author
Benjamin Franklin Shambaugh
1871–1940
A major force in Iowa’s intellectual life, this historian and political scientist helped turn state and local history into serious public scholarship. His work linked the University of Iowa, the State Historical Society of Iowa, and generations of students and readers.
1 Audiobook
History of the Constitutions of Iowa
by Benjamin Franklin Shambaugh
About the author
Born in Elvira, Iowa, on January 29, 1871, Benjamin Franklin Shambaugh became one of the best-known interpreters of Iowa’s past. Reliable university and archival sources describe him as a professor of political science at the University of Iowa and, for many years, the superintendent of the State Historical Society of Iowa. He is especially remembered for building bridges between academic research and public history.
Shambaugh taught at the University of Iowa from the 1890s until 1940, and archival records note that he chaired the political science department for decades. The same sources credit him with helping shape the State Historical Society of Iowa into a leading state historical organization. His writing ranged across Iowa history, politics, and civic life, reflecting a practical belief that history should be useful to the public as well as to scholars.
He died in 1940 and was remembered by later admirers as "Iowa’s historian." Even now, he stands out as a figure who gave institutional strength to historical study in Iowa while also encouraging a broader audience to care about the state’s story.