June 20: Newspaper Archives Workshop, State Historical Library & Archives Reading Room, 600 E. Locust, Des Moines, 10 a.m. Registration limited to 30 individuals and is requested to be completed in advance. Admission is $5 per person with pre-registration or $8 at the door. Contact State Historical Librarian Susan Jellinger at (515) 281-6897 or susan.jellinger@iowa.gov for more information.
June 23: Metro Arts Alliance “GreenArts Outdoor & Active” program, State Historical Building, 600 E. Locust, Des Moines, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Featuring Mikiel Williams music. Geared toward ages 5-12. Free and open to the public.
June 24: Day Camps at Western Historic Trails Center, 3434 Richard Downing Avenue, Council Bluffs, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Also June 26, July 15, July 18 and July 29. Call (712) 366-4900 for information.
July 3: Old Fashioned Independence Day at Western Historic Trails Center, 3434 Richard Downing Avenue, Council Bluffs, 5:30 p.m. See related story in this issue for more information.
July 3: Blues Before Sunset, State Historical Building, 600 E. Locust, Des Moines, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Outdoor blues concert featuring music by Sumpin’ Doo. Beverages, food for sale. Series continues Aug. 7 with the El Dorados and Sept. 4 with Bob Pace Band featuring Steve George. Free.
July 11: “Rarely Seen: Cool Stuff from the Museum” exhibit opening at the State Historical Building, 600 E. Locust, Des Moines. More than 125 objects from the Historical Society collection, from an iron lung to a lock of George Washington’s hair and more. These items and artifacts may seem random, but together they give a fascinating glimpse of Iowa history.
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While 58 Iowa students visit Maryland this week to compete in the 2009 National History Day national contest, Iowans now have a new way to show their support for the educational program.
The State Historical Society of Iowa is encouraging Iowans to buy Iowa Heritage license plates to support the program. Proceeds will be directed to the Iowa Heritage Fund, which supplements SHSI’s educational programs.
To support NHD in Iowa, Iowans can apply for an Iowa Heritage license plate anytime – they do not have to wait until their plates expire – by filling out an application form available online at http://www.iowadot.gov/Mvd/ovs/plates/heritage.htm.
Iowa Heritage license plates have the same basic design and color of regular license plates; display five characters – the letter “H” followed by four numbers; and are distinguished by the charming American Gothic House in Eldon and the words “Iowa Heritage.”
More information about National History Day is available at www.nhd.org and www.iowahistory.org. NHD in Iowa is sponsored by National History Day, the State Historical Society of Iowa, State Historical Society, Inc., Iowa Historical Foundation, Obermann-Beck Foundation, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, Alexander Clark House Foundation and the Polk County Historical Society.
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Before the Civil War, men, women, and children seeking to escape slavery in the South often sought refuge among Northern abolitionists in Cedar County, Iowa. The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum in Cedar County will be the site of the Underground Railroad in Iowa 2009 Symposium June 19-20. The event is free and open to the public – but admission to the exhibits at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum is not included.
The State Historical Society will also continue its installation of markers for the John Brown Freedom Trail across Iowa. Another sign will be installed at 2 p.m. June 19 at the depot property in West Liberty. A total of 16 markers will be placed across the state to commemorate the historical significance of John Brown’s Freedom Trail 150 years later.
The symposium begins Friday night, June 19, with a night walk through tallgrass prairie. Park ranger Chuck Ping and archaeologist Douglas Jones will give a star orientation and discussion of night travel through the Iowa prairie as fugitive slaves may have experienced it while they escaped along the routes of the Underground Railroad. Meet at the parking lot of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum at 9 p.m. Dress for the weather and for a walk in the prairie.
The symposium continues Saturday, June 20, at 9 a.m. in the auditorium of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum. Presenters from the National Park Service, the State Historical Society of Iowa, and other organizations will discuss recent research and developments regarding the Underground Railroad in Iowa. At 2:45 p.m., the symposium will move from the Presidential Library & Museum to a cemetery in nearby Springdale, Iowa—the site of recent research on the Underground Railroad—and then to an Underground Railroad themed rest stop along Interstate 80.
The Underground Railroad in Iowa 2009 Symposium is presented by Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program, the State Historical Society of Iowa, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association, the Cedar County Historical Society, and the University of Iowa Museum Studies Program. For more information and a complete schedule, call Bonnie Blaford at (319) 643-7866.
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Western Historic Trails Center will host its annual Old Fashioned Independence Day Celebration Friday, July 3, 2009, with fireworks, food, and games and prizes.
