When I moved to Iowa City 25 years ago, one of the first things I did to familiarize myself with my new surroundings was visit the African American Museum of Iowa (AAMI) in Cedar Rapids. I only had two pieces of Black Iowa history under my belt: Lametta Wynn was the first Black mayor of […]
Iowa history
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa Odyssey: Play LV’s board game and read the stories behind the spaces
Pick up a copy of the November issue and turn to page 40 (the centerfold). You can also download a PDF of the Iowa Odyssey game board, or play the game virtually with friends. Game design by Rodney Arthur. Space concepts by Little Village staff. Visual design by Kellan Doolittle. Play-tested by Nolan Petersen and […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Five questions with Chase Abner ahead of his new Halloween-themed music festival, set in a historic Iowa schoolhouse
As a parent to a 4-year-old, I’ve come to realize that, when it comes to finding things to do, the Halloween season can be tricky. Scoping out a spooky-themed event for a possible family outing becomes a recon mission. How scary is it going to be? Too scary? Not scary enough? Going too heavy on […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘Collections are fragile,’ but conservationists say they’re being ignored as the State Historical Society moves out of Iowa City using prison labor
Behind the Centennial Building in downtown Iowa City on Monday morning, workers began to load a truck with parts of the collections housed in the research facility and archives of the State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI), the building’s occupant since 1956. SHSI announced on June 17 that it would close the Iowa City facility, […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘We’re on a knife’s edge’: Art Cullen chides Reynolds’ meanness, Big Ag’s death grip on Iowa land and livelihoods
“When I was a kid in the 1960s, you could drive from Carroll to Storm Lake, and see cattle lining green hills the entire way,” Art Cullen said in a matter-of-fact voice. “Now it’s all row crops, and cattle in feedlots. It’s a different situation. Those green hills are plowed up.” That transformation, the economic […]
Posted inCommunity/News
At a cult compound in rural Iowa, death prayers and doomsday prep gave way to ‘natural’ health grifts and costly tests of faith
On Dec. 12, 1972, cult leader John Robert Stevens made a big announcement: he was a time traveler. “I had a real meeting with the Lord,” Stevens told his followers in the Living Word Fellowship (LWF), also called the Walk. “During this meeting, I was projected seven years ahead of the present time. It was […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Photos: Iowans recreate Civil War encampments, battles and the Gettysburg Address at annual Muster on the Maquoketa
Iowa may have been the scene of only one minor skirmish during the Civil War, but historians and live-action roleplayers stage battles in the state annually to highlight Iowa’s larger role in the fight to end slavery and preserve the union. The Jackson County Historical Society gathered historians, schoolkids and dozens of Civil War reenactors […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Beth M. Howard’s ‘Pieowa’ is the taste-good, feel-good film of the year
It is the first weekend of the Iowa State Fair, and Beth M. Howard is still thinking about pie. “I’ve tried to get away from pie a couple of times,” she said, “and I just keep getting pulled back. I’ve surrendered.” Howard has made a career off the pastry, first by writing a memoir about […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Rally planned in Iowa City to protest closure of State Historical Society research center by Reynolds administration
As the Trump administration continues its attempts to erase and rewrite history — on Tuesday, President Trump said he had “instructed my attorneys to go through the [Smithsonian] Museums” to ensure the Smithsonian is focused on “Success” and “Brightness” instead of “how bad Slavery was” — Iowans will rally on Saturday to demand the state protect […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Peak Iowa: Taco pizza, Davenport’s endlessly imitated invention
Crust, beans, taco sauce, cheese, ground beef, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, perhaps some peppers, sour cream and black olives, all topped with crushed taco chips. Taco pizza, a culinary innovation that bemuses taco traditionalists and infuriates pizza purists, is much loved in Iowa. That’s fitting, since Iowa is where taco pizza was born. Probably. It can […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
Ozzy Osbourne, British rock god known for an infamous show in Des Moines, dies at 76
Ozzy Osbourne has died. Heavy metal’s “Prince of Darkness,” who later had a second career as an avuncular reality TV star, was 76 years old. “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,” the Osborne family said in […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Peak Iowa: When Jumbo the geyser put Belle Plaine on the map
At the corner of 8th Avenue and 8th Street in Belle Plaine, there’s a boulder with a bronze plaque put there in 1954 to commemorate “Jumbo,” a well-turned-geyser that briefly made the Benton County city famous almost 70 years earlier. By the time the well that became Jumbo was dug, the Belle Plaine area already […]
