Iowa Heritage Illustrated

English

Iowa Heritage Illustrated, vol.84 no.3, Fall 2003

Hyde, John

Intersections
Henry A. Wallace not only shared 
with George Washington Carver,
Norman Borlaug, and Herbert 
Hoover a strong and effective com­
mitment to  increasing the w orld ’s 
food supply, but his life also inter­
sected with theirs in fascinating ways.
Wallace was a child not yet 
in elementary school when he met 
George Washington Carver.
Wallace’s father, Henry C. Wallace, 
an instructor at Iowa State College 
in Ames, occasionally invited the 
gentle, brilliant, somewhat lonely young African 
American student to his home to share food and com- 
panionship.There Carver formed a friendship with 
Henry A.— Young Henry, as he was called— that 
lasted a lifetime.Together they walked the meadows 
around Ames, and Carver schooled the boy in identi­
fying the parts and species of plants.Young Henry 
thrived on both the information and the attention. But 
Carver’s greatest gift to the boy was spiritual. Carver 
saw the Infinite— that is to say, God— in all living 
things.“ His outstanding characteristic was a strong 
feeling for the immanence of God,’’ Wallace later re­
marked. Much the same could be said ofWallace 
himself.
Wallace’s link to Norman Borlaug began taking 
shape in late 1940, after Wallace had been elected 
vice president of the United States but before he 
had taken office. President Franklin Roosevelt asked 
the vice president-elect to attend the Mexican presi­
dential inauguration as his personal representative. 
After the ceremonies, Wallace and his wife. No, re­
mained in Mexico for another six weeks, driving 
around in their Plymouth inspecting the dreadful—  
and deteriorating— condition of Mexican agriculture. 
Upon his return,Wallace urged the Rockefeller 
Foundation to establish an experiment station in 
Mexico devoted to improving the condition and pro­
The first official U.S. representative at a Mexican presidential inauguration, 
Henry A. Wallace extended his 1940 visit to Mexico so he could see the coun­
try on his own terms. “ I want to stop and get out and look at some corn if I 
feel like it,” he said—and he did. He then pushed for the creation of an experi­
m ent  station in Mexico. In I 943, Norman Borlaug came there to work.
ductivity of Mexican farmers. An increase of only two 
bushels of corn per acre would make an enormous dif­
ference in Mexico’s national life, he said. As a result 
of Wallace’s initiative, the experiment station was es­
tablished, Norman Borlaug was hired, and a great 
Green Revolution began its spread around the world.
Wallace’s relationship with Herbert Hoover was 
not so positive.The enmity between Hoover and the 
Wallaces— father and son— long predated Hoover’s 
presidency. It began during W orld War I, when the 
Wallaces fought for a plan to increase hog produc­
tion; Hoover, then the national food czar, rejected the 
plan. It continued during the Harding and Coolidge 
presidencies, when Hoover, then secretary of com­
merce, and Henry C. Wallace, the secretary of agri­
culture, bitterly disagreed over proposals to assist the 
economically distressed farm sector. And it culmi­
nated in the 1928 and 1932 presidential elections, 
when Hoover’s presidential candidacies led Henry A. 
Wallace to bolt the Republican Party and endorse 
the candidacies of New York Democrats Al Smith and 
Franklin D. Roosevelt. Even today, more than three 
decades after Wallace’s death, personally autographed 
pictures of every president since Theodore Roosevelt 
line a wall in Wallace’s farmhouse in Westchester 
County, New York. Every president, that is, except 
one.There is no picture of Herbert Hoover.
—by John Hyde
Summer 2003 77


