Happy “Franksgiving!”

Posted on November 17, 2009 by SCblogger

Turkey Red,
Turkey Blue,
Turkey Says,
 “Happy Franksgiving to You!”

No, rest assured this is not a blog about Halloween crossing over into Thanksgiving.  This is just a brief peak at a moment in history when the United States struggled with a looming question – what day should Thanksgiving fall on?

In 1863, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving would be observed that year on the last Thursday in November.  The country quickly embraced the idea and every president following Mr. Lincoln followed this tradition . . .  until 1939. 

The year 1939 found the United States still wrestling with the Great Depression and the month of November containing five Thursdays instead of four.  President Franklin Roosevelt’s Secretary of Commerce, Henry Hopkins, warned the president retail owners were nervous about the late start to the Christmas shopping season with Thanksgiving falling so late in the calendar month.  The president was swayed to make a change in Thanksgiving tradition.    

On October 31, 1939, FDR passed a proclamation for Thanksgiving to be held on November 23, 1939, instead of the traditional last Thursday of the month, which was November 30th.  This would allow more shopping time for the Christmas holiday. 

As a proclamation is not law, many states debated what to do.  About half of the states followed FDR to the new date while the other half of the country remained faithful to the last Thursday of the month.  To make things more confusing, Colorado, Texas, Nebraska, Idaho and Mississippi elected to have two Thanksgiving days.  Some individuals began to call the November 23rd Thanksgiving Day “Franksgiving” in honor (mocking or not) of the president.

Locally, the two-holiday system created a bit of chaos.  Illinois went with the 23rd and Iowa with the 30th.  Those who worked at the Rock Island Arsenal (which is technically in Illinois), but lived on the Iowa side found their families at home on the 30th while they worked.  The Scott County Court House closed for both Thanksgiving days. Davenport city workers only had the 30th off.  Davenport stores were open on the 23rd and closed on the 30th.  It was, of course, the other way around on the Illinois side of the Quad Cities.  Local schools were divided as well, having to decide which Thanksgiving Day to follow while some lucky children had both days off.

1940 and 1941 saw the same Thanksgiving confusion with President Roosevelt moving Thanksgiving again one week ahead of the traditional last Thursday of the month.  Only 16 states remained now with the traditional last Thursday of November celebration.  Once again, Iowa and Illinois had chosen opposite days to feast and give thanks, with Iowa being one of the 16 states still refusing to move from the day.

A solution was finally found when both houses of U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution on December 26, 1941 requiring Thanksgiving to be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.  President Roosevelt signed the bill that same day, making Thanksgiving a federal law for the first time. 

One might imagine relief and relaxation would follow the end to the controversy, but that would have to wait.  By 1942 the United States was at war and factories and other war time enterprises would not take the day off for a holiday.  Regardless of the day, celebration could wait; there was a war to be won!

(posted by Amy D.)

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In Honor of Veteran’s Day

Posted on November 11, 2009 by SCblogger

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We thank all military personnel in the past and in the present for their service to our country.

We also thank those veterans who were kind enough to allow us to add their memories to our Oral History project, which includes the interviews of Harold Labonte, Robert Rubley, Joan McAdams, and Dale Elliot. 

You will never be forgotten.

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Just Shelved: Germans, Canadians, and Iowans–Oh, My!

Posted on November 2, 2009 by SCblogger

We are now the proud owners of volume 25 and 26 of Kevin M. Hansen’s Map Guide to German Parish Registers.  These volumes primarily contain information on the Lutheran and Catholic parishes of the Kingdom of Saxony, but other churches are also included.

We have also added the ABC’s of German-American Migration by Charles R.  Haller, and—just to reverse things a bit—the Swiss Emigration Book by Cornelia Schrader-Muggenthaler.

We are expanding our Canadian resources as well.  The first of these,  Early Ontario Settlers: A Sourcebook, but Norman Kenneth Crowder, has come in.  It won’t be the last!

And, to advance our goal of having as many histories of Iowa counties as we can, the Scott County, Iowa, Genealogy Society has provided a Biographical History of Cherokee County (1889), and I. L. Stuart’s  History of Franklin County (1914).

Mary Barnes Prill’s Jefferson County, Iowa, Records, which were complied for the Daughters of the American Revolution, rounds out these satisfying additions to our collections.

Please come in and have a look!

 

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WOC-TV: A not so Spooky Anniversary

Posted on October 26, 2009 by SCblogger

Something not so spooky, but pretty spectacular happened on October 31, 1949.  Without a ribbon cutting or speeches, another brain child of B. J. Palmer (of chiropractic fame) came to life.  On that day, a television signal from Palmer’s WOC-TV was sent into an estimated 3500 television-owning homes and businesses in the region (including the largest television-owning market at the time in Peoria, Illinois; the Davenport area only had an estimated 400 sets).