Gates open at 5:30 p.m.; carnival games begin at 6 p.m. Bake goods and other foods will be available for purchase. The event will feature a pie-tasting contest and a great location to view Rosenblatt Stadium fireworks. WHTC encourages attendees to bring bug spray and lawn chairs.
Admission is $10 per car, and includes carnival game tickets. Admission and carnival game tickets can also be purchased in advance at the Trails Center. WHTC’s Old Fashioned Independence Day Celebration is supported in part by a Promise Partner Grant. Call (712) 366-4900 for more information or to volunteer.
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The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs has awarded $264,500 to Iowa cultural organizations as part of the Iowa Community Cultural Grant program. As a result, nineteen organizations will be able to hire workers for projects and activities that add historical, ethnic, cultural, and tourism value to their communities.
The Department received 50 eligible applications requesting a total of nearly $760,000.
Recipients of the FY2010 ICCG recipients will be posted soon at www.culturalaffairs.org.
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The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs will make changes in hours of operation for the State Historical Museum beginning next month, a move that will save money while allowing more time for maintenance and upkeep of museum exhibits.
Museum exhibits will be closed on official state holidays and Mondays. In addition, the Iowa Museum Store will close on official state holidays, Sundays and Mondays; and Café Baratta’s will reduce its hours on Mondays. The changes go into effect July 1, 2009.
The State Historical Building houses DCA’s administrative offices and two divisions: the Iowa Arts Council and the State Historical Society of Iowa, which oversees the State Historical Museum, the Iowa Museum Store, State Historical Library and Special Collections, State Archives and Records Program and the State Historic Preservation Office. The building also houses Café Baratta’s and the Iowa Historical Foundation.
DCA, IAC and SHSI offices will continue to be open 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, and closed on Saturdays, Sundays and official state holidays. The State Historical Library and Archives Reading Room will continue to be open 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. It is closed Sundays, Mondays and official state holidays.
Following is a list of new hours of operation:
State Historical Museum
9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday
Noon-4:30 p.m. Sunday
Closed Monday and official state holidays
The Iowa Museum Store
9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday
Closed Sunday, Monday and official state holidays
Café Baratta’s
8 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday-Friday
11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday and Monday
Closed Sunday and official state holidays
SHSI previously announced changes in hours of operation at its eight historical sites beginning July 1, 2009. More information is available at www.iowahistory.org.
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Seventy years after it was painted, the mural that once resided on a wall in the Marion Post Office and City Hall was celebrated with an unveiling, ribbon-cutting and rededication June 6 at the Marion Heritage Center.
Art conservator Tony Rajer prepared the mural to be moved from its original home in the former post office and restored it over the past two years in its new home at the Marion Heritage Center. He returned to Marion to put the finishing touches on the 1939 mural, which is entitled “Communication by Mail,” and was painted by Grant Wood protégé artist Dan Rhodes.
SHSI Administrator Jerome Thompson was a guest speaker at the event. “Iowa was the hot bed of the social realism and regionalism in the art world,” he said. “Wood’s art colony in Stone City was home to 47 artists, 13 of whom, including Dan Rhodes, worked on post office murals. Excluding the murals at Iowa State University, there were 36 painted in Iowa - most, but not all, in post offices from Sioux City to Waterloo and from Corydon to New Hampton.”
Rhodes won the commission by the U.S. government’s competition by the Works Progress Administration for the then-new Marion Post Office. He was paid $625 for the job, which he started on May 26, 1939 and completed three months later.
The mural is a fresco - artwork painted on plaster - and with age and its movement to the Heritage Center, cracks were created, which Rajer has filled in.
“I'm excited and a little bit depressed that (the project’s) coming to an end,” Rajer said. “I’ve loved working in Iowa. I’m glad the mural can be part of history. It’s unfortunate it had to be moved but fortunate that we could move it and we still have the real thing, not a reproduction.”
This article was edited for length and content.
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Western Historic Trails Center in Council Bluffs will host its annual Lewis & Clark White Catfish Camp Living History Weekend July 25-26.
The event commemorates the Corps of Discovery explorers who made camp near Council Bluffs during their historic journey up the Missouri River in 1804. They stopped here for five days to repair equipment and make astronomical observations. On July 24, 1804, one of the explorers, Silas Goodrich, caught an albino catfish, giving the camp its name.
The weekend will feature Native American food and craft vendors, educational opportunities, children’s activities, music, Corps of Discovery re-enactors and more. All events are free and open to the public. Call Western Historic Trails Center at (712) 366-4900 for schedule details.
