Iowa, county records
Find the right office in Shelby County. Court cases, deeds and parcels, sheriff and jail records, vital records and county filings, each linked to the office that keeps them.
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Every card below goes to the government office responsible for that record. Use the category buttons to narrow the list.
County court
Iowa has two federal trial courts, the Northern District at Cedar Rapids and Sioux City and the Southern District at Des Moines; their case files are searched through PACER.
Open official site Iowa Federal CasesState records
Search property and claim status by individual name or business thru the state treasurer.
Open official site Iowa Unclaimed PropertyVital records
Iowa HHS Vital Records issues certified birth, death and marriage records filed since July 1, 1880, by mail, in person or through VitalChek, for a fee per copy.
Open official site Iowa Death and Vital RecordsState records
Find active and inactive corporations by name from the Iowa Secretary of State.
Open official site Iowa Business & Corporation SearchVital records
Request a copy of a marriage certificates from the Iowa Bureau of Health Statistics.
Open official site Iowa Marriage SearchLocal record guide
County profile
Sheriff & Law Enforcement. Shelby County Sheriff's Office is responsible for maintaining law and order in Shelby County's unincorporated areas.
Police Departments. Shelby County is served by several law enforcement agencies, including Shelby County Sheriff's Office and municipal police departments in cities such as Harlan and Shelby.
Law Enforcement & Arrests. Shelby County Sheriff's Office, headquartered at 514 Court Street in Harlan, Iowa 51537, is the primary law enforcement agency for unincorporated areas of Shelby County. The jail facility houses inmates awaiting trial or serving sentences for misdemeanor offenses, and inmate information can be obtained by calling the jail directly during business hours or visiting the Sheriff's Office in person. Arrest records and booking information in Shelby County are considered public records under Iowa Code Chapter 22, the Iowa Open Records Law, which mandates that government records are open to public inspection unless specifically exempted by statute.
Arrest Records. Arrest records in Shelby County are maintained by Shelby County Sheriff's Office.
Mugshots & Booking Photos. Mugshots in Shelby County are taken and retained by Shelby County Sheriff's Office during the booking process.
The jail provides an inmate lookup service where you can inquire about recent arrests. You may also call the jail directly at (712) 755-2501 for more information on a specific inmate's status and charges.
Abandoned mine records
Where the workings are, and the office that holds the mine maps.
From the old mine records
The mine records hold 2 mine sites inside the county: 1 past producer, now closed, 1 site producing when the record was made; the old survey maps add 2 holes drawn inside the county, 0 of them shafts or tunnels. The mineral the records name is construction sand and gravel.
A point in either file is a location, not a property line: the sheet shows the opening on the surface, not the rooms under it. The record that shows what runs under a parcel is the mine map. The OSMRE National Mine Map Repository holds scanned underground mine maps and answers requests for a named mine or an area. Coal was mined in Iowa from the 1840s to 1994.
Shelby County sits over the Western Region coal field and the coal there is medium and high volatile bituminous, worked underground in many places. The two federal files record a shaft, an adit or a deposit where one was drawn on a survey sheet or catalogued as a site; neither file carries the outline of the workings, so the counts above are not the measure of what was mined under this county. The record that shows it is the mine map, held by Iowa DNR Iowa Coal Mines map and linked below.
Iowa abandoned mine maps ranks every county and town in the state by the workings recorded inside it, names the office that holds the mine maps, and says what to do if the ground moves.
Disclaimer: The mine information here is for general information only. Old mine records can be incomplete, outdated or wrong, and finding nothing here does not mean there is nothing there. Check with the mine map office named here before you rely on it, and have a qualified engineer look at any ground you are worried about. PublicRecordCenter.com assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors, omissions, or consequences arising from the use of this information.
Labor Department file
The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division closed 21 investigations in Shelby County since fiscal 2005 and recorded $347,498 in back wages agreed for 179 workers. The county is the one the Census Bureau puts each employer's ZIP code in. Snapshot of April 22, 2026; a case here is a finding by the Division, not a court judgment.
| Employer | City | Cases | Back wages | Workers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BM Hotels, Inc | Elk Horn | 1 | $283,520 | 9 |
| Panama Transfer INC | Panama | 1 | $16,018 | 12 |
| D & P Shelby DQ, L.L.C./ D & P Krueger, Inc. | Shelby | 1 | $7,394 | 18 |
| Concerned, Inc | Harlan | 2 | $6,568 | 108 |
| American Lutheran | Elk Horn | 1 | $4,084 | 7 |
| Shelby Dairy QUEEN/HARLAN Dairy Queen | Shelby | 1 | $1,460 | 4 |
| Home Grown Investments, LLC | Shelby | 1 | $1,193 | 5 |
| Keast Ford Lincoln Mercury Inc. | Harlan | 1 | $35 | 1 |
| Harlan Golf & Country Club | Harlan | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| American Babtist Homes Of The Midwest | Harlan | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| Club 191 INC | Portsmouth | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| Harlan Builders Supply INC | Harlan | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| Blair 5 LLC | Harlan | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| Brickyard Orchard | Harlan | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| Stephen P. Allen DDS, P.C. | Harlan | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| Variety DISTRUBUTORS, INC. | Harlan | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| Love's Travel Stop and Country Stores, Inc. | Shelby | 1 | $0 | 0 |
Every employer on the Shelby County record, by back wages agreed; 4 employers have a page of their own and open from the table, the rest show their whole record in this row. The Iowa wage theft records page ranks the whole state.
Straight answers
Open only the answer you need.
Booking photos are kept by the agency that made the arrest, such as the Shelby County Sheriff or a city police department in Shelby County. Ask that agency for its record.
The Iowa criminal history record comes from the Iowa Department of Public Safety, Division of Criminal Investigation. Name based request by mail, fax, email or in person with first name, last name and exact date of birth; the online request site is down for an upgrade and phone requests are not taken. Fee: $15 per last name.
Search the Iowa Sex Offender Registry, or every state at once on the National Sex Offender Public Website run by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Register with the county auditor or through the Iowa Secretary of State. You can also register online with the state online registration. Pre registration closes 15 days before the election; you may also register and vote on election day at the polling place for your address with proof of identity and residence.
Deeds and other recorded land documents in Shelby County are kept by the Shelby County recorder. Property values are set by the local assessor, and tax bills come from the county treasurer. Source: official state page.
Certified birth and death certificates for Iowa come from the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau of Health Statistics. County Recorders can issue certified copies of all Iowa births from 1986 to the present and of deaths and marriages from 1954 to the present; earlier records come from the county where the event occurred. By mail or in person at Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau of Health Statistics, Lucas State Office Building, 1st Floor, 321 E. 12th Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50319-0075, at a County Recorder, or online through VitalChek, the only authorized third party vendor. Fee: $20.00 for each certified copy.
Business entity filings are searched with the Iowa Secretary of State. Iowa does not have a general business license; licensing depends on the nature of the business or occupation.
Same county
Use the city page when a record was created by a municipal police department or city office; use the county page for courts, deeds, vital records and jail custody.