Decades of leadership on display from Sandy Boyd's presidential collection

Willard 'Sandy' Boyd was president of the University of Iowa from 1969 to 1981, leading the institution through a time of political and social action on campus, including the founding of the first UI cultural center and the debate around — and supporting — free speech for students protesting against the Vietnam War. Prior to serving as university president, Boyd was a faculty member and then dean of the university's College of Law. A lover of museums and collections widely, Boyd left the university in 1981 to serve as president of the Field Museum in Chicago, a position he held until 1996.

As a leader, Boyd was interested in leadership more broadly, particularly leaders of the country. Over time, he collected books, documents and artifacts related to United States presidents. Some of his collection was assembled during his time as university president — when he frequently traveled for business. He visited secondhand bookstores on those travels, and eventually collected material about every single U.S. president. In 1997 he donated his presidential collection to the University of Iowa Law Library in the Boyd Law Building (named in his honor).

Boyd died in 2022 , and Noëlle Sinclair, head of special collections at the law library, has continued to maintain and grow the collection.

“Sandy was really interested in how different presidents approached different problems,” Sinclair said. “And he talked a lot about how he approached the issues during the Vietnam War, and the unrest that was at the university and how important it was to have conversation, how important it was to listen and how important it was to work together to try and recognize to try and find a solution.”

Boyd was even invited to the White House during the ’70s to meet with other university presidents to talk about, discuss and work to find solutions and balance around campus unrest caused by the war.

For a recent episode of River to River , Sinclair showed host Ben Kieffer some highlights of Boyd's presidential collection, including a transcription of the Nixon Watergate transcripts rewritten as poetry, a can of Billy Beer, a brand promoted by Billy Carter, brother of former President Jimmy Carter, and a pair of slippers resembling former President Ronald Reagan and former First Lady Nancy Reagan sleeping under the American flag.

Though the U.S. presidents aren’t very diverse themselves, Boyd tried to collect different viewpoints and types of records, including information about the first ladies. As Sinclair continues to build the collection, she hopes to add more artifacts that are unique or have a sense of humor.

Visitors can see a portion of Boyd’s collection on display in the foyer of the law library. There is also an online version of the exhibit . If you'd like to see the items in person, you can email Sinclair to make an appointment .

Listen to the full conversation on River to River , hosted by Ben Kieffer . Samantha McIntosh produced this episode.