State Historical Society has extensive history of its own

Both State Historical Society of Iowa buildings in Iowa City and Des Moines are under the governance of the state's Department of Cultural Affairs.

But it wasn't always that way.

In 1857 the Iowa Legislature authorized the creation of the State Historical Society of Iowa in Iowa City.

The private/public organization was once located in the University of Iowa's Schaeffer Hall with Benjamin F. Shambaug spending four decades as the superintendent.

Around the organization's 100th year of operation, work began for the creation of the Centennial Building, 402 Iowa Ave, which opened 1960.

It wasn't until 1974 that the state merged with the Iowa City board, thus taking over management of the facilities and collections, to continue work in tandem with the Des Moines facilities.

A seven-year legal dispute between the state and State Historical Society Inc. over the ownership of the collections took place, until a settlement agreement was reached in 1983.

That allows the SHS Inc. initial ownership over all items collected before 1974, in the event that the state decides to close the building.

In 1986, the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs was established and became the managing entity for the State Historical Society of Iowa.

In its 158 years of operation, the Iowa City society has collected a plethora of historical documents including 160,000 books; 15,000 pamphlets; 30,000 reels of microfilm; 3,000 maps; more than 2,000 oral histories and millions of photographs.

The society celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2007 with a staff of 12 employees in the Centennial Building. Staff is now down to four, with another full time employee planning to retire this summer.

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