Intersections

Saying 'Thank You': The Story of the Flour Sacks

Raymond, C Elizabeth

Iowa, the Garden of the World': From Prairie to Farmland

Natte, Roger B

COURTESY WEBSTER COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY (FORT DOOGE)
John F. Duncombe (undated photograph, 
probably 1860s or early 1870s)
"A reckless life 
of three years 
in Iowa"
The diary of a young attorney, 
John Duncombe, 1856-1859
Prologue and Diary Transcription
by Roger B. Natte
W
hen John Francis Duncombe first arrived
in Fort Dodge in 1855, he brought with 
him a sound education, a driving ambi­
tion, and the sorrow of a new marriage cut short.
Born October 22,1831, on a farm in Erie County, 
Pennsylvania, Duncombe began his education in a 
country school. By age 22 he had diplomas and 
high honors from Centre College (in Danville, 
Kentucky) and Allegheny College (in Meadville, 
Pennsylvania), had read law with area attorneys, 
had been admitted to the bar, and had entered into 
private practice in Erie. He had also married Carrie 
Perkins, of Erie, on December 29,1852.
After Carrie died on November 19,1854, 
Duncombe set out for the West. Borrowing $300 
from his father, he headed for frontier Iowa, where 
opportunities in land investment promised great 
rewards.
In April 1855 Duncombe arrived in Fort Dodge. 
The abandoned military post was now a settlement 
of only several dozen people, but the future prom­
ised rapid growth. The town was to be the site of
the next U.S. land office and was also on the pro­
posed route of a railroad originating in Chicago, 
which would pass through Dubuque, Fort Dodge, 
and other cities in northern Iowa as it headed west.
With boundless enthusiasm and drive, John F. 
Duncombe soon became a dominant force in Fort 
Dodge. What motivated him to keep a diary in those 
early years? No reason is clear. It may have been 
simply to record and reflect on his activities, ideas, 
and feelings. What is obvious is that he fully ex­
pected someone in the future to read his diary, as he 
specifically indicates in one of his entries. Yet 
Duncombe wrote without inhibition. His journal 
entries are characterized by a plainspoken and often 
blunt candor. He was not afraid to describe situa­
tions that may have been embarrassing and even 
legally incriminating, had they come to light when 
he was writing. Certainly it would appear that 
Duncombe included in his journal all personal 
situations and public events that had any impor­
tance to him.
Maybe Duncombe also wrote because he had
52 Ioum Heritage Illustrated
the time to write. Life in frontier Fort Dodge did 
not follow a frantic pace. On some days, as the 
journal indicates, there was not much to keep him 
busy. He had time to reflect.
Duncombe's roles in Fort Dodge — attorney, 
land agent, speculator, newspaper owner and 
editor — were among those likely to lead to greater 
opportunities in 1850s Iowa. But even though Dun- 
combe, on most days, had great confidence and 
aspirations, for himself and for his town and 
county, success was not guaranteed. The economic 
panic of 1857 affected railroads and land specula­
tion in Iowa as well as in the rest of the United States. 
Locally Duncombe was competing with nearly two 
dozen other land agents and attorneys serving Fort 
Dodge and Webster County in 1858. His third 
challenge to success was his deep commitment to 
the Democratic Party at a time when Iowa was 
becoming a strong Republican state. And then there 
was the matter of personal happiness. Would that 
ever be his, he wondered often enough in his diary.
John Francis Duncombe's entire two-volume 
diary — from January 1,1856, through early February 
of 1859 — is published here for the first time. The 
epilogue summarizes Duncombe's life in later de­
cades. Commentary accompanying the diary fleshes 
out some of the individuals he encounters and ex­
plains the issues and controversies swirling around 
Duncombe in these heady days of early statehood.
Certainly no single individual had more 
influence in molding the future of Fort Dodge. But 
this is not a diary about the life of one man, or the 
development of one town, or the organization of 
one county. Like the 1855 map that opens this 
issue, the diary covers the breadth of Iowa, as 
Duncombe travels across the young state, diving 
into politics, rubbing shoulders with the powerful, 
wishing for a wife, platting land for settlers and 
speculators, and endeavoring to earn himself a 
good name.
Welcome to the world of John Duncombe and 
Iowa in the late 1850s.
Notes on
Because the John Duncombe diary is a significant primary source 
for Iowa history, and because Duncombe wrote about numer­
ous individuals and places in Iowa history, we believe it ’s essen­
tial that the published transcription reproduce the original hand­
