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Walch earns Lifetime Achievement Award
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · July 10, 2024
Timothy Walch said the 2024 William J. Petersen and Edgar R. Harlan Award for Lifetime Achievement that he received ought to be shared by many others.
The State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI) Board of Trustees chose the former Herbert Hoover Library-Museum director for “significant and sustained contributions” to Iowa history.
“Dr. Walch has been a paragon of Iowa history,” Dr. Andrew Klumpp, editor of The Annals of Iowa, said, “a powerful advocate and a skilled practitioner. He exemplifies professionalism, excellence, service, and dedication and brought these qualities to bear on the Iowa history community for over three decades.”
Klumpp was among those who nominated Walch for the honor. The Lifetime Achivement Award is the top honor given among several Excellence in History Awards.
“It was a wonderful honor and a surprise to receive this kind of an award,” Walch said Sunday afternoon. “Everybody at the age of almost 77 wants to believe that somebody believes they did something.”
The SHSI looks for contributions from either individuals, organizations, or institutions to present the award. The award is named for two long-time leaders of the Society.
State Historical Society Board Vice Chair John Brown and Administrator Valerie Van Kooten joined the State Historical Society of Iowa Board of Trustees to bestow the annual Excellence in History Awards during a June 14 ceremony at the State Historical Society Museum in Des Moines.
“At the State Historical Society, we take pride in connecting Iowans to the people, places and points of pride that define our state,” Van Kooten said in a statement.
Educated at the University of Notre Dame and Northwestern University, Walch held a variety of public history positions over the course of 50 years. He began his career with the Society of American Archivists and then spent more than 30 years with the National Archives and Records Administration.
Walch called himself “pleased” to see his time at the Hoover museum mentioned as a significant reason for the award. However, he said so many people helped him that they also deserve recognition.
Some of the names he mentioned included Maureen Harding, Jenny Pedersen, Pat Wildenberg, Dale Meyer, Cindy Worrell, and Dwight Miller.
“It’s a village that makes it possible to raise an extraordinary person like Herbert Hoover,” he said.
Harding curated many exhibits during Walch’s 23 years, Pedersen served as registrar, Miller and Meyer helped process the collections and documents — “there’s always somebody like me at the top who gets recognized, but it’s because of those other people,” he said.
“I hope people don’t see this as a way to pat Tim on the head. This is about the Hoover Library-Museum and the work the community has done to sustain and advance the Hoover reputation and this wonderful institution,” Walch said.
Walch served as assistant director of what is now known as the Herbert Hoover Presidential Libaray and Museum, then became the director for 18 years. Between those two jobs, he worked in West Branch from 1988 through 2011.
Over that time, the musuem welcomed more than 1 million visitors and added more than 1 million pages to the library’s collections, he said.
Though there were too many to name, he thanked the “talented staff” who created “dozens of exhibits, educational programs, and public conferences” over the years.
Walch also served for 20 years on the State Historical Records Advisory Board, as a member of the SHSI Board of Trustees, and as a member and president of the Iowa Historical Foundation.
He authored or edited two dozen books and hundreds of articles and reviews. His work on Iowa history has appeared in The Annals of Iowa, Iowa Heritage Illustrated, Iowa History Journal, and the Des Moines Register, among other publications. His most recent book is “Irish Iowa,” released in 2019.
In retirement, Walch volunteers at the SHSI center in Iowa City where he works on various publication projects and devotes considerable time to processing manuscript collections for use by researchers.
The SHSI announced several awards, and Walch also received a Certificate of Recogintion for “Grenville Dodge: Architect of the Iron Road & Man of Intrigue,” which was published in the March-June 2023 edition of the Iowa History Journal.
More on the William J. Petersen & Edgar R. Harlan Lifetime Achievement Award: William Petersen, long-time curator of the State Historical Society of Iowa City, was known for his book, “Steamboating on the Mississippi,” thus earning the nickname “Steamboat Bill.” Edgar Harlan, who served as the second director and curator of the Historical Department of Iowa, played a key role in acquiring many of the museum’s most important collections.
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