After the drought and Dust Bowl of the 1920s and 1930s, soil conservation efforts expanded at the national level under the Soil Erosion Service (1933), later renamed the Soil Conservation Service (1934). Iowa passed legislation for soil conservation laws in 1939. These laws created the state's soil conservation agency (now the Division of Soil Conservation under the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship) and governing committee (State Soil Conservation Committee), in addition to allowing the establishment of soil conservation districts to move forward.

The State Soil Conservation Committee establishes administrative policies for the Division of Soil Conservation including approving rules of the Division, recommending a budget, holding public hearings as necessary, providing a forum for discussion of soil and water conservation issues, and reviewing district soil loss limits every five years.

This collection (1941-1947) consists of scrapbooks containing news clippings from Iowa newspapers gathered by the State Soil Conservation Committee regarding conservation efforts in Iowa.

The Special Collections Department at Iowa State University also holds a number of collections related to soil conservation and soil conservation districts such as the Iowa Soil Conservation Districts Records (MS 185), the National Association of Conservation Districts Records (MS 460), and the Hugh Hammond Bennett Papers (MS 164).

The scrapbooks are arranged chronologically.