A native of Lakeview, Iowa, Everett B. Speaker attended the University of Iowa and Iowa State University (1926-1931), where he majored in Forestry. He joined the State Conservation Commission in 1931 and over the course of the next 40 years he served in various capacities for the Commission. He co-authored the book Iowa Fish and Fishing and wrote many popular and scientific articles on fish conservation. This collection contains biographical information, business records, correspondence (incoming and outgoing), meeting minutes, memorabilia, newspaper clippings, reports, and speeches.

Everett Bates Speaker was born in Lakeview, Iowa. He attended the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, majoring in Forestry. In 1931, Speaker joined the State Conservation Commission and served there for 40 years. Successively he was Assistant to the State Fish Pathologist, Fisheries Supervisor, Assistant Superintendent of Fisheries, Superintendent of Fisheries, Superintendent of Biology Section, and for five years served as the Director of the State Conservation Commission.

He was a past national secretary of the American Fisheries Society, past president of Midwest Fish and Game Commissioners Association and past chairman of the Upper Mississippi River Conservation Commission. He held membership in The Wildlife Society and was a fellow member in the Iowa Academy of Science. He served as a member of the State Preserves Advisory Board, the Iowa Water Pollution Control Commission, the Missouri River Basin Comprehensive Study, and as the Governor’s Representative for the Public Land Law Review Commission Committee. Speaker was also a member of the Institute of Fisheries Research Biologists and was a United States Deputy Game Warden from 1936 until his death in 1971.

In September of 1970 Speaker was one of only ten elected to Honorary Membership in the American Fisheries Society at the one hundredth anniversary meeting of the society in New York. In April 1971, he was given the Iowa Conservation Hall of Fame Award of The Wildlife Society for 40 years of service with the Iowa Conservation Commission and for service in fish conservation, nationally.

He co-authored the book Iowa Fish and Fishing and wrote many popular and scientific articles on fish conservation.

This collection (1934-1970) contains materials collected by Speaker during his career with the State Conservation Commission. Included within are various correspondence, both incoming and outgoing, recommendations for preservation of parks, business records, newspaper clippings, biographical data and miscellaneous memorabilia of Speaker’s. Also included are a myriad of Speaker’s own writings, such as reports, speeches, and minutes kept of meetings.