About this Exhibit

The online exhibit, "A More Beautiful Iowa: Iowa's State Parks System,"1 is based on a physical exhibit, which was displayed in the Iowa State University Library Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) during the summer and fall semester of 2017. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Iowa's state parks bill (passed in April 1917), which made Iowa's state parks system possible, the physical exhibit highlighted Iowa State's contributions to the state parks movement during the effort to establish state parks and the early years of their existence. Iowa State individuals played a major role in establishing the state park system, and the state of Iowa soon became a national leader in the state park movement.

The online exhibit is divided into three main sections: History, People, and Parks. The history section describes the history of Iowa's state parks, covering their establishment, design, and the land they preserve. The section on people covers people from Iowa State who were involved during the early years of the state parks movement, as well as people from outside of Iowa State who were a part of the effort to establish a state park system. Also included are people who played a role in Iowa's history and are therefore reflected in park names. The parks section highlights three of Iowa's early state parks (Backbone, Dolliver, and Ledges), and contains a brief section on today's parks, including an interactive map.

Acknowledgements

Curators of the physical and online exhibit would like to extend a special acknowledgment to Rebecca Conard, co-founder of Tallgrass Historians L. C. and currently (2017) Professor of History/Director of Public History, Middle Tennessee State University. Her publications on the history of Iowa conservation and state parks provided invaluable assistance in the creation of the online and physical exhibits on Iowa's state parks.

Thanks to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for generously providing us with information we were missing for the online exhibit.

 

Digital Exhibit Development:

Kim Anderson
Lori Bousson
Lindsey Hillgartner
Laura Sullivan

 

Physical Exhibit Curators:
Laura Sullivan
Becky Jordan
Brad Kuennen

 

Physical Exhibit Project Coordinator:
Rachel Seale

 

Physical Exhibit Conservation, Production, and Design:
Laura Sullivan
Sofia (Sonya) Barron
Jim Wilcox
Mindy McCoy
Drew Ryan

 

Special Acknowledgements:
M. Beth McNeil, Dean of the Library
Hilary Seo, Associate Dean, Curation Services
Petrina Jackson, Head, Special Collections and University Archives
Kim Anderson, Co-Lead, Digital Scholarship and Initiatives
Heidi Hohmann, Associate Professor, Landscape Architecture


Related Resources
The resources listed here are a selection of available writings, archival collections, and online resources related to Iowa's state parks. Many were used during the creation of the physical and online exhibits. A portion of these resources are available through the Iowa State Parks Digital Collection.

 

Contents:
Resources Related to Individual State Parks
Archival Collections in the Iowa State University Library Special Collections and University Archives
Publications and Online Resources
Resources Located Outside of Iowa State University

 

Resources Related to Individual State Parks
This section lists both publications and archival collections that are centered on individual state parks within Iowa. Unless otherwise specified, call numbers and archival collection numbers refer to collections held at the Iowa State University Library. When researching the establishment and early history of state parks in Iowa, the Louis Hermann Pammel papers (RS 13/5/13) are a good place to start. The papers contain a variety of information on Pammel's involvement, individual state parks, and the State Board of Conservation. His papers include correspondence, scrapbooks, publications, photographs, speeches, and administrative records.

The Iowa State University Library Special Collections and University Archives department also holds a variety of landscape architecture plans related to Iowa's state parks, located in Record Series (RS) 26/5. In particular, the materials in the Landscape Architecture Extension Program records (RS 26/5/6) contain some significant early documentation and landscape drawings that the Iowa State staff created for the development of the state park system.

 

Publications on individual state parks include:

Backbone Nature Notes. Iowa State Conservation Commission and United States Work Projects Administration Division of Recreation Education. Call number. QH105 I8 B33x.

Dolliver Memorial State Park nature notes. Iowa State Conservation Commission, Iowa State College Extension Service, and United States Works Progress Administration Division of Recreation and Education. Call number. Qh105 I8 D65x.


Lake Ahquabi Nature Notes. Iowa State Conservation Commission and United States Work Projects Administration Division of Recreation Education.


