The Iowa Conservation and Preservation Consortium [ICPC] is a typical Iowa grassroots organization. It started as a cooperative venture in 1989, when academic librarians from around Iowa met at a leadership retreat to identify and discuss mutual issues. Preservation was identified as an area of concern and a preservation working group was established. . . .
In 1991, the preservation working group invited the State Historical Society of Iowa to assist them in their transition from an academic library-based group into a multi-organizational group. In the fall of 1992 the transition was complete, ICPC was born, and the original working group disbanded.
As of 1995, the Consortium represents about 20 organizations statewide with extemely diverse collections ranging from courthouse records to large university collections. . . .
In January 1994, ICPC received funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities to develop a statewide preservation plan which would establish priorities for a coordinated and cooperative effort to preserve, protect, and provide access to Iowa’s collections in the most appropriate formats. This planning effort had three goals: to increase awareness of preservation issues, to create an understanding and commitment to preservation activities, and to develop a statewide preservation plan. . . .
Fragile Harvest: Preserving Documentary Heritage
Nancy Kraft, Ivan Hanthorn, and Robert Strauss
Iowa Cooperative Preservation Consortium, 1995