Also, the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation will hold its regional meeting during White Catfish weekend. The Foundation is comprised of 36 chapters that provide national leadership to preserve the Lewis and Clark Trail and its stories. The keynote speaker will be Bud Clark, direct descendent of William Clark; Dale Clark and his Newfoundland dog; a Tribal Nation discussion panel with Matt Sitting Bear Jones and Bat Shunatona; a book signing by Kira Gale, co-author of “The Death of Meriwether Lewis: A Historic Crime Scene Investigation” and more.
All events, except the members’ meeting, will be open to the public, including a catered picnic Saturday evening. RSVP by July 18 for the picnic (tickets are $10) or find more information at www.mouthoftheplatte.org.
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A record number of 61 scholars from across the country—plus one from the University of Sussex in England—applied for research grants offered by the State Historical Society of Iowa in 2009-2010.
The winning recipients of grants of $1,000 each—funded by the State Historical Society, Inc.—proposed to study topics ranging from Iowa’s Geological Surveys in the 19th century to the Des Moines Birth Place in the 1980s. Grant recipients are required to prepare an article based on their research suitable for consideration for publication in the Annals of Iowa. A list of all of the funded projects follows:
Carlton W. Basmajian, Iowa State University
“The Role of the Chief Engineer in Creating the Iowa Highway Commission: Thomas MacDonald and Fred White, 1904–1928”
Agatha Beins, Rutgers University
“Free Our Sisters, Free Ourselves: Narrating Feminism Through Feminist Periodicals”
Jeff Bloodworth, Gannon University
“Rethinking America’s Foreign Policy Tradition: Benjamin Franklin Tillinghast and the Myth of Midwestern Isolationism”
Renee Ann Cramer, Drake University
“The Des Moines Birth Place, Contextualized: A Model of Out-of-Hospital Birth for a Region’s Unique Needs”
James Rodger Fleming, Colby College
“James A. Van Allen’s Role in Detecting and Disrupting the Magnetosphere, 1958-1962”
Christopher M. Loomis, University of Virginia
“Local Democracy for a Mass Audience: WOI-TV, the Fund for Adult Education, and The Whole Town’s Talking”
Kevin Mungons, Regular Baptist Press
“‘Plenty of Sinners in Boone’: Lois Crawford, Christian Radio Pioneer”
Denise L. Pate, University of Iowa
“‘No Race Climbs Faster Than Its Women’: Gender and Racial Uplift in Iowa, 1890-1940”
Michael D. Severs, Iowa State University
“Gradual Development: Iowa’s Geological Surveys in the Nineteenth Century”
David Sellers Smith, Northwestern University
“Business Moralists: Credit Men and the Rise of Corporate America, 1893-1929”
Joan Bessman Taylor, University of Iowa
“Struggling for Intellectual Freedom During the 1950s: A Dubuque Court Case Captures the Nation’s Attention”
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State Historical Society of Iowa Board member John Liepa has loaned part of his extensive baseball collection for an “Iowans in the Major Leagues” exhibition at Living History Farms in Urbandale.
The exhibit features the cards, photos and autographs of Iowa’s 212 Iowans who made it to the major leagues, plus seven in the Baseball Hall of Fame; the oldest known Iowa baseball card and many 19th century era cards. The exhibit will run through mid-July. Iowa Heritage Illustrated’s baseball issue is also available for sale – proceeds from magazine sales benefit the State Historical Society of Iowa.
Every summer, Living History Farms hosts 1870s-rules baseball games at the Walnut Hill Field. Games will be July 4, July 19, Aug. 2, Aug. 23, Sept. 13 and Sept. 27. All games begin at 2 p.m., except for July 4, which starts at 2:30 p.m.
Visit www.lhf.org for more information.
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The State Historical Society of Iowa recognized “National Historic Preservation Month” in May by announcing numerous historic preservation and community history awards and certificates.
The awards and certificates recognize historians, historic preservationists and other individuals and groups for their work in 2008 to preserve Iowa’s rich heritage.
Click here for a complete list of this year’s recipients.
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The State Historical Society of Iowa is seeking information to confirm the burial site of a Medal of Honor recipient in Iowa.
John Keenan, an Irish immigrant who was probably born in the 1840s and died March 18, 1906, is believed to be buried in the McIntire City Cemetery or in St. Patrick’s Cemetery near McIntire in Mitchell County.
