Iowa Heritage Illustrated

Silag, Bill

English

Judge Cave J. McFarland

Iowa Heritage Illustrated, vol.83 no.1, Spring 2001

Bermaas, Lori

Finding Your School's Past: A Research Primer

Iowa Heritage Illustrated, vol.82 no.2, Summer 2001

Vermaas, Lori

One in a Million
S H S I (O E S  M O IN ES). M USEUM ; P H O T O  BY C H U C K  G R E IN E R
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O U V E N I R
-
O J t -
Iowa 
Colored
i
T h e  o n ly  a u t o ­
g r a p h  t h a t  c a n  b e  
m a t c h e d  t o  o n e  
o f  t h e  p la y e rs  
p ic t u r e d  h e r e  is 
f o r  R ip  C o ll in s ,  
t o p  ro w , f i r s t  o n  
le f t ,  th e  t e a m ’s 
t r a v e l in g  s e c r e ­
t a r y  a n d  b u s in e s s  
m a n a g e r ,  w h o  
a ls o  p la y e d  t h ir d  
b a s e  a n d  o u t f ie ld .  
T h e  r e s t  o f  t h e  
p la y e rs  w h o  
s ig n e d  t h e  
p r o g r a m  r e m a in  
u n id e n t i f ie d .
On any given summer night in the 
early 1960s, hundreds, sometimes 
over a thousand Iowans watched 
the Iowa Colored Cowboys play 
softball. These were jocular 
exhibitions, composed of older 
players, aimed to amuse a general 
audience rather than impress base­
ball lovers. An almost all-black team, 
the Cowboys are commemorated 
in this cover photograph on a 1960 
game program (right). Recently 
acquired by the State Historical 
Society of Iowa, the program 
documents not only African 
Americans' participation in Iowa 
ballplaying, but also how integral 
barnstorming was to baseball's 
development as the national pastime.
As Negro League historian 
Donn Rogosin has pointed out, 
barnstorming showcased profes­
sional baseball to a rural white 
public "starved” for the game. 
Supplemented by Negro League 
players and local teams, these 
lucrative, often interracial, travel­
ing events involved both competi­
tion and entertainment, similar to 
the promotional atmosphere of a 
Harlem Globetrotters performance. 
Because of the late-19th-century 
ban on blacks from the major 
leagues, such a "baseball minstrel 
circuit" enabled black players to 
participate in the game's emer­
gence as the nation's most popular 
organized team sport in the early 
20th century, while it also en­
hanced the push for the major 
league's desegregation.
These exhibitions often in­
cluded fast-pitch softball. While 
all-white Iowa teams dominated 
the sport throughout the state, 
black teams did compete, though 
perhaps only in these comic 
troupes. Originally named the 
Sioux City Iowa Negro Ghosts in
1933, the team, pictured here, 
reorganized in 1960. Rechristened 
the Sioux City Iowa Colored 
Cowboys, the traveling softball 
team—billed as "a Ball Circus, 
America's greatest summer sports 
show" by General Manager Henrv 
Fisher—comprised gifted ball­
players who embraced their role 
as entertainers. Red Strickland (topi 
row, middle), perhaps the Cow­
boys' only white player, was one 
of their top hurlers. But he also 
played to the crowd, noted one of 
the program's writers, enthralling 
spectators "with an assortment of 
between the legs, behind the back" 
pitches. According to another 
program account, Marland "Show- 
boat" Buckner (not pictured), a 
great defensive first basemen and 
"more than adequate with the
bat," was notorious for his "side­
splitting" antics, including wise­
cracks, bat spinning, and embar­
rassing the umpire.
Sometime during a game, their 
opponents would rest while the 
Cowboys separated into two 
teams for an inning of fun. They 
played shadow ball, where players 
mimicked the game's live action 
without a ball in play, and slow- 
motion ball, a prolonged perfor­
mance of the third out.
By the 1960s, the color line had 
dissolved, leaving exhibitions like 
these as an outlet for senior 
ballplayers. Although it is not 
clear when the Colored Cowboys 
folded, the photograph and 
program conjure up much about 
baseball's grassroots appeal.
—by Lori Vermans, Editorial Intern


