Iowa history is at risk

Benjamin Shambaugh must be shuddering in his grave.  From 1900 to 1940, he served as chair of the University of Iowa political science department and as the visionary superintendent of the State Historical Society of Iowa.  He collected vital historical documents and ensured that they were preserved and made accessible to scholars, students, and citizens.  He also established publications that disseminated the results of research in these materials.  By the time he died in 1940, Iowa’s historical society was the envy of others across the nation.

The current state of affairs at the Historical Society would gravely distress Shambaugh.  The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs has mismanaged the society for years, but recently the situation has become dire. Because of budget austerity and shifting priorities, public service hours at both the Iowa City and Des Moines research centers have been reduced to only three days a week. The source of the problem is that DCA leaders have diverted scarce funds away from hiring archivists, librarians and catalogers, in favor of administrators, public relations managers, and marketers who lack the training and commitment to guarantee the society's longstanding mission “as a trustee of Iowa’s historical legacy.”

Shambaugh would be dismayed to see the physical condition of the collections he worked so hard to preserve. Materials go unprocessed because the few staff members who remain can do little more than open the doors and answer email.  In 2009, the society suspended the longstanding and popular program to microfilm local newspapers and later rebuffed $250,000 in proposed state funding to ease the backlog.  Priceless documents and photographs are deteriorating because DCA leadership has not employed a conservator to stabilize them. Acquisitions have ceased, even though history has not. Lip service is paid to digitizing records, but this would require a large increase in staff and funds. Iowans are steadily losing their history, county by county, community by community, page by page.

The decline of the society is compounded by the DCA’s misguided campaign for $65 million in state infrastructure funds to transform the State Historical Building in Des Moines into an “Iowa Cultural Center.”  Architectural plans reduce the building’s size from 234,000 to 150,000 square feet and demolish the east wing, where libraries and archives currently reside, “to create a new outdoor public space and allow for sightlines with spectacular views of the state Capitol.”

During the renovation, treasured collections and artifacts would be moved to an undetermined location and made unavailable for at least three years. Many of the materials are fragile or uncataloged; archivists are reasonably concerned that once these uniquely valuable items are out of sight they may be allowed to further degrade or never be seen again.

It appears that DCA leaders want to shrink Iowa history down to a sanitized and commercialized tourist attraction. The new building would include a visitor center, retail space, and an admission charge to the museum.  Instead of protecting the institutional integrity of the Historical Society, with the research centers, historic preservation office, museum, historic sites, and educational programs interacting together to serve Iowans, the DCA is fixated on repurposing the State Historical Building as a glorified welcome center.  The very existence of the society is at risk.

So what would Benjamin Shambaugh do if he were with us today?  He would undoubtedly prioritize the hiring of professional staff to acquire, process and preserve collections. Iowa’s history will not be well served by a glitzy box on the corner of Sixth and Locust in Des Moines if the the Historical Society operations are understaffed and the collections remain in peril. Iowans should call on their governor and legislators to give top priority to safeguarding the precious contents of their state’s history before spending tax dollars on marble foyers and slick marketing.

Tyler Priest is associate professor of history and geography at the University of Iowa. The opinions expressed above are endorsed by William Sherman and Timothy Walch, both former State Historical Society of Iowa trustees, and Joni Hindman, vice president of the Iowa City Genealogical Society. Contact:typriest@gmail.com