(Radio Iowa) — Representatives of the Obama Foundation have been in Iowa this week, looking for artifacts from Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns in Iowa. Sam Michel  is a spokesman for the foundation. “Obviously Iowa in 2008 played a huge role in the Obama campaign,” he says, “and as the museum team was designing the Obama Presidential Center they wanted to highlight the role of Iowa, the role of the people who were volunteering and working on the Obama campaign in telling the story of President and Mrs. Obama.”

Earlier this week, the foundation hosted events in Mason City and North Liberty for Obama campaign volunteers to share their stories — and their memorabilia.”Yard signs, campaign pamphlets, photos as well as things that are personal memento’s to people who worked on the campaigns, things that mean a lot to them,” Michel says, “things that help explain why they decided to work for then-Senator Obama.” There’s an event tonight (Friday) in Des Moines for more story telling and memorabilia sharing. “Right now, we’re just trying to get a good understanding of what all is out there,” Michel says. “We’ll catalog it this week, we’ll record it and then go back to Chicago, figure out what we want to display in the Presidential Center Museum and go from there.”

Tonight’s Obama Foundation meeting will be held at the headquarters of the Isiserettes, a drill and drum corps made up of Des Moines kids. In November of 2007, the group led Obama, his wife and Obama supporters on a march up a Des Moines street to the Iowa Democratic Party’s annual fall fundraiser. The Obama Presidential Center Museum is still being designed and Michel says they hope to break ground within the next year or so.