Healthy Iowans 2010 Mid-Course Revision, July 2005

In the past century, public health has been credited with adding 25 years to life expectancy by contributing to the decline in illness and injury. Progress has been made, for example, in smoking reduction, infectious disease, and motor vehicle and workplace injuries. Besides its focus on traditional concerns such as clean water and safe food, public health is adapting to meet emerging health problems. Particular troublesome are health threats to youth: teenage pregnancies, violence, substance abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, and other conditions associated with high-risk behaviors. These threats add to burgeoning health care costs. A conservative estimate of $69 billion in medical spending could be averted through the impact of public health strategies aimed at heart disease, stroke, fatal and nonfatal occupational injuries, motor vehicle-related injuries, low birth weight, and violence. These strategies require the collaboration of many groups in the public and private sectors. Collaboration is the bedrock of public health and Healthy Iowans planning. At the core of Healthy Iowans 2000 and its successor, Healthy Iowans 2010, is the idea that all Iowans benefit when stakeholders decide on disease prevention and health promotion strategies and agree to work together on them. These strategies can improve the quality of life and hold down health care costs. The payoff for health promotion and disease prevention is not immediate, but it has long-lasting benefits. The Iowa plan is a companion to the national plan, Healthy People 2010. An initiative to improve the health of Americans, the national plan is the driving force for federal resource allocation for disease prevention and health promotion. The state plan is used in the same way. Both plans have received broad support from Republican and Democratic administrations. Community planners are using the state plan to help assess health needs and craft health improvement plans. Healthy Iowans 2010 was written at an unusual point in history – a new decade, a new century, a new millennium. The introduction was optimistic. “The 21st century,” it says, “promises to add life as well as years through improved health habits coupled with medical advances. Scientists have suggested that if these changes occur, the definition of adulthood will also change. An extraordinary number of people will live fuller, more active lives beyond that expected in the late 20th century.” At the same time, the country has spawned a new generation of health hazards. According to Dr. William Dietz of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it has replaced “the diseases of deficiency with diseases of excess” (Newsweek, August 2, 1999). New threats, such as childhood overweight, can reverse progress made in the last century. This demands concerted action.

Discovering Historic Iowa Transportation Milestones, February 1999

In studying and forming an understanding of Iowa’s transportation history, we must surely develop a reverence for the lifestyles which preceded ours. Achieving a greater understanding of our past, we are better prepared to plan our future as we say farewell to the 20th century and move forward into the 21st. In the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes: “I believe the greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving... and the further backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.” To help Iowans gain a better understanding of our state’s rich transportation past, the Iowa Department of Transportation has produced a collection of materials including this booklet, the 1999-2000 Iowa Transportation Map, a video entitled A History of Iowa’s Rivers, Roads, Rails and Runways, and a traveling photo exhibit. In addition, Iowa is fortunate to have many local organizations, and the state-owned museum and historic sites, working to preserve the history of our state. Listed in the back section of this booklet are the addresses and descriptions of many sites that offer visitors an opportunity to see a wide range of transportation- related artifacts. The information and photographs are organized in time sequence. However, you will note that many of the transportation eras overlap. The booklet begins with Iowa’s pre-settlement era and concludes with the historic highway and transit program that was signed into law by President Clinton in 1998. As you can imagine, condensing this much Iowa history into a booklet-sized resource was a monumental challenge. Making selections and abbreviating the information resulted in some difficult editorial choices. However, we hope this publication will inspire readers to learn more about our rich, rewarding past and to visit and experience some of Iowa’s historic sites.

Three faces of Midwestern isolationism,1981.

The papers presented in this volume were delivered at a conference held on April 2, 1980, in Iowa City under the sponsorship of the Center for the Study of the Recent History of the United States, a cooperative undertaking involving the State Historical Society of Iowa, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, and the University of Iowa. The institutions were working together to make a larger contribution to the study of the history of the United States in the 20th century.

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, March 28, 2012

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, published by the Iowa State Capitol Tour Guides weekly during the legislative session, features historical facts about Iowa, the Capitol, and the early workings of state government. All historical publications are reproduced here with the actual spelling, punctuation, and grammar retained. THIS WEEK: Electric Lighting in the Iowa State Capitol BACKGROUND: REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON LIGHTING THE BUILDING AND GROUNDS WITH ELECTRICITY—1882 The Capitol Commissioners submitted biennial reports throughout the 15 years it took to build the Capitol (1871-1886). Often there were committees formed to investigate a certain phase of the construction. The following is the report of the Committee on Lighting. Note: The Capitol Commissioners determined the gas lighting to be the best choice in the 1880s. Less than 20 years later, the process began to convert the Capitol from gas to electric lighting. There was a period where both types of lighting were being used in the Capitol. The photograph of the 1904 apple harvest shows both electric and gas fixtures. The turn of the 20th century photograph of the library also shows chandeliers utilizing both gas and electricity. The photograph of the single fixture in the library is a mystery. It shows a fixture utilizing both gas and electricity, but no other photographs of the library exist where this fixture appears. Perhaps it was a prototype and never used in the Capitol.

The Glass Floor.

A photographic and video record of the project to recreate and reconstruct the glass floor for the opening between the ground and first floors in the rotunda of the Iowa State Capitol. The original glass floor was removed in the early 20th century, but the decision was made to put a new one in to help improve the acoustics and air flow in the building.

Marsh rainbow arch bridges in Iowa, 1997

The Marsh Rainbow Arch Bridge is a patented bridge design by James Barney Marsh, a graduate of Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now Iowa State University). Around the turn of the 20th Century, reinforced concrete was introduced in Iowa as an important new bridge construction material. Marsh used the new technology to encased steel truss arches in concrete to produce a sturdy yet esthetic arch bridge. This booklet touches on the important aspects of Marsh's life, business and industrial contributions.