| Contact:
Jeff Morgan, Jeff.Morgan@iowa.gov,
(515) 281-3858
(DES
MOINES) – The State Historical Society
of Iowa will celebrate its sesquicentennial 2-4 p.m.
July 21, 2007 at the Gladbrook City Center.
SHSI launched its year-long statewide sesquicentennial
celebration in February at the Old Capitol Building
in Iowa City, where the Iowa Legislature created the
State Historical Society as the organization to preserve
and protect the history of Iowa. SHSI is planning
similar celebrations throughout the state during the
year.
For 150 years, the SHSI has had a dual mission of
preservation and education. As a trustee of Iowa’s
historical legacy, the Society identifies, records,
collects, preserves, manages, and provides access
to Iowa's historical resources. As an advocate of
understanding Iowa's past, the Society educates Iowans
of all ages, conducts and stimulates research, disseminates
information, and encourages and supports historical
preservation and education efforts of others throughout
the state.
On January 30, 1857, Iowa’s pioneer lawmakers
had the foresight to establish an institution dedicated
to preserving the history of our state. When the constitution
for the organization was adopted on February 7, the
State Historical Society of Iowa became the permanent
home of the state’s treasures. The Society has
grown and changed tremendously in the last 150 years
but it continues to support humanities scholars with
rich historical collections, publications, exhibits,
and public programming. Connecting generations and
celebrating Iowa’s cultural heritage is its
mission as it reach out to citizens and communities
across the state.
Notable individuals have been associated with the
State Historical Society of Iowa such as Benjamin
F. Shambaugh, who launched The Iowa Journal of
History and Politics and our popular journal,
The Palimpsest (now called Iowa Heritage
Illustrated). Located on the third floor of Schaeffer
Hall in Iowa City from 1900 until 1957, when the Centennial
Building was built at 402 Iowa Avenue, the State Historical
Society of Iowa has always been closely affiliated
with The University of Iowa. Shambaugh and his colleagues
like Ruth Gallaher, Jacob Swisher, and Mildred Throne
set high standards for research and scholarship, and
were among the first generation of public historians
in the nation.
The Department of History and Archives was established
in Des Moines at the end of the 19th century, where
under the leadership of Edgar R. Harlan and Jack Musgrove,
a major historical museum and research collections
were developed. The growth of the historic preservation
movement in the late 1960s led to the creation of
the Office of Historic Preservation, formerly housed
at Old Brick in the mid-1980s. All three historical
organizations were merged in 1974 and all became known
as the State Historical Society of Iowa under the
administrative unit of the Iowa Department of Cultural
Affairs.
Today, the modern State Historical Society of Iowa
is a complex organization serving a much broader constituency
than originally envisioned by the founders who thought
of the Society as more of a curio cabinet. Visit www.iowahistory.org
to learn more about the Society and the myriad programs
and services it offers to the public.
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