Category Archives: Local History

Lazy Summer Days: Summer Camps

Posted on July 26, 2024 by SCblogger

Before the days of air conditioning in private homes, many people escaped the summer heat by camping out. It could be as simple as putting a tent in a backyard to escape the heat of a house for relaxing or … Continue reading →

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Hostetler’s Houses: 701 Brady Street

Posted on July 13, 2024 by SCblogger

We’ve featured many of the J.B. Hostetler portraits in this space, but our collection of the Studio’s images also includes a few photographs of area residences. If you are headed up Brady Street hill as a participant in the Bix … Continue reading →

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UMVDIA Spotlight: “Mrs. Seth Temple Daughter”

Posted on July 2, 2024 by SCblogger

This sweet photograph of a little girl with her doll in an outdoor scene was taken in 1918 by J. B. Hostettler of Davenport, Iowa. The original negative envelope was labeled “Mrs. Seth Temple daughter.” From our research, we have … Continue reading →

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Flower Power Displays at Vander Veer Park

Posted on June 15, 2024 by SCblogger

As we approach the official start of summer better known as the summer solstice, we see the verdant plants of the City of Davenport’s Parks growing and blooming. As part of the Vander Veer Follow Your Roots program at our … Continue reading →

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Celebrating Teachers: Ada Copley Phelps

Posted on May 30, 2024 by SCblogger

As another school year comes to an end, we looked through our photograph collections for images of local teachers. We found the Davenport High School graduation photos of Ada Rebecca Copley from 1918. Ada was born January 28, 1900 near … Continue reading →

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Davenport’s First Chinese Immigrants

Posted on May 25, 2024 by SCblogger

In honor of Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month, we’ve put our minds to uncovering the earliest Davenporters of Asian descent: Chinese immigrants in the laundry business. This advertisment ran daily in the Davenport Gazette daily from June 26-July 3rd, … Continue reading →

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Davenport in the Digital Public Library of America

Posted on May 15, 2024 by SCblogger

Would you like to explore the history of Davenport and Scott County but are unable to travel to our Special Collections Center to peruse our shelves and archives? With the dedicated work of the Digital Public Library of America and … Continue reading →

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The Cyclone Events of May 9th and 19th, 1918

Posted on May 3, 2024 by SCblogger

May 9, 1918 had been a dreary day in Scott County, Iowa. Earlier in the day rain and hail had covered the area. Finally, in late afternoon the skies began to clear and a rainbow appeared. In the small agricultural … Continue reading →

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The Karolyn Hall Luther Photograph Collection

Posted on April 27, 2024 by SCblogger

April showers have been giving us a good soaking these last few days of the month — hopefully we will see no flooding along area waterways as a result. The waters of Davenport’s Duck Creek often jumped their banks in … Continue reading →

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A Quiet Spring Wedding in April

Posted on April 12, 2024 by SCblogger

One of our favorite types of materials in our collections are photographs, particularly portraiture. We have a number of collections that feature these types of photographs. One such collection is the Free Studio of Photography Collection which contains photographs taken … Continue reading →

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