Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-10-01
N Bad NAI|
Necessity Of Taking Care Of So
Archives Pointed Out BY
shambaugh Z
Valuable Papers in Danger Of Being.
Destroyed for Lack Of Store
Room.
Much Historical Data Contained in
Contents Of Old Boxes at
Capital.

Contents of Old Boxes at
Capital.
Special to Times Republican.
Des Moines, Oct. 1.-One Of the needs
of the state that will soon have to be
Supplied is some means for fling away,
or at the very least for storing, the
original records and archives of the va
rious state offices that have been accu-
mulating for the past fifty or sixty
years in Iowa and which now form such
a huge mass that there is no room to
properly care for them, and in many
| cases no room even to pile them up. The
value and Importance of these records
\ is too little understood. The general
public supposes that everything that is
tof value is contained in the printed:
Estate reports. This is great mistake.
The official reports are mere complia-
}tions, condensations, summaries, briefs
lof the matter in the manuscript records.
lBesides, much of the matter in the /
manuscript records that throws light on |
lcontemprorar history does not appear,
even in a condensed form, in the printed |
reports. The officers making these re-
4 ports can not be supposed for mo-
iment to have always selected for publi- |
4 cation the portions of the record which |
i are of the most Importance to the stu
Ident of history. AS a rule not more than
|2O per cent of the manuscript records is
published and very likely not that
much.
4 The public archives are now scattered
a thru the various Offices in the capitol
j building. Not all Of these offices are
y lprovided with freproof vaults. The Of
lfice of the state superintendent of pub
llic instruction, for instnace, does not
have as much as a wooden safe. Where
1.-The offices have vaults the records are
usually kept therein, but these vaults
Z lare no longer adequate for the accom-
modation of the archives that have been
a and are now rapidly accommodating. The
situation is really alarming when one
! reflects that spark might any day
Z consume many of the original records
/. (which would blot out some historical
b Ntdata and leave the future historian in
. 1 hopeless doubt.
DIR. Benjamin F. Shambaugh, of Iowa
= City, professor of political science In the
i university. recently made several visits
: to the state house to examine impor-
:. tant historical documents
IF some thing is not done in the di-
Erection OF preserving these records,
!, said DR.. Shambaugh Il fear that infthe
! near future twill be too late, for IL my
. observations are correct the dust and
:. heat Of those fireproof vaults In the
! capitol are fast destroying the docu-
8 lments filed therein. I noticed that pa
!. lpers of only a few years standing had
= Ibecome yellow and crisp. In some in
= stances the records are even now crum-
: bling. Already. there is talk, 1 hear, of
n burning up some of these old papers
g which are apparently regarded by some
= as worthless. The state officers are
overwhelmed by the great quantity Of
1.-THE matter which is in their Way in
: ltheir present work and which they have
{, no place to store. They have very sell
= dom occasion themselves to refer t1
Z. these documents and would like nothing
- /, better than to get them out of their
slway Perhaps the best illustration Of
- the overaowing vaults is found in the
: I5auditors office, where there are two
!, vaults, one in the main office and the
=. lother in the basement. The vault in the
Z, basement is so full that found it al
=, most Impossible to get access to thu
a matter that is there. Packages of pa
!, pers and bundles of letter files wer;
- scattered over the floor. There was NJ
!, better place to put them. In the ad
= Looming room there Were many record
- for which there was no place in tn
:, vaults This is certainly no way fo
- the state of Iowa to preserve it's docu
~. nentary history
~ Among these documents may b
rs, tiers, papers, messages. etc, of th
hs governors: the official manuscript re
ports of various state commissions fror
~ the earliest time down to the presenI
For example. there is in the office OF tn
ole auditor in the vault in the basement
al document which upon eNanfinatio
.ae proved to be the original manuscrip
IT journal of the commissioners who 10
he Icated the capital OF the territory a
ast Iowa City This is a brief journal, to b
ch sure, but it is most valuable and sig
ast lnificant thought l had nearly eS
at hausted the subject of the early his
ch tory of Iowa City, but here is docu
'ns ment of which had never before heart
,p- In the same vault there are also man
is letters of early prominent Iowa mel
me such as the letters of the early gov
do. ernors. of the first chief Justice, 5Charle
tlu Mason, etc. Again, III Tie Nttul Ill u
governors office all the papers. espt
cially the older ones. can not be prof.
erly cared for. Important documen
-. are simply piled in boxes They ousl
oe TO be carefully gone over, arranged ar
zen l.. filed away or bound by some sNster
ne ne Thru carelessness many of the most in
re- portant papers have been lost; at a
% events can find no trace of them.
lhs is frequently the case that a documel
vas tary record which at the time it is MAJ
Idoes not seem to be important becom
exceedingly important in subseQue:
"a years, because 1t shows conditions, Gu
!, , - {. TOMS the trend of thought. etc, to Il
-. future historian. The state ought
detise some means of arranging al
=. preserving this valuable material"
- The completion OF the historical bull
,hi- iis W. Sao,
4 ment of public archives where the
4 VALUABLE manuscripts may be intel
ex- gently and systematically filed awi
hile and preserved beyond the possibility
Inn loss. Those who are most interested
OF this work and have given 1t the mr.
. lA a