Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at BruceLear2419@gmail.com
A new year is a time for making resolutions, starting new, and dreaming big. But quite often the treadmill becomes a clothes rack for things we’ve outgrown, and our resolve to eat healthier evaporates as soon as the drive-up for Raising Cane’s clears up. Keeping resolutions requires willpower and work, and they must be backed by determination and strategies for change. If not, resolutions morph into wishes.
Wishes might be fun when blowing out candles or sitting on Santa’s lap. But wishes are even weaker than resolutions.
Resolutions are usually individual commitments, but I’m proposing a few collective resolutions around honestly preserving our U.S. and Iowa history.
Telling the American story honestly
Let’s resolve not to allow anyone or any group to whitewash history to distort America’s story to fit a particular narrative. People on the political left and right need to recognize history is nonpartisan. Neither major party owns our American story.
The United States origin story is exceptional, but there are dark periods. Those include, but not limited to, how Native Americans were treated, slavery, Jim Crow, child labor, redlining, unchecked monopolies, and the coup attempt on January 6, 2021.
Trying to sanitize the brutally dark times means would transform a rich history into a Hallmark movie, so sweet it causes tooth decay.
Attempting to spin and censor history reminds me of the guy who wears suspenders and a belt because he has no trust. Those who censor and spin history don’t trust the viewers or readers to make informed judgements. They’re pushing a political narrative instead of telling an accurate story about our country.
Americans value history—that’s why almost every town has a museum. But you don’t even need to visit the museum to learn a town’s history. Just stop into a cafe or a Casey’s for early morning coffee with a few seniors. You’ll hear the town’s oral history, warts and all. Political spin is usually snuffed out by the group.
Now, there’s an effort to revise what happened in this country just a few years ago. The spin won’t work and can’t withstand critical thinking. Let’s all resolve to reject political spin for our history and use our own judgment. For recent history, trust what you’ve seen with your own eyes.
Let’s not lose a huge piece of Iowa history
Closer to home, there’s another threat to our history. The Iowa Department of Administrative Services shuttered the State Historical Society of Iowa research facility in Iowa City, and the professional staff have been laid off.
The Iowa City center has been open since 1857. This is whitewashing history by neglect, using budget issues as a pretext.
The library contains one-of-a-kind historic letters, diaries, maps, books, newspapers, journals, oral histories, films, and other materials documenting Iowa’s rich heritage. State administrators propose to move the Iowa City collection to Des Moines, but the space won’t be completed until 2028 and will only accommodate 40 percent of the Iowa City material. There’s no clear plan for housing the remaining 60 percent.
Unless the Iowa legislature acts to save these important documents, a huge slice of Iowa history will disappear. Destroying documents that tell the story of who we are is a loss that can’t be measured and won’t be recognized until it’s too late.
This isn’t a red or blue issue. It’s an Iowa issue.
Let’s resolve to pressure Iowa lawmakers to intervene to find a public place to house this important history. These important documents should remain available to scholars, students, and the public. Also, please resolve to sign the petition here.
Maya Angelou said it best, “History despite its wrenching pain cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”
Editor’s note from Laura Belin: The Department of Administrative Services introduced a bill that would remove the legal requirement for the state to maintain a research center in Iowa City. An Iowa Senate State Government subcommittee is scheduled to consider Senate Study Bill 3033 on January 20.
However, a bipartisan group of Iowa House members—Republican State Representatives Bobby Kaufmann and Charley Thomson, and Democratic State Representatives Adam Zabner and Dave Jacoby, have introduced a bill (House File 2025) that would require the state to maintain “adequately staffed research centers that are open to the public in buildings located in Des Moines and Iowa City.”
Top photo: A sign for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture seen on January 23, 2022. Image by Peter Silverman Photo, available via Shutterstock.