B. J. Palmer had successfully started the first television station in Iowa, creating another historic first for Davenport and the state.

Already the owner of WOC-Radio (which has its own fabulous story we will explore in the future), Dr. Palmer invested an estimated $500,000 to bring his new venture to life.  In 1948, he began work on the former Edgar Ryan residence, which had been previously converted into an apartment house known as The Oak Apartments and was conveniently located at 805 Brady Street—right in the middle of the bustling Palmer School of Chiropractic campus. Inside this handsome, turn-of-the century structure, he moved both WOC-Radio and WOC-TV.

B.J. Palmer remodeled and enlarged the structure to fulfill the needs of these industries of communication.  805 Brady would be home to WOC-TV until a larger, modern building was built for the station in 1963 right next to the Ryan building. The former Ryan residence was then demolished, but the new station retains the same address of 805 Brady Street today.

On October 31st, with two hours of television time to fill, WOC-TV began programming with the Kukla, Fran and Ollie puppet show at 6:00 p.m.  A half an hour later “Sightseeing at Home” took over air time for fifteen minutes.  The night finished with the 1935 movie “Waterfront Lady” starring Ann Rutherford and Frank Albertson.  By 8:00 p.m. television programming was over until the next evening. 

No live studio presentations took place that first week as newspapers reported the equipment needed to do such shows had not arrived in time.  This meant live coverage of the Davenport High – Moline football game and Augustana versus Carthage football game could not take place as expected.  On a brighter note, the Saturday, October 29 State University of Iowa versus Oregon football game had been put on motion picture film and was part of the Thursday, November 3 evening program schedule—in case you are wondering, Iowa came from behind to win 34 – 31.  

A grand opening was eventually held with the public invited to visit the studio during a weeklong Open House from November 5 – November 13, 1949.  Guided tours introduced visitors to the equipment and workings of the WOC television and radio studios. 

Live shows began airing on Sunday, November 6, 1949.  Soon programs such as “Mimic the Music” with local celebrity musician Marge Meinert and “Mr. Weatherwise,” a puppet show that gave the local weather forecast in apparently humorous fashion, began to be put into regular scheduling.

WOC-TV originally carried programs from all networks, even though it was an NBC affiliate.  In 1950 it began to carry NBC network programming.  The Palmer family owned WOC-TV until it was sold in 1986.  It was at that time the call letters became KWQC-TV, an NBC affiliate.

B.J. Palmer introduced his television station at the perfect moment.  How could Dr. Palmer have known that the same week WOC-TV televised its first show that State of Iowa Attorney General Robert Larson would start an anti-gambling crackdown that hit Scott County hard?  No longer were punchboards, barrels of fun, dice games and the like found in local taverns legally.  What was a bar owner to do to retain customers?  Many took to installing televisions and tuning into WOC-TV for sports coverage!

Happy 60th Anniversary to KWQC-TV (formerly WOC-TV)—still making history in the Quad Cities!        

(posted by Amy D.)

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Rat-a-tat-tat. Vvvvvvvvvbbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrr.

Posted on October 19, 2009 by SCblogger

Not usually the sounds of silence you might expect in the library, especially in the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center, right? Well, all that noise is preparation for welcoming back our dancing, leaping and running cherubs, or “putti”, to the Davenport Public Library, over one hundred years after their initial arrival.

In June 1905, W. C. Putnam offered to present a Donatello frieze as a gift to the newly built Carnegie Library and the Board accepted with heartiest thanks according to the Library Board of Trustees Minutes. A frieze is a long horizontal relief or painting which is used decoratively. This particular frieze was a plaster reproduction of one designed by Donatello in the early 1400’s to decorate a cantoria, or balcony for singers, in an Italian cathedral in Florence. The piece is twenty-four feet long and about three feet high with thirty-two singing and dancing cherubs sculpted in a variety of postures.

 closeup of frieze copy

Intended for the Children’s Room which was originally in the basement of the Carnegie, the Trustees concluded in October that the frieze should hang elsewhere. There simply wasn’t room for children, the radiator and the artwork in the basement! The local newspapers announced on November 13th that Putnam’s generous donation had been placed above the window on the north wall of the library’s auditorium. The February 8, 1906 minutes state the Grounds and Buildings Committee favored the idea of transferring the Children’s Room from the basement to the auditorium. And so, the cherubs and the children ended up together after all.

