‘Activist crowd’ is right to defend Iowa City history facility

Like so many bad government decisions, the closing of the State Historical Society of Iowa’s facility in Iowa City is a story about indifference.

Indifference to the people who will be directly affected. Indifference to knowledgeable people who are warning of consequences. Indifference to people shut out of decision making behind closed doors.

In June, the state announced it would close the Iowa City research center and archives, established in 1857. That was the year Iowa’s capital moved from Iowa City to Des Moines. It’s currently housed in the Centennial Building.

There was no public input. No plan discussed and no transparency. Just a decision blindsiding people who care about preserving history.

The facility’s collection includes newspapers, newspapers on microfilm, coverage of World War II, thousands of books, county records, photos, manuscripts and maps. Some documents are connected to the Civil War. This list only scratches the surface.

The state says it had to cut $800,000 from the State Historical Society of Iowa’s budget. Closing the Iowa City facility covered the gap nicely. Also, the joint needed too many repairs. So, let’s just move everything to Des Moines.

But then there’s this pesky law. Iowa Code section 8A.707 says the historical society shall “maintain research centers in Des Moines and Iowa City.”

Shall is an order, not a suggestion.

At the end of September, a group of historians, professors, authors and people who donated stuff to the Iowa City facility filed a lawsuit with hopes of getting a temporary injunction to stop the closure while the courts judge the case on the merits.

There was a short hearing on the case this past week. As of my print deadline, we don’t know whether a Johnson County District Court judge will issue an injunction.

“No comprehensive plan has been presented, and stakeholders — including donors, researchers, and community members — have not been consulted,” said Mary Bennett in an affidavit filed with the lawsuit. Bennett is a former special collections coordinator who worked at the Iowa City facility for 49 years before retiring in 2023

“These actions, both past and those anticipated in the future, violate professional archival standards and threaten the integrity and accessibility of Iowa’s historical record,” Bennett said.

“Meh,” said the indifferent bureaucrats in Des Moines.

In the meantime, the state has started removing materials from Iowa City. This was not done by movers trained to safely handle historic documents. The state brought in workers from Iowa Prison Industries.

The seeds of this decision were planted during Gov. Kim Reynolds’ government reorganization push, which delivered the historical society into the hands of the Department of Administrative Services.

DAS was directed by Adam Steen, who is now a candidate for governor. You may remember him. He’s the “God guy” who did battle with Krampus in the Capitol rotunda.

It was Steen’s call to close the Iowa City facility. He has no background in history. But he’s clearly heartbroken about the decision.

“Let me be clear: I stand by the decision to close the Iowa City State Historical Research Center. I’ve been involved from day one, and every artifact will be preserved and protected. This plan saves millions in taxpayer dollars—money that belongs to hard-working Iowans, not to prop up an outdated, wasteful facility. This isn’t reckless, it’s responsible,” Steen said in a post on X Oct. 2.

“Now the activist crowd is dragging this into court with an unnecessary lawsuit because they can’t stand the idea of responsible government. These are the same voices that attack every time we bring accountability and common sense to government. I won’t bend. I won’t apologize. And I won’t back down. I’ll keep fighting for Iowa families, taxpayers, and our future—no matter how loud the noise,” Steen wrote.

Is the Old Capitol still in Iowa City? Someone had better check.

So, there seems to be some politics in play. This really should be a bipartisan issue. We’re talking about everybody’s history.

But everything about history seems to be political now. Steen and his friends don’t care about history unless it can be wielded as a red, white and blue weapon in our culture war against America-haters.

But because the process shut out the public, we’re left to speculate.

As you know, Iowa City is full of reckless “activists” who hate common sense. And it sounds like Steen took some glee in shutting down an Iowa City institution. Why is Johnson County even in Iowa?

“He’s given no authority to close the place down,” said James Larew, the Iowa City lawyer who filed the lawsuit. “When he did it, I think he completely misjudged, completely misjudged, the support for it.

“But I think Iowa, you know, Iowa pride is thinking we’re something special, and we want the artifacts to let us tell our story to ourselves and to others,” Larew said.

So, what the hell are we doing here? We can’t cover an $800,000 budget gap, which is tiny in the context of a $9.4 billion state general fund budget?

Why should an archive and research center serving Eastern Iowa be moved to Des Moines? Apparently, it makes sense to curtail history research at another Iowa City institution, the University of Iowa. Concerns persist that the Des Moines museum doesn’t have enough space to accommodate the Iowa City collection. The state says it does.

“Common sense” is listening to historians, not some political appointee who got his job from a governor who sees expertise as a red flag. This is a dumb, shortsighted decision. Find other ways to cut the budget. Back down before you ruin something that took decades to build and gives Iowans access to our history.

Keep the Iowa City facility open. The reversal of an idea this bad could make history.

(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com