Tag Archives: Local History

The Sepia Record, 1944

With thanks to our friends at the Friends of MLK, [1] the RSSC Center has recently acquired a copy of a publication that gives new insight into an understanding of the WWII-era Black community in the Quad-Cities. To celebrate Black … Continue reading

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What Was In The Water In Davenport? – Books about Davenport Writers

We are thrilled to be hosting Marcia Noe on Saturday, February 24, 2023, at 1:30pm at The Library | Main to talk about her latest book: Three Midwestern Playwrights: How Floyd Dell, George Cram Cook, and Susan Glaspell Transformed American … Continue reading

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Preserving Local History

For over 30 years, the Davenport Public Library has dedicated space and staff for the purpose of collecting, preserving, and accessing the history of Davenport, Scott County, and the surrounding areas. In 1999, The Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center was made … Continue reading

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Interactive Map: Davenport’s Early Black Community

One of our favorite resources is accession 2004-67: African American residential patterns in Davenport, Iowa. Compiled by Craig R. Klein of Scott Community College, the collection consists of photocopied maps showing African American residential patterns in Davenport, Iowa in 1867, … Continue reading

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Armenian Refugees in Scott County

In the news a century ago this January was the question of admitting survivors of the Armenian genocide into the United States. [1] These articles beg the question: Were there Armenian immigrants who settled in Davenport and Scott County in … Continue reading

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A Trusted Friend: The murder of Rose Gendler

22-year-old Rose Gendler left her part-time job at M. L. Parker Co. in downtown Davenport a little after 9:00 p.m. on December 21, 1932. She had worked a full day in the toy department and still had to catch the … Continue reading

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Treats for Special Collections Librarians

Happy Halloweeen from the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center of the Davenport Public Library! A recent donation has filled our trick-or-treat bag with some items that are most certainly like candy to us local history librarians: little advertisements for Davenport businesses … Continue reading

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The Davenport Conspiracy

Mid-September through mid-October marks Iowa Archaeology Month, the perfect occasion to tell the story of Davenport’s most notorious adventures in archaeology. In January of 1877, the Reverend Jacob Gass, a Swiss-born minister serving the First Lutheran Church and aspiring antiquarian, … Continue reading

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Heading Back to Campus: Collegiate Yearbooks

As college campuses revive with the activities of students moving into the dormitories, attending classes, and studying in every conceivable place, we wanted to share a resource for those searching for faculty, students, and other aspects of collegiate life over … Continue reading

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“Last Seen” and the Black Community in Davenport

A valuable resource for discovering more details about the families of Davenport’s post-Civil War Black community is Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery, an online database of advertisements “placed in newspapers across the United States (and beyond) by formerly enslaved … Continue reading

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