Iowa Heritage Illustrated

English

Iowa Heritage Illustrated, vol.81 no.3-4, Fall & Winter 2000

Martin, Nancy S

A Chronicle of Family Camaraderie

Index for 1999

Everything by Hand': A Community Remembers its Blacksmith

Smith, Michael O

Piecework

Rasmussen, Chris

Looking Forward and Backward: The Iowa State Fair at the Close of the 19th Century

Swaim, Ginalie

H a rb o rin g  th e  h is to ry  bug?
In January 1900, the satire magazine Punch identi­
fied the frazzled fellow below as “ a calculating 
gentleman (not at all a bad looking chap) who has 
solved the problem as to whether we are in the 
nineteenth or twentieth century.”
Today, a hundred years later, he might be identi­
fied as “a weary fellow (having a bad hair day) who 
has read one too many lists of the ten most signifi­
cant people or events of this century ... or millen­
nium ... or geological epoch.” Certainly the na­
tional media has saturated the public with historical 
looks and lists— perhaps to the point of weariness 
and ennui for many.
But perhaps not for people like you and me—  
right? I would suspect that most of you loyal read­
ers of Iowa Heritage Illustrated had been contentedly 
harboring the “ history bug” long before the new- 
century-and-new-millennium hoopla ever began.
For people like us, looking back at the past, won­
dering what it was really like, comparing it to the 
present— this is just part of how we view the world 
we live in.
So here at Iowa Heritage Illustrated, we re not 
rushing into this “ make a list and move on” mental­
ity. This issue savors the end of the 19th century as 
Iowa was poised to begin a new one and, like ev­
eryone else in the world, was a bit puzzled over 
when the new century actually began.The issue 
also looks at our state in 1899 through the lens of 
that Iowa icon, the State Fair, at a time when lo- 
wans were just as interested in looking back as 
looking forward.
There’s even more in this issue, of course, and 
much more lined up for the coming year. We plan 
to feature some special articles on the 20th cen­
tury in Iowa, culminating in a special collector’s edi­
tion— a companion issue to the State Historical 
Society’s upcoming museum exhibit about the 20th 
century. Titled “A Few of Our Favorite Things,” the 
exhibit is scheduled to open in December 2000.
But first, let me wish you and yours a happy 
new year. And please join me in looking forward to 
more of the past— brought to you in every issue of 
Iowa Heritage Illustrated.
— The Editor


Harboring the History Bug?

Frese, Millie

A 1905 Auto Trip to Spirit Lake

Vogt, Michael W

Blacksmithing & Quilting

Seeing Quilting and Coverlets Up Close, Caring for Quilts and Coverlets, and Keeping Their Stories Alive