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Author Archives: SCblogger
A Davenport First: Green River Soda
As we wait (im)patiently in our department for winter to bloom into spring, we linger a little longer over the warm weather pictures and the senior yearbooks we pull for patrons. And sometimes our lingering leads to a blog topic—especially … Continue reading
A Pencil-Drawn Snapshot in Time: City Engineering Department Survey Books
Many of our blog posts in the past year have involved the Civil War period, in honor of the 150th anniversary of the event. One Civil War era primary resource in the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections archives is the City of Davenport … Continue reading
Posted in Local History
Tagged Camp Kearney, Camp McClellan, Engineering Survey Books, Native Americans, Sioux Tribes
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Marshal-ing our Resources
Recently, we explained how we uncovered that the man we—and everyone else—had thought was the first City Marshal of Davenport . . . wasn’t. But this had us researching what the City Marshal—a position that no longer exists—originally did, and when he stopped … Continue reading
Library Closed this Friday
The Davenport Public Library—and therefore our Special Collections Center—will be CLOSED on Friday, March 29, 2013. We WILL be open our regular hours Saturday, March 30!
Posted in Local History
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Genealogy Night is Coming!
Have you been looking for your Great-great grandfather’s gravesite for so long, you suspect he’s still alive somewhere, snickering at your efforts to find him? We in the Special Collections Center of the Davenport Public Library understand. And we are … Continue reading
Posted in Local History
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Davenporters of Note: Lottie Boies Clapp
Women’s History Month provides reminders of the importance of the contributions of women to our present society, culture, and communities. Many women did this by filling traditional roles, but others took on non-traditional, necessary tasks—and some of them were the … Continue reading
Posted in Local History
Tagged Clapp Mortuary, Davenport (Iowa), Lottie Boies Clapp, Women's History
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If At First You Don’t Know . . .
Sometimes all it takes is one misprint to throw our sense of history off for over 131 years. For at least that long, it was believed that George Colt was the first City Marshal of Davenport. This was reinforced by … Continue reading
Posted in Library, Local History
Tagged City Council, City Marshal, George Colt, Iowa Sun, Just Shelved, Primary Sources, Research, W. H. Patton
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The Rise and Fall of the Hickey Brothers
In 1901, William Hickey and his kid brother Dennis pooled their savings and opened a little cigar store at 123 East Third Street. It did pretty well. So well, in fact, that in five years, they opened a second store … Continue reading
Posted in Local History
Tagged Davenport (Iowa), Hickey Brothers, Local History, William Hickey
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Second Sunday is Coming Up!
Our Special Collections Center will be open this Sunday (March 10th) from 1-4 pm for genealogy and local history research only—the rest of the Main library will not be open. Walk in through the Fourth Street door (behind the big … Continue reading
The Colored School Controversy
In August of 1857, Iowans ratified their State Constitution, including Article IX, which established a popularly elected state board of education authorized to provide “for the education of all the youths of the State, through a system of common schools” … Continue reading
Posted in Local History
Tagged African-Americans, Children, Davenport (Iowa), Davenport Schools, Local History, Racism, segregation
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