The Reynolds administration is appealing the district court ruling that it cannot eliminate the Iowa City research center and archives of the State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI). Lawyers from the Attorney General’s Office filed notice on Friday that the administration is appealing Judge David Cox’s Sept. 17 decision to the Iowa Supreme Court.
Cox overturned the order issued by the Iowa Department of Administration (DAS) and SHSI, which is a division of DAS, permanently closing the research center in the Centennial Building and directing that its 34,700 cubic feet of archival material be dispersed. Neither DAS or SHSI ever publicly explained what would happen to the material other than saying about 40 percent of it would be moved to the SHSI Des Moines facility and eventually become available to the public again.
The order to shutter the Centennial Building and disperse the archives came as a surprise when SHSI Administrator Valerie Van Kooten announced it as a cost-saving measure in a June 17 news release last year.
“The decision was not made lightly,” Van Kooten said in the news release.
That statement rang hollow to historians, students and members of the public who use the Iowa City facility, since there was no attempt to get public input on the decision before it was announced. Even the SHSI Board of Trustees were kept in the dark about the decision, learning about it at the same time the public did.
At the first meeting of the board after the plan to close the Centennial Building was announced, then-director of DAS Adam Steen told the trustees the department considered their input on the decision to be unnecessary. (Steen resigned his position in August to launch a campaign for governor, calling himself “a Jesus guy” and “a Make America Great Again guy.” He finished a distant third in the Republican primary, winning 14.9 percent of the vote.)
A coalition of historians, archivists, students, people whose families had donated material to the Iowa City archives and concerned members of the public formed Save Iowa History to push the Reynolds administration to reverse its decision. In September of last year, 17 members of Save Iowa History filed a lawsuit to halt the closure of the Centennial Building and overturn the decision by SHSI and DAS.
At the heart of the case was the simple fact that Chapter 8a of Iowa State Code mandates SHSI “Maintain research centers in Des Moines and Iowa City.” The petitioners also argued the closure would violate the terms a legal settlement SHSI entered into in 1983, and that moving some of the archival matter would violate commitments made to the people who donated it. The lawsuit received support from numerous scholars and professional organizations, including the American Council of Learned Societies, the Society of American Archivists and the American Historical Association, all of whom attested to the unique value of the Iowa City facility.
Last October, a Johnson County District Court Judge issued a temporary injunction stopping SHSI and DAS from removing archival material from the Iowa City facility. Even though SHSI and DAS followed through on their plans and closed the Centennial Building to the public on Dec. 31, the injunction remained in place.
In his ruling earlier this month, Judge Cox found that SHSI and DAS had offered no plausible reason why the mandate to “Maintain research centers in Des Moines and Iowa City” didn’t mean exactly what it clearly means. The judge also concluded that the “closure of the Centennial Building … would have a negative impact to the public interest.”
There was an attempt by Republican lawmakers to ensure the closure of the Centennial Building during this year’s legislative session. SF 2293 would have struck “and Iowa City” from state code and made “research centers” singular, removing the principle legal roadblock stopping the closure.
The Iowa Senate passed the bill on March 4. The bill went to the Iowa House, where it was passed by a Ways and Means subcommittee on April 30, but went no further. SF 2293 expired when this year’s legislative session finished on May 3.