Ledges Nature Notes. Iowa State Conservation Commission and Iowa State College Extension Service. United States Works Progress Administration Division of Recreation and Education. Call number QH105 I8 L4.


State Park Nature Notes, Iowa State Conservation Commission, and United States Work Projects Administration Division of Recreation Education. Call number QH105 I8 S7.

 


Online Resources related to individual state parks

Iowa Department of Natural Resources listing of state parks and preserves: http://www.iowadnr.gov/Places-to-Go/State-Parks/Iowa-State-Parks

Iowa Geological Survey's Guidebooks to State Parks: http://www.iihr.uiowa.edu/igs/guidebooks-to-state-parks/

National Register of Historic Places application for Backbone State Park: https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/ffdfee33-0d9b-4007-b027-e974145bd21f

National Register of Historic Places application for Maquoketa Caves State Park: https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset?assetID=9693aa0b-40ef-4876-9e0b-0cd038b55b05

 


Archival Collections in the Iowa State University Library Special Collections and University Archives

People

John M. Aikman papers, RS 13/5/52 (no online finding aid)

Ada Hayden papers, RS 13/5/55: http://findingaids.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/arch/rgrp/13-5-55.html

Charles F. Curtiss papers, RS 9/1/12: http://findingaids.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/arch/rgrp/9-1-12.html

John R. Fitzsimmons papers, RS 26/5/2 (no online finding aid)

Charles S. Gwynne papers, RS 13/8/12, box 2, folder 1: http://findingaids.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/arch/rgrp/13-8-12.html

G. B. MacDonald papers, RS 9/14/11: http://findingaids.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/arch/rgrp/9-14-11.html

Louis Hermann Pammel papers, RS 13/5/13: http://archives.lib.iastate.edu/sites/default/files/documents/finding-aids-RS/13-05-13.pdf

Louise L. Parker papers, MS-0014: http://findingaids.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/manuscripts/MS014.html

Raymond A. Pearson papers, RS 2/7: http://findingaids.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/arch/rgrp/2-7.html

Organizations and University Units

Iowa Academy of Science records, MS-0052, http://findingaids.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/manuscripts/MS052.html

Iowa Citizens to Save the Ledges records, MS-0097: http://findingaids.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/manuscripts/MS097.html

Iowa Public Interest Research Group records, MS-0543: http://findingaids.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/manuscripts/MS543.html

Iowa State University Landscape Architecture Extension Program records, RS 26/5/6

ISPIRG (Iowa Students Public Interest Research Group) folder in Iowa State University Political and Social Action Student Organizations Subject Files, RS 22/4/0/1: http://findingaids.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/arch/rgrp/22-4-0-1.html

Save the Ledges Coalition records: http://findingaids.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/manuscripts/MS075.html

United States Works Progress Administration (Iowa) Photographs, MS-0260: http://findingaids.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/manuscripts/MS260.html


Publications and Online Resources

Cawley, Edward T. "The History of Prairie Preservation in Iowa." Available at: http://images.library.wisc.edu/EcoNatRes/EFacs/NAPC/NAPC02/reference/econatres.napc02.ecawley.pdf.

Civilian Conservation Corps Camp newsletters: https://dds.crl.edu/crldelivery/14973.

Conard, Rebecca. "Hot Kitchens in Places of Quiet Beauty: Iowa State Parks and the Transformation of Conservation Goals." Annals of Iowa 51 (1992): 441-479. Available at: http://ir.uiowa.edu/annals-of-iowa/vol51/iss5/2.

Conard, Rebecca. "The Legacy of Hope from an Era of Despair: The CCC and Iowa State Parks." Books at Iowa 64 (1996): 15-30. Accessed 9/8/2017. Available at: http://ir.uiowa.edu/bai/vol64/iss1/3.

Conard, Rebecca. Places of Quiet Beauty: Parks, Preserves, and Environmentalism. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1997.

"The Historical Department and the State Board of Conservation." The Annals of Iowa 14 (1923): 61-64. Available at: http://ir.uiowa.edu/annals-of-iowa/vol14/iss1/6.

Hayden, Ada, et. al., "Present Status and Outlook of Conservation in Iowa." Iowa Academy of Sciences Proceedings. Volume 51 (1944): 39-96.