When the time came for the Carnegie building to be razed in 1966 the frieze leapt over to the Hotel Blackhawk. Now that building is undergoing renovation and the time has come for the cherubs to dance their way back to Davenport’s Main library where the frieze will again hang on the north wall, this time in the Special Collections Center. Safely packed in wooden crates, we anxiously await the big reveal when the six plaster panels are united again and Mr. Putnam’s putti can party as they please!

(Submitted by Karen)

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Those Vital, Vital Records

Posted on October 12, 2009 by SCblogger

To a genealogist, vital records are the mainstay of his or her research, the triumvirate of documentation.  Birth, marriage, and death records pin down a life from start to finish and connect an unbroken (one hopes) line from one generation to another.

We here in Special Collections understand how, well, vital these records are to our patrons.  It has therefore become our goal to add to our collections the available vital records from as many Iowa counties as we can, from the earliest possible to each county’s cut-off after the 1920 changes in Iowa law that changed the duties of county clerks.*

Iowa has ninety-nine counties, so this is what we would call an extended project—but we’re off to a pretty good start with the births, marriage, and deaths of the easternmost fourteen:

Cedar
Clayton
Clinton

Jackson
Jefferson
Johnson
Jones

Lee
Louisa

Mahaska
Muscatine

Scott (of course)

Union

Wayne

If you look at a county map of Iowa, you can see that we are resolutely marching west in our quest for these records.  And we vow not to stop until we reach Lyon County at the northwest corner of our fair state.

So, if you’re in the market for an early vital record or two from the eastern 14% of Iowa, c’mon in for a visit— we have  six microfilm reader/printers , a change machine, and extremely comfortable chairs!**

___

*Iowa law did not require clerks to record birth, marriage, and deaths at the county level between 1920 and 1941—these records were sent to the state.  Many clerks continued documenting some vital records as their duties permitted, but most eventually stopped until the law required them to begin again.

** Or if you really can’t manage a visit, drop us a line.  But then, you won’t know if we’re telling the truth about our chairs . . .

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A Fine Day for a Dedication

Posted on October 5, 2009 by SCblogger

Have you ever wondered if children of the nineteenth century groaned when it was time to return to school after summer break?  If they did grumble about such things the week of September 10, 1866 would have been the time–back to school time!

The city of an estimated 17,000 people contained one high school and six grade schools within its city limits in 1866.  In June, one boy and six girls had graduated from Davenport High School. One of the young ladies was Alice French, who would later author books under the pen name Octave Thanet.

While many students were returning to older, overcrowded grade schools; the students at School No. 1 actually had something to celebrate that year.  On October 5, 1866 School No. 1* was officially dedicated at its new location at Fulton Avenue and Mississippi (the old school had been located at Mound and Eddy Streets) in East Davenport.  This two story brick school house was considered to have the most modern features of the time.

Mid-nineteenth century modern was defined by doors that opened outward instead of inward, numbered cloak boxes for garments, water closets, hat hooks, a cistern, hand rails on the stairs, three classrooms on each floor, ventilation from windows, and access in each room to the furnace for heat. 

Each classroom contained desk space for 60 to 80 students, depending on the room.  Rooms were also equipped with a green chalk board.  The outdoor school yard contained planks for walking, a fence, and shutters for the windows. Lest we forget, a bell tower held a bell to call the students to school. 

The grand dedication was held on a beautiful October day according to the Davenport Daily Gazette of October 6, 1866.  The County Superintendent was present along with numerous other local dignitaries to honor the dedication of the citizens of Davenport in creating a fine educational edifice.  And what were the 220 pupils in attendance that day thinking during the speeches?  If they were like school children today, they were probably just happy to be outdoors and not in the classroom for a few hours!

___

*In 1908, the Davenport School Board had all city elementary schools renamed for presidents.  School No. 1 became, appropriately enough, Washington Elementary.

(posted by Amy D.)

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October is National Archives Month

Posted on October 1, 2009 by SCblogger

October is National Archives Month, when we attempt to “Celebrate the American Record.” If not for all these records, there would be very little for researchers to go on when it came to family history or investigating political, social or economic events. Ephemera collections, photographic images and historic newspapers all need to be investigated by competent researchers in order to yield a complete picture. Simply accepting a great story as a fact because it appeared in a county history can be a huge mistake! One needs to investigate to see if the storyline is even plausible.

Accessibility and preservation of these records are key components of the process. In order to celebrate, access to items is essential. Keeping in mind that we want our descendants to share the same opportunity one hundred years from now, archivists concern themselves with proper preservation techniques and environments. Preservation is paramount to the accessibility and use of all records.

