Collections

A Peace Pipe used to negotiate a captive's freedom; a drum used during the Civil War; timeless Iowa Great Lakes photographs - these are just a few of the museum artifacts that showcase life in Dickinson County.

The artifacts in our collections are the intermediaries from a time when Iowans were pioneers and began to showcase the Iowa Great Lakes area. Items we have belonged to local families and represent their distinctive experiences yet connect with us all.

A portion of our extensive museum collections are on view in Abbie’s Story, L.F. Williamz Foto Studio, The Wizard of Spirit Lake: Fred Gilbert and many other exhibitions.

Visitors to the museum can expect to see documents, pre-automobile transportation, photographs, the original depot building and other artifacts.

The museum collections include oral histories by locals as to how Dickinson County was way back when. Some of these interviews can be found at our Videos page.