Hayden, Ada. "The Selection of Prairie Areas in Iowa Which Should Be Preserved." Iowa Academy of Sciences Proceedings. Volume 52 (1945): 127-148.

Hayden, Ada. And J. M. Aikman. "Considerations Involved in the Management of Prairie Preserves." Iowa Academy of Sciences Proceedings. Volume 56 (1949): 133-142.

Iowa Department of Natural Resources. "The CCC Legacy." Available at: http://www.iowadnr.gov/Places-to-Go/State-Parks/The-CCC-Legacy.

Iowa Parks: Conservation of Iowa Historic, Scenic and Scientific Areas. Report of the State Board of Conservation. Des Moines: State of Iowa, 1919. Available at: https://archive.org/details/iowaparksconserv00iowarich.

Iowa Conservation Association. Wildways. Call number QH1 W647. (Journal of the Iowa Park and Forestry Association, later the Iowa Conservation Association)

Iowa Highway Commission, Report of the State Highway Commission on the Iowa Lakes and Lake Beds. Des Moines: State of Iowa, 1917. Available online at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/107096#page/7/mode/1up.

"Legislation on State Parks." The Annals of Iowa 13 (1921), 2-67. Available at: http://ir.uiowa.edu/annals-of-iowa/vol13/iss1/21.

Proceedings of the Iowa Park and Forestry Association, 1902-1906. Call number NA9825 I8 Io92p.

MacDonald, G. B., "Report on the Status of Emergency Conservation Work in Iowa." Thirty-Sixth Annual Iowa Year Book of Agriculture (1935): 182-183. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015075081557.

Pammel, L. H. "The Arbor Day, Park, and Conservation Movements in Iowa." The Annals of Iowa 17 (1930): 270-313. Available at: http://ir.uiowa.edu/annals-of-iowa/vol17/iss4/3.

Pammel, L. H. [Collected Writings]. 47 v. 1884-1930. Call number QK31 P36 P36x 1884. (Note: volumes 33-38 and 44 in particular contain publications on Iowa's state parks).

Pammel, L. H., et. al. Iowa Parks Conservation of Iowa Historic, Scenic and Scientific Areas. Also, a Description of Numerous Areas Suitable for Public State Parks, with Reasons for Their Preservation, 1920. Available at: https://archive.org/stream/iowaparksconserv00iowarich#page/n7/mode/2up/search/forest+and+game+preserves.

Pohl, Marjorie Conley, "Louis H. Pammel: Pioneer Botanist - A Biography," Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science. 92, no. 1, Article 3 (1985): 1-50. Available at: http://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol92/iss1/3.

State Parks and Recreation Area Visits, 2015: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/publications/FCTA/798883.pdf.

United States Fish and Wildlife Service. “Nation Marks Lacy Act Centennial, 100 Years of Federal Wildlife Law Enforcement.” News, May 30, 2000. Available at: https://www.fws.gov/pacific/news/2000/2000-98.htm.


Resources Located Outside of Iowa State University

In addition to the Iowa State University Library, resources on state parks can be found throughout Iowa. For instance, the Papers of Thomas H. MacBride and the Papers of Bohumil Shimek are located in the University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections & University Archives. Like Louis Pammel at Iowa State, both individuals played important roles in the state parks movement. The State Historical Society of Iowa also holds a variety of records related to state parks, including administrative records held in the State Archives.
 


Articles on the exhibit

Iowa State Daily: http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/article_72d92040-4aca-11e7-82ab-53412eb41108.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share

Cardinal Tales blog post: https://isuspecialcollections.wordpress.com/2017/06/01/celebrating-100-years-iowas-state-parks/

Iowa State University News Service: http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2017/06/01/hohmannparks

 

  • 1. The physical exhibit's title was "'This movement for a more beautiful Iowa': The Early years of Iowa's State Park System." The quote in the title is from an article written by May H. McNider: "Women Want Iowa Scenery Preserved," Conservation of Iowa Historic, Scenic and Scientific Areas (Des Moines: State Board of Conservation, 1919), 280.