written document as accurately as possible.Therefore, we have 
retained Duncombe’s occasional slips of the pen or interrupted 
thoughts, his underlining or striking out of certain words, and 
his inconsistent or nonstandard spelling, capitalization, and punc­
tuation (or lack of punctuation). Two spaces indicate where 
Duncombe appeared to be starting a new sentence, but w ithout 
benefit of a preceding period or a capitalized first word. Where 
Duncombe drew a small hand with a finger pointing to an entry,
the Diary
we use the typographical hand symbol used by 19th-century 
printers. We have, however, standardized the dateline of each 
entry by setting it in italics and flush left.
Though a well-educated man, Duncombe did not always 
spell the names of places or individuals consistently (even within 
the same diary entry) or correctly (if we use county histories 
and other historical records as the standard). Consider, for in­
stance, his five different spellings of “ Mississippi.” Some of these 
variant spellings might be explained by the circumstances— w rit­
ing while traveling on a steamboat, scrawling hurried notes be­
fore bed— or his own uncertainty or carelessness, o r our own 
difficulty in reading his handwriting. Words or initials that we 
could not decipher are indicated by a question mark within 
brackets [?]. Brackets around a word indicate a reasonably cer­
tain guess of what Duncombe meant.
Both volumes of the diary are in the collections of the 
Webster County Historical Society in Fort Dodge. (One was 
donated by Thomas Gilligan, whose wife, Katherine, was a pri­
vate nurse for Mary, wife of William Duncombe, one of John 
Duncombe’s sons.) There is no indication in the diary or in 
Duncombe’s other records that additional journals either pre­
ceded or followed these two volumes, although, as diary tran­
scriber Roger Natte points out, the abrupt way in which the 
entries start on January 1, 1856, suggests that keeping a journal 
was not a new experience for Duncombe. — The Editor
Summer & Fall 2002 53
JOURNAL P H O T O G R A P H E D  0Y  C H A R LES S C O T T  (ALSO  P A G E S  54 AND 141)
O p e n in g  page 
o f  t h e  t w o -  
v o lu m e  d ia r y  
b e g u n  by 24- 
y e a r-o ld  John  
D u n c o m b e .
JANY 1st 1856
Another year has rolled away. Its gone. Its memory is 
all that remains. Good and Evil are strangely mingled 
in the past. But the Good deeds of men can be made 
no better and what wicked persons have done cannot 
be undone.
My own life for the year past I must say has been 
one of far greater pleasure than I anticipated it would 
be one year ago to day. Then the future seemed dark.
It was mingled with the painful recollections of the 
past. But my own experience teaches me not to 
anticipate troubles.
1 spend my time in the office this first and second 
day of January 1856
Thursday Jany 3d 1856 I start in an open waggon with 
Cady, McBane, Gower and Bagg with $100,000 gold to 
take to St Louis for the land office. The Thermometer 
is 26° degrees below zero. We ride in an open lumber 
waggon with mules
Jam/ 4th 1856 Stayed last night at Hardins Slept 
around the Stove. Poor McBane froze his ear yesterday 
and Poor Bagg came very near freezing last night. We 
keep good watch over the 4 boxes of gold in our charge. 
We sleep with the boxes under our heads. Stay to 
night at Hendersons 20 miles North of Ft Des Moines
fani/ 5th, 1856 The weather still continues very cold 
— most of the time below zero at least ten degrees. 
Cross over a big prairie and stay to night at Keith's 14 
miles East of Ft Des Moines
/any 6th 1856 Sunday — Ride all day in the cold 
Snow flies. Stay in a new house colder than 
Greenland. Got my back out in the weather and found 
the marrow nearly frozen up. I was so bad off from a 
cold that I could scarcely speak loud. Got dinner — 
felt quite poorly to day.
Iany 7th 1856. Rode all day in the cold very cold, it is 
difficult to keep from freezing.
Jany 8th 1856 Rode all day to Iowa City. This is the 
coldest day I ever saw. Mercury 32° degrees below 
zero. Iowa Democratic State Convention meet here to 
day. I attend the convention at night. Stay at the 
Tremont house — Sleep on the floor Have hard time 
to keep from freezing.
Jany 9th 1856 Started from Iowa City — Rather 
intended to start, did not start, waited for the cars.
The Rail Road from here to Davenport is the first 
built in the State of Iowa. This is just commenced to 
run. Has no regular time yet. No depot here yet — all 
very new — An important Era in the history of this 
State
Jany 10th 1856 Yesterday the Mercury stood at 29° 
below zero. Horrible cold weather for a pleasure ride! 
To day it is a trifle warmer about 20 below zero.
Travel to Muscatine in the waggon. Stay at the 
Oglevie Flouse. A very fine ball here Splendid ladies. 
