The Shaare Zion records date from 1901 to 2007 and measure 10.2 linear feet. The records are split into six series: Shaare Zion (1914-2004), Mt. Sinai Temple (1951-1991), Congregation Beth Shalom (1994-2007), Jewish Federation of Sioux City (1935-2001), Photographs (1901-2001), Audiovisual (2004-2015) and Artifacts (1950-1984).

The Shaare Zion Synagogue series provides an overview of the inner workings and activities of Sioux City’s conservative Shaare Zion Synagogue from the early twentieth century until its merger with Mt. Sinai Temple in 1994. It is split into five sub-series. The Administrative sub-series has bylaws, records of board meetings, annual meetings, and of some committees. It also includes membership directories and birth and death records as kept in the synagogue’s Book of Life and Book of Remembrance. The Financial sub-series contains materials regarding budgets, building costs, employees, and scholarships. This sub-series also includes documentation of Shaare Zion synagogue’s sale prior to its merger with Mt. Sinai Temple. The Activities sub-series is made up of programs, newspaper clippings, and other records of Shaare Zion’s religious and social activities. The final sub-series documents the Shaare Zion’s Women’s League, as well as a few women’s groups that existed prior to its founding. These records contain meeting minutes, Torah Fund materials, event planning documents and related correspondence. This sub-series also includes two scrapbooks focusing on Women’s League activities.

The Mt. Sinai Temple series contains a small amount of materials regarding the history of Sioux City’s reform congregation, Mt. Sinai Temple, from a photocopy of its 1901 membership list to its last set of bylaws written a century later. Besides these items, the series includes materials related to services and buildings, and a 1969 history of the temple.

The third series, Congregation Beth Shalom, documents the 1994 merger of Shaare Zion Synagogue and Mt. Sinai Temple and the activities of the organization they formed, Congregation Beth Shalom. The series includes documentation of administrative, financial, and committee activity as well as religious school materials. Holocaust memorial materials can be found in this series within folders from the Congregation’s library and in parts of “Keeping the Faith: The Sioux City Jewish Community.”

The Jewish Federation of Sioux City was incorporated in 1942 and served as an umbrella organization for Jewish community activities that were untethered by congregation membership. The Federation was responsible for acquiring the Jewish Community Center, which hosted a variety of Jewish organizations and events from 1950-1994. The Jewish Federation of Sioux City series contains materials related to the Federation administration as well as activities that were organized by the Federation or took place in the Jewish Community Center. It is split into three sub-series.

The General sub-series is made up of administrative documents such as annual meeting reports, newsletters and a Jewish Federation yearbook, and documents concerning the Jewish Community Center building. In this series, there are also materials related to events that the Jewish Federation sponsored such as youth programs and the visiting exhibit “Here is Israel.” The General sub-series also contains issues of the newsletter "Regards from Home", a publication aimed at Jewish men serving in the military during World War II.

The Social and Service Organizations sub-series contains documents related to various social and service clubs of the Jewish community in Sioux City and held meetings or events at the Jewish Community Center. It includes materials of Sioux City chapters of international Jewish organizations like Aleph Zadik Aleph (AZA), B’Nai B’rith, and Young Judea. Included also are Sioux City specific organizations such as the Inter-club council, the Newsboy Club, and the young women’s group, AWR. This sub-series also includes a file dedicated to Jewish community support of Jewish men serving overseas during World War II.

In the latter half of the twentieth century many Jewish people moved away from Sioux City, Iowa. The Jewish Federation helped to organize reunions in Sioux City in 1984 and 2001. The Sioux City Reunions sub-series houses materials related to the planning and execution of Homecoming 1984 and Homecoming 2001. It also includes the script “Yasher Koach,” by local congregant, Richard Poole, which dramatizes the history of Sioux City’s Jewish community and was performed at Homecoming 2001. This sub-series also contains several issues of The Sioux City Californian, a newsletter for members of Sioux City’s Jewish community who had moved to California, as well as materials from some reunions in California.

The Photographs series contains photographs of people and events connected to Shaare Zion Synagogue, Mt. Sinai Temple, Congregation Beth Shalom, and the Jewish Community Center. This series is arranged alphabetically and locations are identified if possible.

The Audiovisual series is made up of two floppy discs from Homecoming 1984 and Homecoming 2001 in Sioux City and seventy compact discs with images from activities at Congregation Beth Shalom from 2004 to 2015.

The Artifacts series consists of three items: a framed proclamation from Sioux City’s Israel’s 26th Anniversary Week in 1974, a plaque commemorating donors for a window preservation project, and an oversized key from the Jewish Community Center’s 1950 dedication.