greg wickenkamp is a lifelong Iowan.

More than 250 people from throughout Iowa gathered in Iowa City on August 23 to help save state history. Attendees demanded the state reverse its decision to close the State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI) archives in Iowa City.

Rally-goers also called on state officials to reverse their decision discontinuing the only peer-reviewed state history journal, The Annals of Iowa. Without inviting adequate public comment, and after refusing to cover the basic costs of maintaining the historical archives, state officials unilaterally pushed to end these public serving institutions. Since the Iowa City rally, more than 6,000 people have signed a petition to reverse the state’s decision.

Archives in Iowa City house approximately 34,700 feet of historical documents. Many of these rare materials were donated with the understanding that they would be preserved in perpetuity by the state for the benefit of future generations. The state is now at risk of betraying that promise. The closure of the research center in Iowa City and the state’s history journal would be a betrayal to both past generations who entrusted the state, and to future generations who will be cut off from their history.

At the August 23 rally, Johnathan Buffalo, the director of Meskwaki’s Historical Preservation Department, compared the potential loss of records to having an old friend with Alzheimer’s. Like a disease that causes people to forget their connections, relationships, and even identity, the state of Iowa is depriving Iowans of our ability to understand ourselves.

Jonathan Buffalo (photo by Roger Duffy)

Buffalo noted the Meskwaki, who have many records housed in Iowa City’s research center, were not notified of any change or given explicit plans for preservation of their materials despite legal requirements. He worries that if the state’s plan moves forward, records will be buried in Des Moines and become less accessible.

The reasons conservative lawmakers and their appointees offered for cancelling these longstanding institutions do not comport with reality. Citing financial considerations and accessibility, state officials denied that the gutting of Iowa history fits the authoritarian pattern of attacking basic history. Experts in Iowa like Mary Bennett, the retired archivist and lead organizer of Saturday’s rally, see it differently. “[Iowa City’s collection] is physically at risk, it’s intellectually at risk. It’s part of what I call erasure.”

Though the state is closing Iowa City’s archive, failing to guarantee adequate space for the records in Des Moines, failing to provide adequate funding for digitizing records, and laying off qualified staff, state officials claim these moves will somehow make Iowa’s history more accessible. And while concerns over financial considerations might have some merit, it is only because the state’s administration has prioritized militaristic spectacle and tax cuts for the wealthy over basic public services like historical archives. So if accessibility and funding are spurious reasons, why then is the state attempting to erase its own history?

In a moment of unusual candor, Valerie Van Kooten, a SHSI administrator, implied that cancelling the state history journal was a political decision rather than a financial one. The Annals of Iowa, the history journal that has cataloged Iowa’s history for more than 160 years, is self-sustaining through memberships and subscriptions. When asked during a June 26th SHSI Board of Trustees meeting whether there was a reason for cancelling the journal given the obviously spurious budgetary concerns, Van Kooten replied, “There are people who don’t like [the journal].”

A month later, when Iowa Public Radio’s Charity Nebbe asked Van Kooten about that comment, she was less forthcoming, saying, “I heard that. I don’t know if it’s true or not. All I know is that we needed to find a different place” for the journal. She acknowledged The Annals of Iowa had enough revenue through subscriptions, appropriations, and grant funding, but said they didn’t have adequate staffing to get it published on time.

Speakers and musicians at the rally offered reasons to resist this attempt at erasure. Dawn Suzanne Wanatee Buffalo prompted laughter from the crowd when she recounted getting her diapers changed on the steps of SHSI in Iowa City as an infant. In a more serious indictment to state officials, Buffalo then shared, “The one amazing thing about Iowa is there is an expectation that you respect where you come from.” Without an adequate plan to preserve the records in Iowa City, Iowans will know less about where we came from.

Asked on Iowa Public Radio about the specific plan for preserving Iowa City’s archives, state archivist Anthony Jahn could only offer a pithy, “we’re putting together that plan.” Perhaps his parents never told him that a failure to plan is essentially planning to fail. Unlike Jahn, who has neither the requisite degree in library sciences required for archivist positions nor any advanced degree, many speaking at Saturday’s event were experts in their fields.

Two history professors who have dedicated their careers to the preservation of history demanded Iowa reverse the decision to abandon its history. Both made clear their remarks were representative only of themselves and not their employers. Iowa-born Professor Rebecca Conard worried about a betrayal of public trust should the state go ahead with its haphazard plan of erasure. If this happens, Conard offered, the “trustworthiness of the SHSI will be sorely damaged.” That trust can be hard to repair once broken.

Professor Ashley Howard took a similarly long view, offering her “wholehearted, full-throated support, commitment, and affection for the SHSI, especially the beautiful branch in Iowa City.” She continued, “Given the heartland’s centrality in the national imagination, Iowans in particular benefit from engaging in the challenging and frankly messy histories of the state.” While certain political projects depend on misremembering or mythologizing the past, Howard explained, “it is the archives, the very stuff of history, the very stuff located at 402 Iowa Avenue, that holds the key to expand our understanding of who we are, which is exactly why the state is seeking to limit our access to this precious resource.”

The records and the staff at Iowa City’s research center serve Howard’s students at the University of Iowa. Those students consistently see the hands-on research done at Iowa City’s archives as invaluable, she said. For her part, Howard recognizes Iowa City’s SHSI staff as a “priceless resource,” for all Iowans.

Music, art, and theatrics were woven into the August 23 rally. Romeo Buffalo opened the rally with a haunting solo flute performance. This was followed by equally moving remarks on the Iowa Musician’s Project by Kelly Plumber, explorations of Joan Liffring-Zug Bourret’s photos by her grandson Forrest Huesinkveld, reflections and a song from Iowa City legend Dave Moore, and a culminating performance by the COGS band, Labor Notes.

A mock funeral procession to the steps of SHSI in Iowa City followed, as the crowd sang, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” A constructed casket representing the death of Iowa history was laid at the steps of 402 Iowa Avenue—in it was placed a copy of The Annals of Iowa.

Toward the rally’s end, the Labor Notes performed a song, Disappearing History Blues, written by history PhD student Adrian Gronseth especially for the occasion. One verse echoed many of the speakers’ sentiments, “A person without a past they got a paper-thin soul/ Yeah a person without a past has got a paper-thin soul/ A city without a past, that’s just an empty capitalist hole.”

The wave of reaction amongst attendees to another set of lyrics suggests the fight for Iowa’s history isn’t over:

They want us to forget
They want us to back down
They want us to capitulate
And kneel before the crown
But baby they’ll regret it
Yeah they’ll rue the day
They tried to take
Iowa City’s history away!

Wider view of the crowd (photo by Roger Duffy)

photo by ellen wrede

Mary Bennett (photo by ellen wrede)