State begins moving Iowa City historical society materials, despite lawsuit

IOWA CITY — Despite a lawsuit fighting the State Historical Society of Iowa's unexpected and "haphazard" closure of its Iowa City research facility and archives — and a court hearing scheduled in the dispute next week — the state on Monday began moving some of the historical documents with help from prison inmates.

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"We don't know what provisions are made, if any, for caring for these materials," former University of Iowa historian and archivist David McCartney told The Gazette on Monday after watching crews unload dollies and pallets outside the Centennial Building that for nearly 70 years has housed the historical research facility and its archives.

“This is not a regular household move — not to speak ill of the family furniture or heirlooms," he said. "But these are literally irreplaceable documents. And we don't know what measures, if any, have been taken to ensure their proper handling.

“They're being moved without apparently any real preparation," said McCartney, among 17 plaintiffs suing the State Historical Society, its administrator, the Iowa Department of Administrative Services, its director, and the state archivist.

The group of historians, archivists, professors, authors, donors, and concerned citizens filed their lawsuit Sept. 26 — about three months after the state on June 17 announced plans to close the 168-year-old Iowa City research facility despite its mandated existence in Iowa Code, which charges the state to maintain research centers in both Des Moines and Iowa City.

Per the state, the Iowa City Research Center will close to the public at the end of December and either relocate its collections to Des Moines or to “partner repositories across the state.”

Materials affected include newspapers on microfilm, World War II newspaper clippings, state administrative records, and non-Iowa history journals.

In announcing the closure, the state reported its legal obligation “to manage the collections held at the Iowa City branch as part of its public trust responsibilities to Iowans.”

“Mass disposal of collections will not occur,” according to a state website of updates on the Iowa City facility, which also promises to “meet or exceed professional standards for security, temperature, and humidity control” during the transition.

But plaintiffs are crying foul on those assertions — given the lack of details and transparency around the process — and on the state’s decision to plow ahead with the move despite a lawsuit and upcoming court hearing next week.

“We didn’t know if they would once the state was served with this lawsuit — if they would put a hold on it,” McCartney said. “Obviously they're not. They're moving forward.”

The hearing set for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 14 in Johnson County will let attorneys argue for or against a temporary injunction to block the state from closing the facility and moving any more materials until the court case concludes.

‘Jumped the gun’

Beyond next week’s hearing, the lawsuit’s ultimate ask is for a judge to make the temporary injunction permanent — finding the state broke the law in announcing the closure, compelling it to keep the facility open. Plaintiffs also want the court to mandate the state return to Iowa City all collections, artifacts, and other materials already taken.

But the state is fighting back, filing motions to dismiss the case, block the temporary injunction, and remove named individuals as defendants on the suit. Citing procedural flaws with the case, rather than substantive issues, state attorneys in their motions last week said the plaintiffs didn’t exhaust all the required alternatives before suing.

“Even if the petition is liberally construed in their favor, petitioners do not assert any facts that would allow them to prematurely seek judicial review,” according to the defendants’ motion for dismissal. “Petitioners do not assert any immediate or substantial injuries that would even come close to justifying premature judicial review.”

Citing Iowa Code chapter 17’s framework for aggrieved parties wanting to appeal the administration’s governing decisions, the state said the petitioners “have jumped the gun, seeking judicial review before exhausting their administrative remedies.”

Although the state in its legal response didn’t delve into the substance of the accusations that it’s breaking the law by closing the Iowa City facility, officials did respond to some of the accusations in an FAQ on its website.

Citing a budget shortfall for the need to close the Iowa City branch, state officials said, “Decisions about which collections will move to the Des Moines branch and which may be transferred to other institutions will follow all applicable state rules, policies, and current professional standards and ethics.”

Items are considered for deaccession — when they’re removed the state’s official collection — if they meet one of four criteria:

That can happen when material is duplicated, converted to another widely available preserved format, or have little to no connection to Iowa.

Materials also might be deemed apart from the society’s mission if they fall outside the 2024 “collecting plan,” which identified a list of “focus areas” — like rural Iowans and agrulcultural life, immigrants and refugees, Native American groups, or political history.

That plan listed as examples of artifacts the state would consider acquiring: Iowa caucus material, military service material, and artifacts of immigrants to Iowa.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com