A HISTORY OF THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY THE INITIAL STEP At a special meeting of the Board of Curators of The State Historical Society of Iowa, held in the Hall of Liberal Arts on March 20, 1906, President Peter A. Dey was authorized to appoint a committee, with Curator Benj. F. Shambaugh as Chairman, to formulate plans for a program commemorative of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Constitution of Iowa. It was, moreover, contemplated that such a program, presented under the auspices of The State Historical Society, should incidentally commemorate the founding of the Society which took place at Iowa City in the year 1857. WAYS AND MEANS In line with the action of the Board of Curators the following correspondence took place between the Chairman of the committee of the Board of Curators and Mr. F. F. Jones, a member of the House of Representatives of the Thirty-first General Assembly: Dear Mr. JONES: Iowa City, Iowa, March 22, 1906. Through Senator Lambert I learned the fate of House File No. 291 relating to an appropriation for the Historical Society. 1 We fall by the wayside. As a result of the defeat of the Historical Society bill I am a little worried about the outcome of a movement on the part of the Historical Society for the commemoration in January or February, 1907, of the fiftieth anniversary of the formation and adoption of the Constitution of Iowa. The Society believes that a celebration should be arranged for commemorating the formation of the present Constitution of Iowa at Iowa City a half century ago. The Constitutional Convention met at Iowa City in the Old Stone Capitol from January 19 to March 5, 1857. Thus the celebration should probably be held sometime between January 19 and March 5, 1907. Furthermore, such celebration should be State-wide and should be given the largest possible public recognition. If we have any pride in our State history we ought not to allow the year 1907 to pass without a proper recognition of the great event of the adoption of the Constitution in 1857. In 1896 the Twentysixth General Assembly of Iowa appropriated $10,000 for the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the admission This bill, which provided for an increase in the appropriations for The State Historical Society of Iowa, was killed in the House Committee on Appropriations. |