Join us this evening to celebrate the vibrancy of Downtown Davenport at our special after-hours event Third Thursday@Davenport Public Library. We will be launching a new program in connection with the Downtown Davenport Partnership: DPL Perks! Show your library card to get discounts at participating local businesses.
One hundred years ago today, on October 20th, 1916, the library took part in another type of celebration: Iowa Day, the seventieth anniversary of statehood. This was observed with “an exhibit of pictures of early Davenport, loaned by J. B. Hostetler…” said the Davenport Daily Times:
Hostetler is a well-known name to us here at the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center. We are the fortunate caretakers of a collection of portrait photography from his studio on 212 West 3rd Street in Davenport, containing images that date from 1895 to 1920. A Downtown Davenport business, just like our current neighbors here on Main Street.
We are curious to find out which “works of Iowa authors” were also exhibited, though we know for certain what new books were purchased for the library in October, 2016 –they were announced in that very same issue of the Times:
It is unlikely that you’d find any of these titles in the RiverShare catalog today, but it’s fascinating to note the interest in the topics of war and democracy in the midst of the Great War. Explore the RSSC Center’s newspaper collections on microfilm or online to find out more about life in Davenport a century ago.
posted by Katie