How like human it made me feel. We have a bottle of 
brandy -  Bad -  Bad — Bad.-----
Jany 11th 1856 This morning had a spree with Bagg. 
Came near whipping him — Glad I did not.
Cold — Rode to Davenport Much of the time on 
the ice on the Missippi river.
Crossed over the river on the ice to Rock Island. 
Stopped at the Island City Flouse. This is an excellent 
house kept by Arnold and Lacksburry.
Rock Island and Davenport contains about 9000 
inhabitants each. Burlington, Keokuk and Dubuque 
about 1200. Dubuque is a little the largest of the three.
I think Keokuk will eventually be the largest town in 
this Stat. Its prospects have been excellent.
Jany 12th 1856 Took the cars at 9 o'clock A.M. for LaSalle. 
Thence on the central R.Road to Sandoval 60 miles 
East of St. Louis. Stoped by a train of cars running off 
the track. The Engineer killed. An awful Smash up.
Jany 13th 1856 Got to St Louis today. Stay over night.
54 Iowa Heritage Illustrated
in the morning we deposit our Gold with the assistant 
sub-treasurer all right.
Jany 14th 1856 Buy 25$ worth of clothing and start 
for Pennsylvania with Bagg. Get an awful ducking by 
the water tank being let loose about l/i past 2 oclock.
*
Jany 15th 1856 Go from Vincennes to Indianapolis in 
Indiana. I visit the State house. Go through the Town.
I call it rather a pretty Town. Contains about 10,000 
inhabitants. Go to Crestline 75. miles from Cleveland. 
The Snow is very deep here, about 2 feet.
jany 16th 1856 Start from Crestline for Cleveland Go 
on to Erie Arrive there in the Evening. Stay at Mr.
Otis house. Just nine months from Erie. I am quite a 
hawk Eye!
Jany 17th. 1856. I start for fathers in the Stage I stop 
at old Hathaways, he charges me ten cents for warm­
ing Rich! Wasnt it?
I get home to day. Meet father and mother on 
their way to Wattsburg. They did not recognize me. 
That was funny (?) All the folks were well and I was 
very glad.
Jany 18th 1856 At house — happy
Jany 19th 1856 At home — Start for quarterly meet­
ing at Bever dam. Stay with Lester Perkins tonight.
Jany 20th 1856 At quarterly meeting. Get dinner at 
Mr Crooks. Ride home — Finest kind of sleighing.
Jany 21st 22d, 23d 1856 At home — bid friends "good 
by" Stay with Old Judge Vincents in Waterford.
Jany 24th, 1856. Go to Erie. Stay tonight at Mr [Janes?].
Jany 25th 26th Visit in Erie — have a pleasant time 
indeed.
Jany 27th 1856 At quarterly meeting hear two excel­
lent Sermons from Leslie & Lyon
Jany 28, 1856 Messrs Janes and Berst give me six 
dollars which will make me square with them in their 
land entries for all my fees. I now have enough of 
their money to pay for entering one quarter section of 
land and have the fees paid for doing it. R. T. Sterrett 
gives me $10.50 to give to A.J. Sterrett. I give him a 
receipt for his money Start for Iowa at 2. PM.
Jany 29th 1856 I stayed last night with John A Vincent 
No. 242. Superior Street Cleveland. The cars did not 
make their connexion.
Jany. 30.1856 I start at 8. oclock A.M. for Chicago. About 
ten miles East of Chicago get blocked in with the snow.
Jany 31st 1856 Stayed blocked in with the snow from 
about 2 or 3 oclock last night until about one or two 
oclock to day. Get hauled out. The paddys dig out a 
Road. We were compelled to dig a Road or stay in the 
snow. We burned up board fence for fuel and Eat 
Skunk.
I saw two very loving ones in the seat ahead of 
me They were both of Illinois Or at least the man had 
lived there as he told me Every little while when he 
had carefully surveyed the premises in the dark he 
would place his lips to the lips of the lady and "Suck" 
hence the name of "Suckers" I was amused! Guess 
anyone would have been. They both looked as if they 
would like to but could not under the circumstances.
Feby 1st 1856 Started for Dubuque. Saw one clinch 
and almost a fight. Both parties showed their teeth if 
not their courage.
Crossed the Mississippi on the ice after dark.
Feb 2d 1856 Stayed at the Peasly house until 4 oclock 
A.M. Then started with ten passengers, a very cold 
blustery day for Ft Dodge. I rode 30 miles on the outside 
of the stage — like to froze. Then I got in at Rockway 
and of course some body must ride on the outside. A 
little Englishman tried it and like to froze up.
Stopped to night at Independence 75 miles from 
Dubuque Had a very good supper and comfortable 
bed. Then went on to Cedar falls one hundred miles. I 
guess we stopped here to stay over Sunday.
Feb 3d 1856 Stayed at Cedar Falls today with my old 
College friend B.R. Speer. I contented myself by going 
to church.
A. Mullarky is the wealthiest man in the town 
now This place and Waterloo are now at loger heads 
about the County seat [?]
Waterloo is the County seat.
Feb 4th 1856 Started and rode to Reles for dinner 12 
miles then 14 to Parrotts. Old Parrott is rich if he only 
