Several Iowa City and University of Iowa historians, archivists, and professors are now suing the state of Iowa after months of public pushback against the closure of the Iowa City State Historical Society of Iowa Centennial Building, announced in June and set for the end of this year, per the Iowa State Legislature.
The initial hearing was set for Oct. 14 at 9:30 a.m. at the Johnson County Courthouse.
The State Legislature cut funding for the society earlier this year, citing a multitude of issues preventing the society from functioning adequately — including a broken service elevator and budget issues — leaving the historical society to fall roughly $800,000 short
of its budget.
Mary Bennett, retired special collections coordinator at the Iowa City State Historical Society, said the Iowa City location costs about half a million dollars a year, while the Des Moines center costs about $72 million. The Des Moines branch is much larger and, by extension, harder to supervise, which has been a primary concern for many.
“In Iowa City, we were out floating on the floor as librarians, interacting with patrons, making sure they were making the best use of materials,” Bennett said, “In Des Moines, this huge reading room is vacant. I was over there in July, and it was completely empty. There was no staff supervision, even at the desk.”
Clara Reynen, a local librarian and candidate for the Iowa City City Council in the Nov. 4 election, spoke to The Daily Iowan about the removal of materials from the society and expressed concern for how they were being handled.
“Something that’s been upsetting for me is just seeing the way that these materials are being moved without much regard for their value… like cultural value and value to people in the state of Iowa” she said.
Bennett has been “enthralled” with the society since 1973. After being involved with the society for nearly 50 years, Bennett took issue with some of the legislature’s reasoning.
“This is relevant to all Iowans and it’s unfair and somewhat shameful for a very small group of people to make such a decisive action that’s very threatening,” she said.
Some of Bennett’s colleagues, friends, and professors also found several issues with these reasons and the way decisions around the closing were made.
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“We have challenged them on their professional standards,” Bennett said. “We have support letters from major organizations across the U.S., all kinds of groups that are involved in this type of work, and academically trained people who have experience as librarians and archivists to be our allies.”
Concerns about where Iowa City’s materials are going, how much is being taken, and what will happen to the materials have been discussed since the center announced its closure. Linda Kerber, a former UI professor, cites this as a reason for taking legal aciton.
“They announced they were going to move all the records to this museum in Des Moines, but they would only move 40 percent of the archive,” Kerber said. “They have never told us what’s going to happen to the other 60 percent. It will be dispersed — important papers given to the archives with the understanding they would be here — protected in perpetuity.”
In the early morning hours of Oct. 6, a small number of local historians, including Bennett outside the Centennial Building, anticipating the arrival of Iowa Prison Industries laborers from Mount Pleasant, Iowa, to begin carting out archival materials.
Later that morning, The Daily Iowan observed laborers carting documents through the building’s back door. Iowa State Troopers were present to keep Bennett and others from making contact with the laborers.
The laborers returned the next day, removing more archival materials from the premises. This is something Bennett, Kerber, and the lawsuit all claim to be wrong and worth legal action.
“Without public input or a clear plan, state officials have begun dismantling the Iowa City archive, laying off staff, and removing collections — many of which were donated under the condition they remain accessible in Iowa City,” the lawsuit reads.
Both Kerber and Bennett said the documents given to the historical society should remain in Iowa City for many reasons, but largely because the UI is the only university in the state offering a Ph.D. granting program for history.
“The historical society is right across the street from the edge of our campus, so students can just walk over and work in it,” Kerber said, “There’s so much to be done. It’s such a rich resource — the idea of erasing it just doesn’t make sense.”