One in a Million

Nieb, Cynthia

Financial Incentives for Country Schools

O'Keefe, Sarah A

Abbie Gardner Cabin Revisited

Olson, Greg

S
H
Preserving Memories 
and Conserving Paintings
—The Gardner Canvases—
by Greg Olson
Abigail Gardner Sharp spent her entire adult life searching for an adequate means through which to express, for friends and strangers 
alike, the horrible memories she carried in her mind— 
memories based on her experience as the 13-year-old 
captive of a band of Wahpekute Indians. In 1885, 28 
years after her captivity, Sharp published her widely 
successful History of the Spirit Lake Massacre, in which 
she recounted her memories in the melodramatic 
language of the popular dime novels of the day. Like 
these Wild West adventure stories, early editions of 
Sharp's written memoir included graphic illustrations 
of some of the story's gory highlights.
Engraved by the book's publisher, Mills and Com­
pany of Des Moines—most certainly under Sharp's 
close supervision—a series of etchings depicted such 
tragic events as the killing of Sharp's family and the 
burning of the cabin of her neighbors, the Mattocks.
In the decades before photographic reproductions 
became technically and financially feasible, publishers 
of newspapers and books alike relied on the talent 
and imagination of artists and engravers to visually 
enhance the often-sensational stories they presented 
to their audiences. Journals such as Harper's Weekly 
and Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly effectively used 
etchings to bring the battles of the Civil War, the 
impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, and 
other news stories of the day into the homes of 
America's growing middle class.
By the early 1890s the brisk sales of Sharp's book
allowed her to purchase her childhood home on the 
shore of Lake Okoboji and create a museum. Most 
striking among the curios arranged inside the small 
cabin were the five large paintings that served as 
illustrations for the tours she gave to visitors who 
paid to see the site. According to Mike Koppert, site 
manager at the Gardner Cabin, four of the five paint­
ings appear to have been painted by Abbie Gardner 
Sharp, from memory. Rendered in vivid colors, these 
paintings are enlarged versions of the same grisly 
scenes depicted in her book that represented her 
personal recollections of the events she witnessed 
during and after the massacre.
The artistic expression of personal memory is a phenomenon that is centuries old. Ancient drawings scratched on cave walls and winter 
counts painted by American Indians on animal hide 
are recordings of events as recalled by their creators. 
The genre of memory painting was popular through­
out the 19th century, and works of this nature con­
tinue to be produced today, often by older people 
who have little or no formal art training and whose 
working years are behind them. For some painters, 
the act of setting down their memories on canvas 
allows them to look nostalgically at their past. Others 
see painting as a means to document vanishing 
lifestyles, occupations, and folkways.
Created some 30 years after the fact, Abigail
82 lozua H e rita g e  I llu s tra te d
)
Gardner Sharp's paintings of the "Spirit Lake Massa­
cre" do not document an event in history so much as 
they bear witness to the suffering of a young girl. The 
images of crimson bloodstains on white snow and 
angry orange flames engulfing a cabin express 
Sharp's decades-long struggle with anger, grief, and 
loss. Like her book, these paintings are her attempt to 
help others comprehend the losses she survived and 
the difficulties she endured.
At the same time, these images were important to 
the success of Sharp's cabin museum. They added 
credence to her story and helped legitimize her status 
as a victim. In much the same way as sensational 
video images of death and destruction help boost 
television news ratings today, Sharp's paintings also 
brought paying customers to her museum door.
These lurid images offered the curious public a 
voyeuristic peek at a famously tragic incident and 
satisfied their desire to vicariously experience trag­
edy. While Abigail Gardner Sharp claimed that her 
paintings, like her museum, told the true story of the 
"Spirit Lake Massacre," they should be viewed as 
subjective interpretations that have been shaped by 
decades of memory and by Sharp's need to satisfy 
the expectations of her audience.
T
he five paintings, which hung in the Gardner 
Cabin for decades, deteriorated over time. Dirt 
and grime accumulated on the surface, and the 
canvases themselves buckled and bulged. In the early 
1990s, the Questers of Iowa, which encourages the 
study of antiques and fosters preservation and 
restoration of historical landmarks, funded conserva­
tion treatment of the five paintings as a statewide 
project, with Siouan Chapter #36 and Spirit Lake 
Chapter #865 making special contributions. Thanks 
to the Questers' generous support, the conservation 
and stabilizing treatments were completed; the 
canvases are cleaned and properly lined, their bulges 
and draws eliminated. The paintings now hang in the 
Gardner Cabin Interpretive Center. ❖
Above: The paintings after conservation t re a tm e n t .  From left:
• Abbie is taken hostage and led away from  her  family’s cabin 
• “ Burning M attock’s C ab in”
• “ Sad Fate Of Mrs.Thatcher. Crossing The Big Sioux”
• N egotiations for her  surrender. “ Council, Jim River, S.D.
My Last Night W ith  The Yanktons”
• Yankton “ w ar cap” given to  Abbie
BOTH P A G E S  S H S I (O E S  M OIN ES)
Before conservation t re a tm e n ts ,  the  framing no longer sup­
po r ted  the  canvases. Below: Joan G orm an  and an assistant 
from U pper Midwest C onservation  Associates move one of 
the  paintings. C onservation  was funded by Q ues te rs  of Iowa.
Summer 2001 83
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Preserving Memories and Conserving Paintings: The Gardner Canvases

