John Liepa: How Iowa Met Baseball

Burlington Public Library 210 Court St, Burlington, IA, United States

How Iowa Met Baseball: the Myths, the History, the PlayersOver the past century the setting for the spring passion of many Iowans has been the ballpark. This presentation explores the myths of baseball’s origins, the early history and evolution of the game, baseball’s journey to Iowa and the role of the Civil War in spreading its […]

Jeff Stein: Iowans You Should Know

Iowa Masonic Library and Museums 813 1st Ave SE, Cedar Rapids, IA, United States

Iowans You Should Know: Stories from the Iowa Almanac (new in 2021)Did you know that the Eskimo Pie® was invented in Iowa? So was the electric razor, the clip-on bow tie, and the self-filling fountain pen. Iowa was also the childhood home of four Academy Award®-winning performers, and three different Iowa-born musical acts had national #1 […]

Thomas Dean: Green Fire

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site 1700 Parkside Dr NE, Solon, IA, United States

Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our TimeThomas Dean is trained as a Land Ethic Leader through the Aldo Leopold Foundation, a program with the goal to both introduce Leopold’s land ethic to a wider audience and also to deepen understanding and engagement through dialogue about the meaning and value of conservation. […]

Donald Shurr: Lewis and Clark in Iowa

Carnegie Historical Museum 112 S Court St, Fairfield, IA, United States

Lewis and Clark in Iowa“Lewis and Clark in Iowa” begins with the story before the expedition: the sale of the Louisiana Purchase to the United States. Tracing the 1803 course from Elizabeth, Pennsylvania to St. Charles, Missouri, Shurr discusses the background of the many “players” of the expedition including York, the engages and Seaman. Moving […]

Tom Milligan: American Dreamer

Machine Shed Restaurant Urbandale 11151 Hickman Rd, Urbandale, IA, United States

American Dreamer: The Life and Times of Henry A. WallaceIn this one-act play based on the award-winning book of the same name by Senator John C. Culver and John Hyde, actor Tom Milligan portrays Henry A. Wallace, the agricultural innovator and founder of Pioneer Hi-Bred seed corn company who became US Secretary of Agriculture and […]

John Liepa: How Iowa Met Baseball

Union Public Library 406 Commercial St, Union, IA, United States

How Iowa Met Baseball: the Myths, the History, the PlayersOver the past century the setting for the spring passion of many Iowans has been the ballpark. This presentation explores the myths of baseball’s origins, the early history and evolution of the game, baseball’s journey to Iowa and the role of the Civil War in spreading its […]

Tom Milligan: Grant Wood

Adel Public Library 303 S 10th St, Adel, IA, United States

Grant Wood: Prairie RebelIn this 45-minute, one-man show, Grant Wood chats with the audience as if talking to an old friend across the backyard fence, or maybe at his home at Five Turner Alley in Cedar Rapids. He tells us about his life and how he changed the art world forever with his work. It […]

Darcy Maulsby: Iowa’s Lost History from the Titanic

Winterset Public Library 123 N 2nd St, Winterset, IA, United States

Iowa’s Lost History from the TitanicWhat do an orphan train rider, a kidnapper, a missionary, a wealthy businessman, a wedding guest, a betrayed wife, a farmer and an immigrant recruiter have in common? All had ties to Iowa, and all were passengers aboard the ill-fated Titanic on the fateful night of April 15, 1912, when […]

Jeff Stein: Where’s Floppy?

Mowry Irvine Mansion 503 W Main St, Marshalltown, IA, United States

Where’s Floppy? Celebrating an Iowa Television Icon(new in 2021)For 30 years, from 1957-1987, Duane Ellett and his puppet Floppy delighted audiences of all ages on WHO-TV in Des Moines and at the Iowa State Fair. Children would call out “Where’s Floppy?”—and ventriloquist Ellett would bring his alter ego to life. From cartoons to riddles (“Why […]

David Thoreson: Personal Adventures and Explorations of the Northwest Passage

Nevada Public Library 631 K Ave, Nevada, IA, United States

Personal Adventures and Explorations of the Northwest PassageThe presentation includes stories of David’s three Arctic expeditions aboard small sailboats and the quest for the infamous Northwest Passage. He begins with the 1994 passage attempt aboard the 57′ s/v Cloud Nine in which the crew became trapped in the ice and barely escaped. Thirteen years later, […]

David Connon: Josiah Bushnell Grinnell and the Underground Railiroad

Adair Library 199 Audubon St, Adair, IA, United States

Josiah Bushnell Grinnell and the Iowa Underground Railroad“Preacher,” “congressman,” “negro-stealer”: Josiah Bushnell Grinnell was called all of those things during his life. He was called a negro-stealer because he participated in the Iowa Underground Railroad. J.B. Grinnell and other Grinnell residents helped at least 37 fugitive slaves who passed through their town before the Civil […]

Randy Lengeling: Grant Wood

Carnegie Historical Museum 112 S Court St, Fairfield, IA, United States

Grant Wood: Artistic Rags to Riches—An American Success StoryThis is an animated PowerPoint presentation, with archival photographs and video segments, that looks at Wood’s personal life story, his artistic development and meteoric rise to international prominence as the leader of Regionalism, his controversial professorship at the State University of Iowa and his enduring legacy in […]