Follow us on Instagram!
Author Archives: SCblogger
Say (and spell) What?: Tricky research words
Genealogy words can be tricky—ahnentafels, anyone?—and words that look or sound alike don’t help much. In order to facilitate communications and understanding—and humor, of course—we’ve collected a few of the most frequent mix-ups we’ve encountered, with definitions and examples: ____________ … Continue reading
Cool Donations: The Priester Collection
The Priester Construction Company has been a part of Davenport, Iowa since Walter and Oscar Priester, both native Davenporters, founded it in 1919—in fact, the company seems to have helped build most of it, from schools to companies to the … Continue reading
Posted in Library, Local History
Tagged Architechture, library, new resources, Priester Construction
1 Comment
Bird’s Eye View: The aerial photography of Phil Hutchison
Phil Hutchison was the chief photographer for the Davenport Daily Times, Times-Democrat and Quad-City Times for 30 years. He succeeded Joe Boll, who left the Times to become advertisement manager of the Bureau Farmer, in March of 1946. He took … Continue reading
Our “Special” Visitors for 2011
In 2011, genealogists and history researchers came from all over the country to the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center, to use our wonderful resources. They came from far away to fill in the blank branches of their Family Trees. They found … Continue reading
Auld Lang Syne . . .
2011 has been a good year around here. We’ve received many new resources from family histories to land records, Shakers to Palatines. We’ve even added a few new databases to our arsenal. We’ve had great programs, like our Specifically for … Continue reading
Posted in Genealogy, Library, Local History
Tagged Genealogy, Just Shelved, library, Local History
Leave a comment
Happy Holidays from Special Collections
The staff of the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center would like to wish you and yours a joyful and genealogically successful holiday season. Don’t forget to ask your relatives for family information, stories, and copies of photographs! If you’re planning a … Continue reading
Just Skating By . . .
The river frequently froze over smooth, and made wonderful skating, particularly distance skating. A favorite stunt was to skate from Davenport downstream as far as Rock River—a matter of five or six miles. Sometimes, if there happened to be a … Continue reading
Posted in Local History
Tagged Edward Kunkel, Ice Skating, Mississippi River, Vander Veer Botanical Park, Winter
Leave a comment
A Street by Any Other Name: Kimberly Road
The street known as Kimberly Road in both Davenport and Bettendorf was dedicated on December 14th, 1936. This road was an extension of U. S. Highway No. 6 and it passed through what at the time was the northern section … Continue reading
Posted in Local History
Tagged Davenport (Iowa), David W. Kimberly, Kimberly Road, Street names
Leave a comment
In Their Own Words: Pearl Harbor
In 2001, our Special Collections Center was privileged to conduct oral history interviews with several area World War II veterans and others who were personally connected to the War, both home and abroad. On this 70th anniversary of the attack … Continue reading
Guess Who’s Coming to Town!
Santa likes Davenport, Iowa—probably because we’ve thrown him some pretty good parades over the years. The Jaycee’s Santa was bigger than life in the 1940s . . . . . . But decided he’d rather sit down for … Continue reading
