Former IATP staffer Patti Landres died from cancer on April 16. Patti joined IATP in 2004 as a research assistant in IATP’s Food and Health Program and for Health Care Without Harm, a coalition of which IATP was a founding member. She continued to provide research assistance as her role evolved to become the conservator of IATP’s history, archives and library. While IATP’s organizational history began in 1986, the archives full of farm and rural movement documents went back much further.
Patti valued each document, video or product (from IATP-associated soccer balls to hats) as an important part of history, carefully and systematically archiving everything produced by the organization. Prior to digital search engines, Patti was IATP’s search engine. She rescued many IATP documents from cyberspace oblivion through diligent searches of the Wayback Machine and other internet archives. When cyber-searches proved futile, she digitized paper documents for posting on our website. Patti responded to scholars’ requests for research advice on topics of living history, such as the farm mortgage crisis of the 1980s. Occasionally, researchers and journalists would visit the paper archives in the basement of the house that was IATP’s headquarters from 1996-2022. As IATP prepared to sell the house and move to our new office, Patti organized the paper archives and unique video recordings of farmer meetings for donations to Iowa State and Wisconsin universities and the Minnesota Historical Society.
However, Patti was much more for IATP than a researcher, archivist and librarian. Patti cared for IATP’s indoor plants and a small but bountiful outdoor garden. She formatted and framed most of IATP’s office artwork, including those featuring IATP publication covers. A walking encyclopedia of the medicinal and food uses of herbs, Patti not only advised us on what herb could be used for what purpose, but also furnished IATP with a garlic-based tincture that vanquished all sinus congestions. In sum, Patti was a great colleague. A modest person, she did not like to be singled out for praise. She was loved and appreciated, and it is our pleasure to celebrate her life now.
