DES MOINES, Iowa — There’s always something new at the Iowa State Fair. One spot on the fairgrounds is all about celebrating nostalgia. 

Up the hill and behind Pioneer Hall is the Iowa State Fair Museum, home to State Fair history and memories.

From posters and pins to ribbons and relics, some things are worth holding on to.

“This is a gem that every Iowan needs to discover,” Ellen Hammond, museum superintendent, said. “We’ve been up here since 1982. We get more people who come through the door and say, ‘I never knew this was here.’”

In Hammond’s role, it’s her job to share it all with fairgoers.

“Oh, we have treasures. Everything from the queen contest to the baby health contest,” Hammond said. “One lady started it, said we judge animals, we need to be judging people.”

The scorecard may raise some eyebrows today, but it’s still a record of what happened at the State Fair. Just like the hottest weather day on record and which musical acts have performed at the Grandstand.

“I think now we’re really good at preserving what we have here,” Hammond said. “And when we get people from other states that are curious about our fair, they just love the history as well even though they’re not from here.”

Hammond says the museum’s history dates back to Helen Deets, the wife of a State Fair superintendent and the original organizer of the State Fair queen contests. She opened the building as a museum in 1982.

“She had several things that she collected through the fair,” Hammond recalls, “and so slowly people started seeing we had this and they started donating all their wonderful fair memorabilia.” 

Memorabilia that people still donate today, and Hammond organizes to display.

“This museum also features the three head-to-head train locomotives we had crash in 1896 and 1922 and 1932,” Hammond said as she showed an old photograph.

Interesting parts of the past that are worth remembering and sharing for the future.

“Because I love this place and I want the legacy of it to go on and be preserved,” Hammond said. “And there’s a lot of stories to tell.”

Hammond says the hope is to digitize some of the memorabilia in the future.

You can book tours of the museum outside of State Fair dates by contacting the fair.