knew it.
Feb 5th 1856 Rode 20 miles to Iowa Falls Here are 
ledges of rock some of them a very good quality of
Summer &  Fall 2002 55
marble, here I got dinner then rode to Pilgrims grove 
where I saw a tall [?] and stage drivers get drunk.
Feb 6th 1856 Rode 50 miles to Ft Dodge home again 
after an absence of one month and three days.
7th Stayed in the office nearly all day and talked and 
rested.
8th Stayed in the office. Today first spoke of agitating 
the subject of County seat. Some thought it doubtful. 
Some premature.
9th In the office today. Wrote letters
10th Sunday Started with Vincents team in company 
with Sewall Gower for Willsons at Newcastle. Had a 
talk with them about the county seat. They wanted it 
at their town if possible but finally consented that if we 
would go in with them for a division of the Counties 
North and South on the old line between Risley and Yell 
and for a tier of Townships off of Wright County they 
would go in with us for a division of the County North 
and South and assist us in the removal of the County 
seat of Webster Co from Homer where it is now located 
to our place — so we agreed and stayed there all 
night.
11th Started with Gower for Homer. Went to 
Messervey Co Judge and showed him our petition for 
the removal of the County seat. Also the notices for the 
removal of the County seat. Said they were sufficient. 
Said that if we got a majority of the voters in the 
county according to the last Poll Book he would issue 
an order of Election for the purpose of taking the vote 
at the April Election. Put up a notice in Newcastle — 3 
in Homer and one at Hardins, sent Gower Home with 
one for Tolmans one for [Bentleys?] one for Fort Dodge.
Febn/ 12th 1856. Stayed last night with old man West. 
He is Sheriff of Webster Co. He is drunk about half of 
the time. Great shame to himself and the County.
This morning I started down the river a foot for 
Bells to get signers to my petition I was to get Isaac 
Bells at his two sons, Jackques and finally stopped at 
Jacob Bells. Stayed here all night. Slept very comfort­
ably. He lives in a cabin about four or five miles below 
the mouth of the Boone River
13th Went from Bells to Hurscs, Richies and finally to 
Paines. Here I saw a frozen Elk and lots of deer. The 
old man and his son were great hunters. Their cabin
was without a window, and the light come in through 
a little hole about 3 inches acrost over the door. The 
chimney was only about half built up and when the 
wind blowed over the house it was filled with smoke. 
This was the state of the case this night, and I was 
compelled to cry until the fire went out. Corn cakes — 
hoe cake, fat pork and venison — with strong coffee 
constitutes the diet of these pioneers.
I travelled about 2 or 3 miles over the snow where 
it was about knee deep and So badly crusted that about 
every fifth step would bear me. I like to have tired out. 
But I am here writing hearty as ever for all that I see.
14th This morning it was storming. I found the 
walking terrible. I got to Willsons about noon. He 
agreed to go for Fort Dodge in the Election I wrote 
him a petition. He agreed to circulate it for me. I went 
on to B.H. Allisons and got my dinner.
I stayed at Allisons all night He would not tell 
what he would do. I dont know whether he will be 
for or against us but prospects are that he will be 
against us unless we buy him in some way.
Feby 15th 1856. Started from Allisons went to John 
Beams at the mouth of Crooked Creek, Old Johnny 
promised to go for us. I went to Humphreys. He said 
He would go for us. Then to old man Johns and he 
said he would go for us. Then I went down on to the 
River and in crossing I got in and got a good soaking. 
Rather a narrow escape from going under the ice.
Then I went up to Nettletons place of drawing logs to 
his saw mill. Then I went to Esq Johnsons. I labored 
hard with Tolman and some others who had signed 
the remonstrance, but I used every argument. And he 
agreed to do no more against us. To day for the first 
time in ten weeks it thawed
16th To day I started for Fort Dodge But the wind 
was directly in my face and it was the stormiest day 
that I ever saw. I went two miles, a good part of the 
way backwards to Barnes. Here I concluded that 
discretion was the better part of valor and therefore l 
stayed here all day and all night. I found Mrs Barnes a 
very pleasant woman. She looked quite tidy herself 
and kept her house so.
17th Sunday I started for Barnes afoot and got up to 
Bentleys and stoped Then I got a chance to ride to the 
Fort with Mr Rist. I spent my day in the office writing 
— I was interrupted by Powell Bush coming in to find 
out about his law suit with McBride. Nettleton the 
Justice had issued an execution against the said Bush
56 lorica Heritage Illustrated


