6. Descriptions of the Collections


6.6 IOWA


Iowa is agriculture. Since its first settlers crossed the Mississippi River in the 1830s, Iowa's history has
been shaped by the richness of some of the best soil in the world. