Hidden treasures at the State Historical Society of Iowa
Researchers know that newspapers are the first draft of history. One of the hidden treasures at the State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI) is a magnificent collection of Iowa newspapers, guarded for more than a century and a half. This collection is now threatened by state officials.
In 2023, State government was realigned, and control of the State Historical Society was transferred to the Department of Administrative Services (DAS). In June 2025, The Director of DAS, with the tacit approval of his underlings, the State Historical Society Administrator and the State Archivist, has determined to close the Iowa City Research Center and disperse the collections contained therein. With no prior input from the public this decision—citing a projected funding shortfall—was announced in a June 17 press release. DAS has developed no specific plan for this process, other than declaring that the Iowa City facility (known as the Centennial Building) will cease to provide public access to the collections on December 31, 2025, and will be emptied by June 30, 2026.
Already, on July 9, 2025, the Iowa City Research Center ended its regular hours of operation, now allowing the public to visit only by appointment Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, through December 31, 2025. Collections are already starting to be boxed up, further reducing public access. Effective December 31, 2025, all but one Iowa City Research Center staff member will be laid off.
The Iowa City Research Center’s collections are voluminous, comprising more than 34,700 cubic feet of records, photographs, newspapers, letters, artifacts and other historical items. According to DAS, approximately 40% of the Iowa City collections will be moved to the State Historical Building in Des Moines. Placing that material in the Des Moines building will fill it, allowing no capacity for further growth. The 60% of the Iowa City collections that cannot be accommodated in Des Moines will be returned to donors, transferred to other repositories, or destroyed. This decision does not comport with professional archival standards.
So, what specifically is at stake? Ever since the founding of the State Historical Society of Iowa in 1857, the institution placed a high priority on collecting newspapers to document life in Iowa and trace the transformation of midsize and small towns across the state. SHSI’s libraries earned national distinction for maintaining the most complete, comprehensive coverage, allowing researchers to investigate local, state, and regional perspectives on past events and people or do a comparative analysis. Reading the pages of a newspaper remains a key component for identifying paths for research, often serving as a starting point, especially if information on a topic is scarce.
Large and small runs of daily and weekly Iowa newspapers for over 650 titles exist in 10,000 oversize bound volumes in the Centennial Building in Iowa City. Starting with Mississippi River towns, newspapers quickly popped up in Dubuque (1836) and Burlington (1838) and in every newly established county seat as the settlement of Iowa moved west. Local editors routinely mailed original newspapers to the SHSI library in Iowa City where they were carefully bound and preserved to this day. Printed on the highest quality rag-based paper, these vintage 19th century newspapers are durable, irreplaceable artifacts that will remain in excellent condition for thousands of years if properly stored.
Beginning in the 1880s, however, newspapers were printed on highly acidic, wood-pulp based papers, causing them to deteriorate and become brittle over time, which became a chronic problem needing attention. SHSI’s Iowa City Research Center contains major runs documenting 20th century urban life from 1900 to the 1960s, including places like Waterloo, Fort Dodge, Ottumwa, and Sioux City. The press provided important context surrounding how Americans in the Midwest responded when pulled into two World Wars or tried to survive economic depressions and personal crises. The Iowa Bystander, published to represent the interests of African Americans in Iowa, began in 1895, and although microfilmed, surviving originals from 1955-1971 provide the highest quality image reproduction. Foreign-language newspapers like the Swedish Monitor in Sioux City or labor newspapers like the Dubuque Leader are unique to the Iowa City Research Center.
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SHSI already decimated a carefully curated collection of 10,000 volumes once held in Des Moines and now 10,000 original volumes in the Iowa City Research Center will disappear from public access by the end of 2025. SHSI aims to privatize a publicly owned collection, thus delegating decisions about the future survival of essential pieces of history to a commercial enterprise.
For more than 100 years, professional colleagues at SHSI and elsewhere devoted time and effort to collect, document, re-format, and distribute these Iowa newspapers to scholarly researchers, genealogists, local historians, students, and educators. Having physical ownership of Iowa newspapers allows SHSI to share this resource with the public free-of-charge, as opposed to subscription service-based access.
Numerous newspapers will become “orphans” without sponsors to aid in their rescue. These titles tend to represent smaller towns and rural villages with fewer than 1,000 residents. Often the title has ceased publication. Nonetheless, issues of newspapers need to be arranged, stabilized, microfilmed, and digitized before cataloging and use by the public. Patterns of living and community development, transformations wrought by technology, political viewpoints, social values, environmental impacts, and myriad other topics are documented in narratives written during Iowa’s 170-year existence.
An ad hoc group called the Save Iowa History Coalition is working to stop the closure of the Iowa City Research Center and the dispersal of the collections it holds. The Coalition is seeking the support of the members of the Iowa Newspaper Association (INA) to stop this travesty. A Change.org petition is circulating: https://www.change.org/p/save-iowa-history-2025-redux and we would encourage individuals to sign. In addition, a letter from INA leadership to the DAS Director, with copies to the SHSI Administrator, State Archivist, and me, in opposition to the proposed dismantling of the collection, would be useful. The Coalition would add this letter to the growing list of letters received by organizations who value preserving Iowa history. Contact information for the above individuals is as follows:
| Adam Steen, Director Department of Administrative Services Hoover Building 1305 East Walnut Street Des Moines IA 50319 adam.steen@iowa.gov 515-725-2205 | Valerie Van Kooten, Administrator State Historical Society of Iowa State Historical Building 600 East Locust Street Des Moines IA 50319 valerie.vankooten@iowa.gov 515-281-8749 |
| Anthony Jahn, State Archivist State Historical Society of Iowa State Historical Building 600 East Locust Street Des Moines IA 50319 anthony.jahn@iowa.gov 515-666-9144 | Please send a copy of correspondence to: Kathy Gourley 7331 Hyperion Pointe Johnston IA 50131 kathygourley@rocketmail.com 515-537-0276 |