A Johnson County judge has ruled against the state’s decision to close a State Historical Society of Iowa facility in Iowa City.
The Iowa Department of Administrative Services closed the Centennial Building in December due to budget constraints. The judge ruled Iowa law requires the department to maintain a research center in Iowa City.
Retired archivist Mary Bennett, a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits fighting the closure, says their concern was the handling of historical materials.
“They did destroy or take away things in a very non-transparent manner,” Bennett says. “We don’t know what they took and where they took it.”
Bennett says the state closed the building and relocated some items to Des Moines without public input. She says most of the items in the building correlate with each other and are meant to reside in Iowa City. She says while the court ruled in favor of those opposing the closure, she doesn’t think the fight is over yet.
“But as a person who worked in that building for 50 years, I’m very apprehensive,” she says. “There’s a lot of things that have to be corrected and remedied in order for this to come back to life.”
Bennett says the state’s decision was based on false claims that the building is a safety hazard and too costly to maintain, adding, the decision was made without public input. She says valuable materials were also damaged when the state initially closed the building.
The department says it is reviewing the court order.
(Maura Curran, Iowa Public Radio)