Iowa Genealogy Records at Risk

Submitted by: HOST GFS Maria@aol.com
From IOWA-L@rootsweb.com mailing list

 

Family history friends...

We need your help!!

Iowa's legislative leadership is suggesting the elimination of the Department of Cultural Affairs (State Historical Society of Iowa and Iowa Arts Council) to help balance the FY03 budget, which begins July 1. They will meet in a special session May 28.

The elimination of the DCA will mean:

--Iowa's two libraries with their collections of Iowa census records, newspapers, vital records, historic photographs, historical manuscripts, maps, oral histories, and books would be sealed from public access and at risk of loss!

--The State Archives -- the only repository of permanent, vital, government records as well as thousands of military and family records -- would be sealed from public access and at risk of loss!

--Iowa's state museum -- and the other eight historic sites operated by DCA across the state -- would close and be at risk!

--Iowa's collection of more than 100,000 artifacts from Iowa's past donated by Iowans over the past 110 years will have no one to care for them and make them accessible for research and exhibition. They are at risk of loss!

One solution to the budget crisis is to use the Iowa Road Use Tax Fund, which pulls in more than $1 BILLION dollars annually. The source of the Iowa Road Tax Fund is the tax paid each time a new or used car is purchased. Those monies are dedicated to repairing Iowa roads. To save the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs for one year, it would require approximately the same amount of money used to build two miles of hard top.

Here's how you can help:

WRITE or e-mail your state legislators! And, call everyone you know and ask them to write their state legislators today -- tomorrow may be too late! Call members of your service clubs (Lions, Masons, Master Gardeners, etc.) and ask them to call and write their state legislators as well. When communicating with your representatives, tell them that history counts in Iowa. The solution to the budgeting problems is to use the Iowa Road Use Tax Fund in a creative way. WRITE a short letter to your local paper indicating your support of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs and the need to use the Iowa Road Use Tax Fund to help balance the FY03 budget. E-MAIL your regular email friends with this information. Let them know how to e-mail their legislators and local newspapers. http://www2.legis.state.ia.us CONTACT your national legislators and tell them of your concern. Ask them to pressure state legislators to retain the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.
http://www.senate.gov/~grassley/
http://www.senate.gov/~harkin/
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
MARCH on the Capitol during the special session, May 28! Have the legislators feel pressure as they enter the chambers to vote. CC or call the Governor on EVERYTHING THAT IS DONE. 515-281-5211, tom.vilsack@igov.state.ia.us

Thank you all for helping out! I know that you have hectic schedules that require you to concentrate on other concerns, but this is a true emergency. If you need to get ahold of me over the next couple of weeks, you can reach me at work at 515-281-5020, home at 515-223-1989, or cell at 515-229-4005.

Thanks!
Tami Foster
IGS Member and Editor of the Hawkeye Heritage

-Richard Harrison
-List Owner
-IOWA-admin@rootsweb.com
-IowaGenealogy@cs.com

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