1927 and officially re-established on June 5, 1928, when the city passed an ordinance forming a seven-member library board. Located on the second floor of the City Hall building until 1954, the library found a new home thanks to the generous bequest from the Oscar W. Heiserman estate.
Library History
The History Of The West Union Library
The West Union Library’s journey began in 1892 but faced early challenges, closing in 1907 with a small debt. The community went without a public library for nearly twenty years. Efforts to revive the library began in January 1927, leading to its official re-establishment in 1928. Initially housed on the second floor of the City Hall, the library benefited significantly from the Oscar W. Heiserman estate, which donated nearly $47,000 in 1954. This generous contribution enabled the construction of a new library building at the corner of Vine Street and Highway 18. The Heiserman Memorial Library was dedicated on November 19, 1954. Despite outgrowing its facilities by the 1980s, efforts to build a new library were initially unsuccessful. However, in 1994, a successful campaign led to the approval of a local sales tax, with a portion allocated for library expansion. The new library building, spanning 8,300 square feet, was completed in 1999 for $1,000,000 and was dedicated as the West Union Community Library/Heiserman Annex on June 26, 1999.
About the Community
About The Geographical Area
West Union, the county seat of Fayette County, Iowa, is a vibrant community known for its historical charm and strong sense of community. Nestled in the scenic hills of northeastern Iowa, West Union offers a blend of historical significance and modern amenities, making it a great place to live, work, and visit. The town is a hub for cultural and recreational activities, supported by its rich heritage and welcoming residents.
More ways to explore and share local history
Research Guidance
Look for the story behind a result
Begin with a person, neighborhood, business, or event you want to understand in West Union. The newspaper titles in the newspaper titles shared by the West Union Community Library can connect that question with reports from earlier years; leave a possible match open until its date and details fit. Search a person, place, or event with a second term, then compare the date and context of each result. A repeated name needs more evidence before it identifies the same person or connects two parts of a story.
Where the available dates overlap, compare a place mentioned in a newspaper with the mapped setting. Check each source's date and purpose before connecting a street or boundary. A familiar place name can change meaning over time.
Capture the title, date, and page or item location for a detail you may want to revisit. Label your interpretation as your reading, not the source's own words. Keep enough context with the note that another reader can retrace it.
Community Partnership
Keeping local history a community resource
This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the West Union Community 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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