Events

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

Your Grampa and Gramma’s FarmFarming in the late 1800s and early 1900s represents a lifestyle of hard work, inventions, prosperity and depression. This presentation focuses on a typical farmer, Joshua Secrest, who developed a successful livestock farm. It also reviews the dramatic development of ingenious farm machinery and tools that enabled growth and prosperity. Secrest […]

Iowa’s Ethnic Heritage, or “Who Do You Think We Are?”Enjoy the unfolding and changing adventure of Iowa’s immigration history. Beginning with the Ioway, one of 17 distinctive indigenous tribal groups, we’ll trace chronologically who we are as Iowans. From Spanish explorers and French trappers, traders and priests; to the dominant English, Germans and Irish; to Scandinavians, Dutch […]

Iowa’s Ethnic Heritage, or “Who Do You Think We Are?”Enjoy the unfolding and changing adventure of Iowa’s immigration history. Beginning with the Ioway, one of 17 distinctive indigenous tribal groups, we’ll trace chronologically who we are as Iowans. From Spanish explorers and French trappers, traders and priests; to the dominant English, Germans and Irish; to Scandinavians, Dutch […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

Nancy Drew: Iowa’s Heroine to the WorldNancy Drew is the most popular female detective in fiction. Few know, however, that Nancy is an Iowa heroine and that her creator was Mildred Augustine of Ladora. Nancy Drew and Mildred Augustine are extraordinary role models for Iowa girls and boys, women and men. An academic pioneer (the […]

The Curious Case of the Bipolar DetectiveA 40-minute exploration into the clinical world of Sherlock Holmes’s mood swings throughout the 60 Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories, while also educating about clinical diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder. Presentation is accessible to both professionals and general lay audiences alike.

Nancy Drew: Iowa’s Heroine to the WorldNancy Drew is the most popular female detective in fiction. Few know, however, that Nancy is an Iowa heroine and that her creator was Mildred Augustine of Ladora. Nancy Drew and Mildred Augustine are extraordinary role models for Iowa girls and boys, women and men. An academic pioneer (the […]