Keenan served with the 38th Ohio Infantry Regiment in the Civil War. He was discharged following the war, but re-enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1866 in San Francisco and served during the “Indian Wars” until 1871. While assigned to Fort Stanton, N.M., to recover from a war wound, he suffered an eye injury that left him nearly blind.
Keenan received the Medal of Honor in 1869 for his actions in New Mexico against the Hualapai Apache, which were also known as the Pais.
The Pais resented the incursion of American settlers, ranchers and miners into the Arizona Territory – the Pais’ ancestral land. In response, the Pais struck with quick raids along transportation routes.
Keenan’s cavalry unit, among others, set out to defeat the Pais. The outnumbered and out-armed Pais held out for two years, but the persistent efforts of Keenan’s unit significantly helped in keeping the territory open to settlement.
Anyone with relevant information is encouraged to contact Bill Johnson at (515) 281-5627 or bill.johnson@iowa.gov. More information about Medal of Honor recipients can be found at www.iowahistory.org.
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On the heels of America’s 233rd birthday, Drake University is launching a program on responsible citizenship, featuring national traveling exhibits on Presidents John Adams and Abraham Lincoln, along with lectures and special events.
The initiative, “Citizens Arise! -- the Foundations of Democracy,” aims to engage students, teachers and citizens in learning about the democratic process as an instrument for managing the challenges of the 21st century.
Events and both exhibits – “Abraham Lincoln: A Man for His Time, A Man for All Times” and “John Adams Unbound” -- will focus on promoting historical awareness, responsible discourse and dissent and support for democratic institutions.
“Citizens Arise!” will kick off with a free, public lecture on Lincoln at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 22, in the Cowles Library Reading Room, 28th Street and University Avenue in Des Moines.
Matthew Pinsker, the Brian Pohanka Chair of Civil War History at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, will discuss “Abraham Lincoln: Private Man, Public Leader.”
Pinsker has published two books and numerous articles on Lincoln and the Civil War era, including “Lincoln’s Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln and the Soldiers’ Home.”
He also will participate in a course offered in conjunction with Citizens Arise! The class, “Making Presidential History Come Alive,” will be held July 8-Aug. 14.
For more details about the course, including credit options, contact Susan Breakenridge at (515) 271-3994 or susan.breakenridge@drake.edu.
On July 23, Pinsker will accompany the class on a tour of West Des Moines’ Civil War-era Jordan House, which is a member of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program.
The schedule for the free exhibits, which are made possible by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, appears below:
Read more about the series and view a complete list of events online at http://citizensarise.drake.edu.
For more information on the series, contact Claudia Frazer at (515) 271-3776 or claudia.frazer@drake.edu.
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The 10th Annual Country School Preservation Conference will be Oct. 2-3, 2009, in Independence.
Activities throughout the two-day conference include discussion topics like “Country School Preservation in Norway” with Leidulf Mydland, Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research; “Creating a Country School Curriculum and Generating Visitors” with Dale Williams, Reed School Director, Wisconsin Historical Society; Amish Schools Today with Mark Dewalt, Winthrop University, South Carolina; “Tourism and Implications for Country Schools with Carrie Koelker, Eastern Iowa Tourism Director and Candy Streed, Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area and more.
Also included are tours of Summit School, a public/private Amish school and country school museum.
Registration is $30 and includes lunch Friday, museum tours and handouts. An additional $15 for Saturday tour, lunch and wine tasting.
For brochure and more information, visit www.iowapreservation.org.
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A descendent of the Norwegian pioneering Tjernagel family, Nehemias Tjernagel was deeply fascinated by the lives of pioneers and Civil War soldiers in Southern Hamilton and northern Story counties. On the eve of World War I, Tjernagel recognized a unique opportunity to capture history before its oral informants slipped away and, consequently, he undertook a purposeful, systematic process of interviewing and data collecting. For six decades Tjernagel’s detailed, meticulous work on the lives of immigrants, pioneers and patriots has lain dormant.
Now, his grand niece, Margaret Harstad Matzke, together with the Story City Historical Society have unearthed his work and presented it in the new historical nonfiction book, The Passing of the Prairie by a Fossil: Biographical Sketches of Central Iowa Pioneers and Civil War Veterans.
Tjernagel was born at Follinglo Farm near Story City in 1868, and died there 90 years later. He was a musician, composer, writer, world traveler and farmer. In the book, he records the struggles, successes, sacrifices and interactions of Norwegian settlers, illuminating the complex realities of frontier life as people from a wide variety of backgrounds worked together to form a community.
The book is available at most retail outlets, or for more information, visit www.authorhouse.com