The Iowa Senate approved a bill on March 4 to strike the existing state law for Iowa City to maintain the State Historical Society, requiring Iowa’s Department of Administrative Services to operate a single historical research center in Des Moines.
Senate File 2293, if passed through the House and signed into law, would close Iowa City’s State Historical Society indefinitely, moving all of its resources to Des Moines. The legislation came after the Department of Administrative Services closed the center in June 2025.
A group of historians, professors, archivists, and donors filed a lawsuit in October 2025 alleging the move undermines the state’s historical obligations and raises questions about where the collections will ultimately be preserved and how the public will access them once they are consolidated in Des Moines.
RELATED: Iowa Senate panel advances bill striking requirement for Iowa City’s State Historical Society
Democratic senators opposed the bill during debate and said it will not save the state money but will limit public access to state expertise.
Sen. Art Staed, D-Cedar Rapids, voted against the bill after hearing significant public concern during a Senate subcommittee from advocates. He said he has been conducting his own research into the potential impacts of closing the Iowa City research center.
In June 2025, the Iowa City State Historical Society said 40 percent of the Iowa City collections could be moved to the Des Moines facility, leaving over half of its materials without a place to go.
“To date, there has been no meaningful transparency regarding what will happen to these materials,” Staed said.
Staed said closing the Iowa City research center would not meaningfully reduce state costs but would instead jeopardize access to rare and fragile materials.
“The State Historical Society of Iowa has served the public in Iowa City since 1857,” he said. “These collections are not surplus inventory. They are a documentary foundation of Iowa’s civic, political, cultural, and social history. They deserve preservation, professional stewardship and continued public access, not dismantling.”
Sen. Janice Weiner, D-Iowa City, also opposed the bill. She called out the director of the Department of Administrative Services, Adam Steen, and said he violated Iowa Code Section 8A.707(2)(b) by closing the research center before any legislation was put in place.
“This is the kind of executive action and corruption that Iowans hate,” she said. “Steen made his move shortly after the session finished last year, there was no notice in the relevant budget subcommittee or committee meeting that this would happen. Not a peep. No legislative oversight.”
Sen. Carrie Koelker, R-Dyersville, the bill’s floor manager, voted in favor of the bill and said lawmakers needed to focus on the facts of the proposal and the state’s statutory obligations, arguing the change would preserve historical materials while saving taxpayer dollars.
She also said there has been tension regarding who gets what resources between the Des Moines and Iowa City centers for over 50 years.
Koelker said in December 2025, the Department of Administrative Services reached an agreement with the University of Iowa to keep some records accessible through the university library while the facility transitions, and to fulfill the state’s legal obligations until the legislation takes effect, a move supporters said would help maintain access even as the Iowa City center prepares to close.
Koelker said the transition plan ensures the facility and its collections will be handled responsibly and the UI will be able to use the building for other purposes.
“The land and building will revert back to the University of Iowa under the original contract,” she said. “All the items from Iowa City Center will be re-homed. None of them are going to be thrown away.”