Swaim, Ginalie

Stepping back into 1856
The Gardner Cabin today
Imagine constructing a log cabin in 
the unsettled frontier of northwest­
ern Iowa in the mid-1850s. Then 
imagine spending a harsh Iowa win­
ter with seven other individuals in 
that one-room cabin, measuring a 
mere 17 by 22 feet.
Visiting the Gardner Cabin to­
day invites such reverie. While the 
cabin survives as a reminder of a 
tragic frontier event (as the previous 
articles explain), it also speaks to us 
as an example of settlers' housing.
Since 1856, the year it was built, 
the cabin has undergone several 
changes. In 1862 or '63, a second 
story was added. In 1891 Abbie 
Gardner Sharp added a lattice over­
hang (removed in 1962 by the Iowa
Conservation Commission). When 
the cabin was transferred to the 
State Historical Society of Iowa in 
1974, architects and archaeologists 
conducted research and decided to 
return the cabin to its 1856 appear­
ance, size, and form. Directed by ar­
chitect William Wagner and State 
Historical Society staff, master car­
penter and craftsman Harold 
Howell, of Des Moines, worked for 
a year on the cabin.
Using authentic materials and 
techniques whenever possible gave 
Howell plenty of insight about 
Rowland Gardner, who constructed 
the cabin for his family. " Building a 
log cabin is slow work, and there's 
no way to rush it," Howell told a
reporter. "You notch a log, check to 
see if it fits, and then notch again. 
Each log goes up one at a time." 
Howell worked with seasoned oak 
logs: "I've gone through two hand 
axes, and am always sharpening 
tools.
"Gardner evidently did a real 
fine job on the original cabin, and 
I'll guarantee that he had his work 
cut out for him," Howell noted dur­
ing the project. "Some paintings of 
the cabin show its roof to be much 
higher than it was. The roofs couldn't 
have been that high, because it's just 
too hard to lift the logs up there. We 
used a backhoe when we put them 
up, and I'm sure that Gardner had 
no backhoe." —The Editor
78 Iowa Heritage Illustrated
Planning a visit
to Gardner Cabin?
Here s what you
need to know.
Summer 2001 79
SHSl ALL PHOTOS BY STEVEN OHRN
• Location: O n M onum ent D rive, one 
b lock west o f A rno lds Park Am use­
m ent Park in A rno lds Park, Iowa.
Som e of the  objects re la ted  to  the  “ Spirit Lake M assacre” and Indian culture  th a t  
Abbie G ardner  Sharp displayed in h e r  cabin are  now exhibited in the  s ite’s in ter­
pretive c en te r  (above). O th e rs  a re  on exhibit a t  the  Dickinson C ounty  M useum in 
nearby Spirit Lake. Also p a r t  of the  five-acre historic site is the  1895 m o n u m en t.
• Hours: M em orial Day weekend 
through September.
Monday-Friday: noon to  4 pm 
Weekends: 9 am-4 pm
• School groups may schedule field trips 
from  A p ril 15 through September.
• O n the W eb: w w w .iow ah isto ry.o rg  
Then go to  “ H is to ric  Sites,”  and then 
to  “ G ardner Cabin.”  A  teachers guide 
is also accessible at this point.
•To  schedule group tou rs  o r  fo r 
m ore in form ation, contact:
Mike Koppert, Site Manager 
Abbie G ardner Cabin 
Box 74
Arnolds Park, Iowa 51331 
Phone:712-332-7248
Steven O hrn
H is to ric  Sites C o o rd in a to r 
State H istorica l Society o f Iowa 
600 E. Locust 
Des Moines, Iowa 503 19 
Phone:515-281-7650 
Steve.Ohrn@ dca.state.ia.us
The G ardner Cabin is furnished with se t t le r s ’ artifacts, som e ga thered  by Abbie 
Gardner Sharp. The cabin served many roles in the  Iowa lakes region: as the  first 
se tt le r’s hom e, first church, first schoolhouse— and the  first touris t  a ttrac tion .
C u ltu ra l a ttra c tio n s  a b o u n d  in the  sce­
n ic lakes reg ion o f  n o rth w e s t Iowa. W h ile  
in  th e  a rea , en joy h is to r ic  A rn o ld s  Park  
A m u se m e n t Park, lea rn  a b o u t a rea  h is to ry  
a t the  D ick in so n  C oun ty  H is to r ic a l M u ­
seum , visit the  Lakes A r t  Center, see the  
M a r it im e  M u se u m , a n d  cru ise the  lake  on 
the  Queen II rep lica  o f  the  fam ous 1 8 8 4  
steam sh ip .
G a rd n e r C abin  is ow ned  a n d  o p e ra te d  
by the  S tate  H is to r ic a l Society o f  Iow a a n d  
is lis ted  on the N a tio n a l R egister o f  H is ­
to ric  Places.


Stepping Back into 1856: The Gardner Cabin Today

Tragedy, Tourism, and the Log Cabin: How Abbie Gardner Sharp and Charlotte Kirchner Butler Preserved and Promoted and Past