Keep historical collections in Iowa City

We are dismayed by the impending closure of the Iowa City facility of the State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI). This invaluable Iowa resource, carefully preserved by knowledgeable professionals for decades, is currently being dismantled.

The SHSI Archives and Library contain tens of thousands of documents, interviews, photographs, recordings, and the institutional and personal records of a wide cross-section of Iowa groups and individuals. The Iowa City facility has been actively used by community and family researchers, genealogists, university students and faculty, and historians from around the country and world. This collection does not duplicate others in the state, and the relatively modest cost of operating the Iowa City facility can certainly be met in a multibillion dollar state budget.

Donors of these records have been assured in recent years by state SHSI and Archives staff that these collections would remain in Iowa City. We call for that pledge to be fulfilled in order to prevent the disruption and/or erasure of the histories of countless Iowa families and communities. Preserving our Iowa history for current and future generations is vital.

Jane Cadwallader Howe

West Branch Friends Meeting