A reckless life of three years in Iowa': The diary of a young attorney, John Duncombe, 1856-1859

Silag, Bill

How Much Happier I Should Be!'

The Spirit Lake Relief Expedition

Swaim, Ginalie

Women's Work

Reading the Past
Outside In and the Idea 
of Community Involvement 
in Public History
by Bill Silag
N
early one hundred years ago, historian
Carter G. Woodson urged Americans 
from all walks of life to join him in a 
quest to know the past. "History be­
longs to all of us," declared Woodson, 
who founded The Journal of Negro Histon/ and created 
Negro History Week, a precursor to Black History 
Month. True to his beliefs, Woodson insisted that mem­
bership in the Association for the Study of Negro Life 
and History (publisher of the Journal) be open to every­
one, with or without "professional credentials" or in­
stitutional affiliation. Other historical organizations of 
the era—including the American Historical Associa­
tion—shared Woodson's concern for inclusion, but their 
campaigns to attract non-academics proved unsuccess­
ful. As a result, over time the historical profession has 
taken on the guild-like character familiar to us today. 
This trend no doubt saddened Woodson, who believed 
strongly that historical research and writing would en­
rich all citizens—whether formally trained in historical 
methods or not—because the study of history leads to a 
greater understanding of humanity. According to his­
torian Spencer Crew, Woodson was convinced that in 
order to be meaningful, historical study must be inclu­
sive lest perspectives be missed.
In late 2001, the State Historical Society of Iowa 
published Outside In: African-American History in Iowa, 
1838-2000, an in-depth look at the black experience in 
Iowa from territorial days to the dawn of the 21st cen-
Outside In: African- 
American History in Iowa,
1838-2000, ediced by 
Bill Silag, Susan Koch- 
Bridgford.and Hal Chase. 
Des Moines: State 
Historical Society o f Iowa, 
2001.xx. 580 pp. 
Illustrations, notes, index. 
$50.00 cloth.
tury. I was the book's editor, and though I had edited 
many Iowa history books before, this project was spe­
cial. For me at least, the research, writing, and publica­
tion of Outside In gave new meaning to the idea of com­
munity involvement in public history.
To a large extent, the project was organized along 
the lines Woodson advocated. Outside In brought to­
gether people from a wide range of professions and per­
spectives to shed light on the ways in which men and 
women of African American descent have taken part in 
Iowa history. The book's chapters show the diversity of 
attitudes and aspirations within Iowa's black commu­
nities, the ties that connect people in those communi­
ties with other Iowans, and the interdependency of all 
Iowans. In addressing these themes in Iowa history, 
Outside In's authors have provided a model of public 
history that can be adopted by other communities, be 
they small towns in rural counties, major metropolitan 
areas, or entire states. Outside In represents an approach 
to historical inquiry that engages as much of the com­
munity as possible and thereby draws on the variety of 
interests and talents to be found in all communities.
Hal Chase, instructor in history at Des Moines Area 
Community College, organized the team of writers and 
editors that produced Outside In. (The book's main title 
refers to Chase's boyhood years in the segregated South 
of the 1950s, when both Chase, who is white, and his 
best friend, John Sykes, who is black, felt themselves 
marginalized in the world of the other.) Chase called 
on three dozen authors to address various aspects of 
Iowa's black history: migration and other population 
trends, legal rights, employment patterns, community 
organizations, and individual achievements in sports 
and the arts.
Each of the authors has set a new standard for sub­
sequent research in his or her subject area. Museum 
curator Jack Lufkin, who had prepared a major exhibit 
on Des Moines's African American community at the 
State Historical Society of Iowa in 1996, wrote Outside 
In's chapter about Iowa's black-owned businesses in the
158 Iowa Heritage Illustrated
Among the hundreds of photos in Outside In are these two. Left: Iowa’s George Taylor was a presidential candidate for the 
National Liberty Party in I 904. Right: Henry G. Matthews poses with friends on his farm between Beebeetown and Logan, Iowa.
19th and 20th centuries. Attorney Alfredo Parrish pre- Gradwohl and Nancy Osborn Johnsen have made of 
pared the chapter on Iowa's black attorneys. Kathryn what they were told by Dorothy Mae Neal Collier, who
M. Neal, then project archivist for the Iowa Women's lived in Buxton, Iowa's racially integrated coal-mining
Archives, examined key themes in the history of Afri- community, in the early 1900s. Another case in point is
can American women in Iowa. Other authors recruited Outside In's extraordinary chapter on black doctors in
by Chase included college faculty members, local his- Iowa. The authors, Drs. Erin Herndon and Steven Berry, 
torians, doctors, politicians, community leaders, jour- based their chapter on a series of in-depth interviews, 
nalists, anthropologists, art critics, sociologists, and The authors step in periodically to establish context or
