Amendment 19
pastel on paper

 

"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by a state on account of sex." - 19th Amendment.

Thanks in great part to the tireless efforts of Charles City native CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT.

Great White Hunter
oil on canvas

 

William F. Cody left his birthplace, Le Claire, Iowa, to become a famous Pony Express rider, buffalo hunter, army scout, and eventually tour America and Europe with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.

Boy Wonder

Oil on Canvas

 

Bix Beiderbecke grew up in Davenport listening to Louis Armstrong. As a young man, he moved to Chicago and became an innovative and influential jazz cornetist. He died at 28, dogged by personal demons of fame and alcohol.

Shiloh Suite
Monotype

 

Relative to its population, Iowa enlisted more troops in the Union Army During the civil war than any other state. At the devastating BATTLE OF SHILOH, one of every four Union Casualties was an Iowan.

Prairie Girl

Oil on Canvas

 

Writer LAURA INGALLS WILDER spent a year of her childhood in Burr Oak, Iowa. During that time, she tended the family cow, welcomed a baby sister, and learned to read, ironically from Mr. Reid, her favorite teacher.

Inner Circle

Oil on Canvas

 

Cedar Rapids native, photographer and writer CARL VAN VECHTEN (4th from the right) was Gertrude Stein’s friend, agent, and literacy executor. Among her other friends; Picasso, Hemingway, and Alice B Toklas.

Greatest Show on Earth

Oil on canvas

 

One day in 1870, the circus came to McGregor, Iowa. Seven young RINGLING BROTHERS attended a performance and after, decided to put on their own show for the neighbor kids. The rest, as they say, is history. 

King of the Road

Monotype

 

The NATIONAL HOBO CONVENTION first convened in Britt, Iowa during the summer of 1900. Former king “Slow-Motion Shorty” (foreground) returned in 1980after a four-year hiatus. He was joined by. among others, hobo chef, “Fry-Pan Jack.”

From the New World

Monotype

 

Famed Czech Composer Antonín Dvořák Spent the quiet summer of 1893 in Spilville, writing the “American” String Quarter and polishing his New World Symphony, which drew inspiration from Black and Native American themes. 

Patriot
oil on canvas

 

Sauk chief BLACK HAWK fought valiantly a hopeless war to maintain ancestral hunting grounds in Iowa and Illinois. He was defeated in 1832 at Bad Axe, Wisconsin, attempting to cross the Mississippi into Iowa.

Homeplace

oil on canvas

 

Nobel Peace Prize winner NORMAN BORLAUG was raised on the family farm near Cresco. His revolutionary innovations in agriculture have saved an estimated one billion people worldwide from famine and starvation. 

Buxton Wonders

Monotype

 

"The Negro Athens of the North," BUXTON, Iowa, was a unique and remarkable coal company town from 1900 to 1925. Over half of her 5,000 residents were Blacks who lived and worked, on all socioeconomic levels, in compete harmony with their White neighbors.