About the Project
On May 12, 2008, agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) conducted an immigration raid at the Agriprocessors, Inc. plant in the small northeast Iowa community of Postville. While the 2008 raid focused national and international attention on Postville, the raid is part of a much larger story: the rapid demographic change and transition of a small rural community since the 1980s due to an influx of people of many nationalities and cultures.
The Postville Project: Documenting a Community in Transition has been initiated based upon three assumptions: First, the Postville immigration raid was, and will remain, a significant event related to the issue of U.S. national immigration policy. Second, the story of the rapid demographic and cultural transition of Postville is an important part of the social history of the state of Iowa. And third, knowledge of how events and issues unfolded, and the responses to them, offer important insights for other communities facing similar demographic and cultural changes and challenges.
The Postville Project will become part of the permanent historical record. It will also serve as an educational tool providing an in-depth case study for educators and students at the secondary and post-secondary levels. The Postville Project will archive and make accessible an interdisciplinary collection of primary and secondary source material from a wide array of social science disciplines. Comprised of material about individuals, institutions, and the community of Postville, the archive will provide social, cultural, and economic context to the 2008 immigration raid and the story of Postville in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The collection will be made available in digital format via the Internet to the extent possible within technological and copyright constraints.
Individuals and organizations with materials in any format relevant to The Postville Project are encouraged to contact a project representative in order to investigate the possibility of including their materials in the archive. Development of The Postville Project provides a beneficial opportunity for both the archive developers and the individuals and organizations who allow their material to be included in the collection. Copyright holders and authors will contribute to the permanent historical record and enhance the visibility and accessibility of their work, and at the same time expand the scope of the archive.
The Luther College Archives and the UNI Rod Library are committed to upholding both the letter and spirit of copyright law and to honoring intellectual property rights. A written agreement ensures copyright holders and authors retain rights to their material, and outlines in basic, understandable terms the rights and responsibilities regarding inclusion of material in the archive. Authors who do not hold the copyright for their material are encouraged to work with a project representative to pursue obtaining rights to include their material in The Postville Project.
Project Team
Luther College
- Rachel Vagts, College Archivist
- Ryan Gjerde, Digital Initiatives Lead
University of Northern Iowa
- Thomas Kessler, Social Sciences Bibliographer
- Dr. Jennifer Cooley, Associate Professor of Spanish
- Clint Wrede, Catalog Librarian & Bibliographer
Contact Us
Luther College Archives
700 College Dr.Decorah, IA 52101
PHONE: 563-387-1805
vagtsrac@luther.edu
University of Northern Iowa
Rod Library
1227 West 27th StreetCedar Falls, IA 50613-3675
PHONE: 319-273-2810
thomas.kessler@uni.edu
Sponsorship
This project is supported in part by the State Historical Society of Iowa, Historical Resource Development Program.