school administrators. Each author was urged to ap- add interpretation, but for the most part the people in-
proach his or her topic in whatever way seemed most terviewed are narrating the tale. It's a tour de force of
appropriate for the scope of the book and for the avail- fine writing, showing the effectiveness of letting sub­
ability of historical resources. Leola Bergmann, author jects tell their own stories.
of the path-breaking study titled The Negro in Iowa, In his introduction to Outside In, Tom Morain writes
which was published by the State Historical Society of about perspectives on race relations when he was grow-
lowa in 1948, provided a foreword. Spencer Crew, di- ing up in small-town Iowa. "Had we been asked if there
rector of the National Museum of History in Washing- was racial discrimination in Iowa, we would have re­
ton, D.C., wrote the book's preface, and Tom Morain, sponded in good conscience that segregation was the
then administrator of the State Historical Society of practice in southern states but did not occur in the North.
Iowa, wrote the introduction. We believed it. For those raised in such innocence, Out-
Not enough praise can be bestowed on the authors side In will be startling and disturbing." As Morain sug-
for their dedication and determination. They partici- gests, though Iowa is proud of its record in supporting
pated in the project without financial compensation, and racial equality, especially since World War II, postwar
most of them worked with sources of information— efforts to end discrimination and segregation followed
letters, diaries, artifacts, and other items—that had never a century of less consistent commitment by white Io-
been examined by historians before. Because the authors wans to ensure the basic rights guaranteed all citizens
drew heavily on interviews as well as on archival docu- by the nation's constitution. True, the state's civil rights
ments, interview subjects were given plenty of space to record was considered positive by white Iowans in the
speak for themselves in the pages of Outside In. As a 19th century. Robert R. Dykstra's Bright Radical Star:
result, the tone of the writing typically reflects the sub- Black Freedom and White Supremacy on the Hawkeye Fron-
jects' own points of view. In so many cases—William S. tier (Harvard University Press, 1993) puts Iowa in the
Morris writing on the military, Raymond Kelso Weikal vanguard of states seeking to protect the legal rights of
on music, and William S. Doan on the arts, to name a African Americans. But achieving legal rights was still
few—the authors established a deep connection with a long way from securing the dignity and respect due
their subjects, and it shows in the vigor of their presen- black Iowans. The segregated quarters at Camp Dodge
tations. See for example the marvelous use David and Fort Des Moines during World Wars I and II and
Winter 2002 1 59
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ALL THREE PHOTOS FROM O UTSIDE IN  AFRICAN AM ERICAN HISTO RY IN  K)W A 1835-2000  LEFT SHSI (DES MOINES) MIDOLE GROUT MUSEUM (WATERLOO). RIGHT COURTESY DR ROBERT CARNEY
Women’s Army Corp trainees stand ready at Fort Des Moines during World War II.
the Ku Klux Klan in Iowa during the 1920s were re­
minders of the distance that remained. Not until Presi­
dent Truman's 1948 executive order banning segrega­
tion in the armed forces and the U.S. Supreme Court's 
1954 decision outlawing "separate but equal" schools 
would federal government agencies begin taking action 
on behalf of black civil rights in the United States.
The impact of changes at the federal level took some 
time to be felt locally. In 1948, Edna Griffin led a suc­
cessful boycott of Katz Drug Store in downtown Des 
Moines, charging the druggist with refusing to serve 
African Americans at the store's lunch counter. An Iowa 
Supreme Court decision was necessary to make the 
charges stick against Katz. Yes, said the state's highest 
court, it was wrong to discriminate among customers 
by race. But apparently the lessons of the Katz case were 
slow in reaching other Des Moines business establish­
ments, for retired school principal Frances Hawthorne 
recalls segregation in Des Moines movie houses during 
the 1950s, when seats for whites were on the theaters' 
main floor and black seating was restricted to the bal­
conies. In Cedar Rapids and elsewhere around the state, 
housing covenants kept black Iowans—regardless of 
income—residentially segregated well into the 1960s. 
And incredibly, from today's vantage point at least, not 
until the 1980s was the principle of desegregation insti­
tutionalized in such highly visible civil-service fields as 
police and fire departments.
Thus throughout the 20th century, black Iowans 
were forced to fight—in black news media such as the 
Iowa Bystander, in the city councils and the state legisla­
ture, and in the courts—to gain their constitutional 
rights. Beginning in 1915, Iowa branches of the National 
Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) fought for the rights of full citizenship for 
African Americans in Iowa, applying steady pressure 
to Iowa's political institutions to correct injustices. Out­
side In's chapter on civil rights organizations, written 
by Professor Jeremy Brigham in collaboration with 
