IOWA CITY, IOWA (August 18, 2025) — Concerned Iowans across the state have launched the SAVE IOWA HISTORY coalition, calling on state leaders to stop reckless removal of one-of-a-kind historical records and artifacts from the State Historical Society’s Iowa City Research Center. Founded in 1857, the State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI) “preserves and provides access to Iowa’s historical resources,” and Iowa State Code requires Iowa to maintain SHSI facilities in Des Moines and Iowa City to fulfill this mission.
Iowa’s governor this summer announced plans to close SHSI’s Iowa City Research Center, without prior notice or input from Iowans or stakeholders including SHSI’s Board, staff, or partner institutions. SHSI was placed under the Iowa Department of Administrative Services (DAS) when Governor Reynolds reorganized state government in 2022, and state appropriations to SHSI have continued to decline, compromising the institution’s mission.
Now the state is moving ahead with the building closure plan, but without a good plan to preserve and maintain access to the enormous, irreplaceable collections currently housed there. Because Des Moines SHSI facilities lack space to take in materials from Iowa City, fragile archival materials could end up warehoused indefinitely in unspecified locations.
Whereas current SHSI facilities are specially built and staffed by trained librarians to keep materials safe in case of floods, fires, or natural disasters, the state has offered no guarantee of safe relocation for SHSI materials, posing the risk that disaster could destroy in a few hours what it has taken Iowans almost two hundred years to build. While placing invaluable materials at risk, the building closure plan also creates major new costs for moving, warehousing, and building demolition that could far exceed any claimed short-term savings.
Iowa history preserved in SHSI collections ranges from hundred-year-old small-town municipal records to family photo collections, letters, Civil War diaries, recordings of oral history interviews, local newspapers, records of Iowa civic and religious organizations, and much more. SHSI is obligated to provide these resources to researchers, students, genealogists, reporters, and anyone else interested in Iowa history. Closure of Iowa City’s Research Center would cut Iowans off from access to a large share of their own history, including decades’ worth of collections donated to the state by Iowa families and organizations with the promise they would remain available to future generations.
Save Iowa History invites Iowans to:
· Sign the statewide Save Iowa History petition, calling on state leaders to reverse the decision to close the SHSI Iowa City Research Center
· Express concerns to state legislators and the following key decision-makers:
o State Archivist Anthony Jahn: anthony.jahn@iowa.gov, 515-666-9144
o SHSI Administrator Valerie Van Kooten: valerie.vankooten@iowa.gov, 515-281-8749
o Director of Administrative Services Adam Steen: adam.steen@iowa.gov, 515-725-2205.
o Governor Kim Reynolds: kimberly.reynolds@iowa.gov, 515-281-5211.
· Attend upcoming Save Iowa History events, starting with a “Reverse the Decision Rally” to take place 1-3PM, Saturday, August 23, at the Iowa City Public Library, 123 S Linn St, Iowa City
