March/April 2023 (Volume 15, Issue 2)

 

By Michael Swanger

 

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the founding of Iowa History Journal and my 10th year as its owner and publisher. 

 

Little did I know when I began my career as a print journalist nearly 30 years ago working as a reporter and editor for Iowa newspapers that one day there would be a unique life role for me to fill in an industry that has felt like a calling since my childhood. Such an opportunity rarely is afforded those who toil in newsrooms, many of whom burn out after a few years and leave for jobs in marketing departments with better hours and more pay. Then again, as Sioux City native and popular advice columnist Ann Landers once said, “Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.”

 

After nearly 20 years of hard work and hard knocks working for Iowa newspapers, I recognized the opportunity when I purchased Iowa History Journal from its founder in 2013. The work and sacrifices necessary to own it, as I was warned by my predecessor, didn’t scare me. In fact, it invigorated me. 

 

If the measure of a print journalist’s joy lies in the insatiable appetite for knowledge, exploration and storytelling, and not in the mere possession of money or the vanity of a byline, then I am, without equivocation, a happy print journalist. 

 

Not a day has gone by in the last decade where it has felt like “work” as a small business owner doing the big job of preserving and promoting Iowa’s often overlooked but fascinating history by publishing the only popular statewide magazine devoted to it. Though I wear many hats and my work is seemingly never done with a continuous cycle of tasks, challenges and deadlines, I embrace the grind. Working for newspapers taught me the value of tenacity. 

 

Of course none of Iowa History Journal’s success would be possible without the support of our subscribers, newsstand customers, advertisers, distributors, writers, designers and others who work behind the scenes to produce Iowa History Journal. That includes my family, especially my wife Rebecca, who assists me with administrative tasks and unwavering support. My gratitude for her knows no bounds. 

 

Over the years, some things have changed for the better about Iowa History Journal, while other things have remained the same … for the better. We still publish six issues per year. We still feature a mix of content in each issue that appeals to a broad range of Iowans. Our subscription rates have remained remarkably flat for 12 years (a rare fete in this industry). And our readers still tell us with the publication of each new issue that they have learned something new about Iowa that they would not have learned reading other publications.

 

In the last 10 years, Iowa History Journal has made significant improvements regarding its research, writing, artwork, design and variety of content, as well as its distribution, circulation, advertising and marketing (including an increased presence on Facebook and Instagram). Single copies of Iowa History Journal are now sold on newsstands across the state at Hy-Vee, Barnes and Noble, Walmart, select Mills Fleet Farm stores and Beaverdale Books. We boast subscribers in each of Iowa’s 99 counties and in more than 30 states. And our writers have won several George Mills-Louise Noun Popular History Awards given annually by the State Historical Society of Iowa Board of Trustees.

 

When I took ownership of Iowa History Journal in 2013, one of the most frequently asked questions that I fielded — and still do today — is “Are there enough stories about Iowa’s history to fill six issues a year?” The answer, as many of our longtime readers will attest, is a resounding “Yes!” As I have repeatedly said over the years, “there’s a lifetime’s worth of stories.”

 

To tell those stories — from the forgotten to the familiar — Iowa History Journal has relied on the generous talent of a growing stable of contributing writers. (Sadly, we lost one of our most tenured writers in December, John Skipper.) What they have in common is a shared belief in the importance of Iowa History Journal’s work, which not only is telling stories about Iowa’s history but offering some much needed historical context to today’s issues. As Mark Twain once wrote, history doesn’t repeat itself but it does rhyme.

 

Thanks for reading and supporting Iowa History Journal. We look forward to preserving and promoting our state’s history for future generations of Iowans to learn and enjoy for the next 15 years and beyond!

 

TO READ MORE FASCINATING STORIES ABOUT IOWA HISTORY, subscribe to Iowa History Journal. You can also purchase back issues at the store.