NAACP state conference president Robert A. Wright, 
chronicles the campaigns for equal rights led by brave 
NAACP leaders such as Marshalltown's Rose Bannon 
Johnson, Davenport's Charles Toney, and other black 
community leaders throughout Iowa. Considering its 
scant financial resources and the inertia of Iowa's ma­
jor political parties on civil rights issues, the NAACP's 
efforts are praiseworthy not only for the tenacity of the 
organization's leadership but also for its successful ap­
peal to white as well as black citizens for support.
Outside In's nearly 600 pages contain many stories 
that emerged unexpectedly during the course of the 
book's preparation from a network that the authors 
themselves pulled together—a community of public his­
torians, if you will, that grew to include hundreds of 
people, each with an anecdote or a photograph to con­
tribute. Material about the black firefighters of Des 
Moines, and about musicians Big Bill Broonzy and Eddie 
(Pickin) Bowles, found its way into Outside In courtesy 
of generous people who had no "official" connection 
with the book, individuals such as Leonard Feinberg, 
Linda Fobian, and Russell Lovell.
There were many others who lent a hand as well, 
and in my opinion their active interest in the project 
was especially significant. Lines traditionally drawn— 
between "experts" and "amateurs," for example, or be­
tween the "white community" and the "black commu­
nity"—were ignored as authors researched and wrote 
about their topics. Drafts were passed back and forth
160 Iowa Heritage Illustrated
Dorothy Clayton runs a lathe at John Deere,Waterloo, I 940s. Robert M. Carney has practiced medicine in Grinnell since 1965.
among authors and editors for fact-checking; authors 
were alerted to items of interest that had turned up in 
someone else's research; and calls went out to people 
all over the country to have questions answered and 
details provided.
And what a difference the illustrations loaned to 
the project made to the book's final appearance. Out­
side In contains hundreds of photographs and other il­
lustrations, thanks in large part to the archivists, librar­
ians, and private citizens whose contributions provided 
Outside In's editors with the action shots, street scenes, 
and individual, family, and group portraits that convey 
a sense of the character of life for Iowa's African Ameri­
can citizens from the 19th century to today.
Even now, though Outside In has been out for more 
than a year, the work of collecting photographic images 
and other historical documents continues. Several chap­
ter authors are working with Hal Chase to build up the 
State Historical Society's holdings in African American 
history in Iowa. Here again, the making of Outside In 
marked the beginning of an ongoing community of 
people committed to the preservation of Iowa's Afri­
can American heritage.
That community was well represented at the annual 
"I'll Make Me a World" celebration held at the State His­
torical Building in Des Moines on January 24, 2002, 
which was Outside In's official publication date. Gover­
nor and Mrs. Vilsack were there, as were Juan Williams 
from the Washington studios of PBS News, Giancarlo 
Esposito from Fox Television, and many other promi­
nent individuals. But the hallmark of the day was a 
shared sense of recognition—recognition of the people 
who had written the book and of those whose lives, or 
ancestors' lives, were described in its pages. January 24
was not simply a publishing event, but a day of triumph 
for all of Iowa in recognizing the aspirations and 
achievements of the state's African American commu­
nity. That day I felt we had perhaps come a step closer 
to Carter Woodson's idea of public history.
"The African-American experience in Iowa has not 
only been a major one," historian Dorothy Schwieder 
writes in her afterword to Outside In, "but has exempli­
fied the ideals and values that all Iowans have held to 
be important." Outside In shows clearly that the ideals 
and values held dear by black Iowans were the same: 
Healthy families and strong communities. Economic 
opportunity. And political rights and equal justice for 
all. White America has taken these things for granted, 
while black America's struggle continues. Outside In 
details the nature of the struggle in Iowa.
But for those of us who worked on the book, there 
was more, because the spirit of public history that in­
fuses Outside In—involving authors from diverse per­
sonal and professional backgrounds, sharing informa­
tion among authors, and welcoming contributions from 
the community as a whole—taught us a new way to 
learn about the past, about ourselves, and about the 
complex world around us. I for one hope that Carter 
Woodson is pleased. ❖
This column introduces selected hooks of pertinence and inter­
est to readers keen on Iowa and the past. This issue's columnist, 
Bill Silag, earned his Ph.D. in history from the University of 
Iowa in 1979. A former editor of The Palimpsest, helms taught 
history, worked in program evaluation and organizational de­
velopment, and served as managing editor and editor-in-chief 
of Iowa State University Press.
Winter 2002 1 61


Outside In and the Idea of Community Involvement in Public History

Bergman, Marvin

Reading the Past (2002)