For all these events, I utilized the new directory page on our website. There, you can zoom in on the map to search for Community History Archives in that area. I did this in different areas of the state to find different CHAs to search in. Each archive is listed on the side with the link to their CHA, as well as other useful information about the partner! This is especially useful in states like Iowa, which are full of small towns and have lots of history to explore!
Usually, by November, we will have started to see snow here in the Midwest. Sometimes, it’s just a small shower; other times, it’s multiple inches of snow. The latter was true in Estherville, Iowa, on November 20th, 2015. In total, they recorded 7-8 inches of snow fell in Estherville, creating awful road conditions. However, they saw the beauty in this monster snow and shared some images of the winter wonderland it had created. This was the first snowstorm the town experienced in 2015, setting up the chance for a White Christmas!
Our next story comes from Monticello, a town in eastern Iowa. Looking through the pages of The Monticello Express, I found a fun segment they included in each publication called “Monti-Kids” where they shared stories and writing from kids at their local schools. The Monti-Kids section from November 19th, 1997 was fascinating to me. It featured a few stories that the kids had written, including one about a cat named Bozo who can flip and do a summersault and another about two pet chameleons who get to eat leftovers. They also included photos from when the local fire department visited their preschool and a fun murder mystery-themed activity the sixth-grade students did in class. I found these stories fun and can only imagine how excited these kids were to see their stories and pictures in the newspaper!
The streets of Ackley Iowa were filled with gobbles on November 21st, 1963. 51 merchants participated in “Gobblers Alley”, a thanksgiving-themed chamber of commerce promotional event. Each merchant had their own live turkey in a cage to be given away. They decorated the turkey cages unique to their merchant stand. Participants had to complete different tasks to win the turkey, depending on the stand. Some held guessing games and the person closest to the answer won. Others just had simple drawings which you could register to win. The event ran from November 21st to November 23rd, and the winners could pick up their turkeys that Saturday afternoon. What a unique way to engage the community and celebrate Thanksgiving!
On November 21st, 1935, the Cedar Rapids Gazette announced that the Boy Scouts of Cedar Rapids and the local fire department would be partnering up to give back to their community. An item that many local shelters needed was dolls for young children. Because of this, the Boy Scouts and Fire Department decided to collect donations of dolls, repair them, and then host a doll movie for the children in the city at the State Theater. They were repairing the dolls to put them back into good condition, their wives even sewed new clothes for the dolls. During the movie, they donated them to little kids in need who couldn’t afford their own dolls. This is such a cool project that the Boy Scouts and Fire Department did, and is yet another case of giving back to the community!
Our last story is just a small event that I found in the Carroll Sentinel on November 22, 1889. They shared that the local German society would celebrate Thanksgiving by holding a grand ball. It was said that they would have good music and good times and that anyone was welcome. What I found funny, though, was their subtle brag in this advertisement for their event, in which they said, “This society is famous for its good times, and this one will prove no exception to the rule”. It sounds like another fun way to celebrate Thanksgiving and a great community event.
I hope you enjoyed immersing yourself in these communities with me. I find this to be a refreshing change to studying history, as it allows it to feel more personal. Join me again next week to discover more of history’s hidden gems and timeless tales!
Explore the “Read All About It” archives to read stories that spotlight our partners and their communities, announcements from our team, updates on current projects, and so much more. Discover articles about engagement, outreach, primary sources, community, digitization, education, and other topics of interest. Delve into the happenings in this week in history and take a deep dive into the events and people who helped shape our communities, our nation, and the world.
Hear Ye, Hear Ye, READ ALL ABOUT IT!
Advantage Archives works to build strong, community-based partnerships to provide free online access to local history, making it discoverable and easily accessible to anyone, anywhere, at any time, on any device. This allows communities to understand and connect to their past in a meaningful way. Through the Community History Archive search platform, we provide the community with the means to explore, discover, learn from, connect with, and share the stories of the people, places, and events that shaped their community.
The Community History Archives are intended to serve as a “portal to the past”, allowing local primary source documents to give an accounting of history as told by the individuals that witnessed it. Advantage Archives guiding principals center around building strong community-based partnerships, which is why we enter into them with the intent of shouldering our fair share, and taking the burden off of the community for the ongoing costs associated with storage, hosting, development, and maintenance of the Community’s History Archive. We are an active participant in the community’s efforts to make their collective history more accessible. The Community History Archives are maintained for free by Advantage and do not require a subscription, seat license, annual support contract, or any other ongoing costs or expenses to the institution or members of the community.
If you would like to see more local history online, please contact your local library, newspaper publisher, genealogical society, historical society, or educational institution, and encourage them to learn more about creating a Community History Archive or have them contact Advantage Archives at (855) 303-2727