Please join our celebration! Go ahead and bring in that photograph you have been trying to date. We have resources and people who can help!

Take advantage of our Genealogy Night on Sunday October 4 from 4 – 9 p.m.  Join others as they pour over records here in the Special Collections Center.  Beginners welcome! Just bring as many names, dates and places as you can to help us help you find the records you need to climb your family tree!

Celebrate the American Record at the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center of the Davenport Public Library. Go history!

(Submitted by Karen)

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The Free and Independent State of Scott

Posted on September 28, 2009 by SCblogger

As has been said before here, Davenport was the home to many breweries and saloons in the mid-1800s.  This wasn’t a problem during the Civil War, when those of a teetotal inclination had other things to worry about.  But once the War was over and Iowa soldiers returned, the Temperance-minded turned their attentions once again to the evils of alcohol and passing state prohibition amendments—it took them  a while, but they finally passed such an amendment in 1882.

Davenport, and by extension, Scott County, was having none of it.  In fact, the Koehler and Lange brewery, one of Davenport’s finest, filed suit and had the amendment overturned on a technicality. 

Unfortunately, the prohibition crowd wasn’t having any of that.  Instead of passing another amendment, they gave the existing laws more weight in 1884.

Mayor Ernst Claussen refused to acquiesce to this violation of personal liberties and threatened to declare a “Free and Independent State of Scott.”  Less dramatically, he passed a local ordinance that allowed the legal sale of “new” beverages.  These “Improved” drinks were still made from fermented grain and hops, but were sold under names like “Hop Nectar” and “Kentucky Blue Grass.”* 

About sixty years and a World War later, the Davenport Chamber of Commerce decided to promote the city to both residents and tourists. Someone unearthed the “State of Scott” idea, and decided to make it the central theme of a series of community celebrations.  Held in 1946, 1947, and 1948, the festivities included parades, fireworks, beauty contests, and even the election of a “Governor” and the appointment of “Senators” from Scott County towns.  The seal of the State of Scott featured a drawing of General Winfield Scott, and included the motto that Mayor Claussen had once wielded so effectively.

Within our library collections is a short film of one of these celebrations, and if you’re interested in seeing a little Davenport history—and its sense of humor—we’ll be showing the footage several times between 9:30 and 1:30 during our Fairmount Fall Festival on October 3.  

There’s no charge—that would be the free part—and there’s a lot more going on as well, in case you’d like to bring family and friends—that’s the independent part.

Won’t you join us?

___

* This determination held up until 1919, when the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed.  Not willing to actually secede from the Union, Davenport’s brewers  and taverns knuckled under—and in some cases, went underground—until 1933, when the 21st Amendment made it okay to order a beer and a bump as loudly as you liked.

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Archives, the historical record and freedom

Posted on September 25, 2009 by SCblogger

If you’re a regular visitor to this blog, you’ve read lots of brief histories of people, events and places in Davenport and Scott County.  Have you ever thought “that doesn’t sound accurate to me”  or wondered “just how do they know that?”  The answer is that we’ve found the information documented in the resources we have available to us here in the Special Collections Center at the Library. 

Now while we’d be the first to say that history is important and knowing what’s come before gives an important perspective when dealing with the present, the brief accounts presented in this blog don’t have any particular significance in terms of intellectual freedom issues.

But wait, maybe they do!  Intellectual freedom means more than being able to read books that others find objectionable for whatever reason.  It means that accurate historical documentation exists so that you can read and research and draw your own conclusions rather than having to rely on someone else to do that for you.  It means that if someone tells you, for example, that the Holocaust never happened that you can research and find documentation to refute that claim.  Whether it’s a small issue or a large one, having the original documents (what archivists and historians term primary sources) preserved and accessible for the public is a critical part of intellectual freedom.  Otherwise, how do we ever decide what is true and what isn’t?  And sometimes just as signicantly, how do we really know why or how a decision was made?

Educators are beginning to realize that teaching the next generation to question and carefully evaluate the resources they find online is critically  important to having a true understanding of an issue.  Think about it, anyone can post anything on the internet.  But are the scanned documents you are viewing complete?  Or did someone just pick the items that support their point of view?  National History Day is one program that teaches students to do research using primary source materials – original documents, newspaper accounts, photographs, etc.

So, in honor of the September Project and Intellectual Freedom, the next time you read something or hear a news account on the radio or TV, take a minute to stop and wonder “how do they know that?”  And  then do some research of your own to satisfy yourself as to whether the account is accurate.  You’ll be taking an important step to preserve not only your freedom to read, but your freedom to know. 

And when you’re done, thank an archivist for their work in preserving the historical record for future generations.

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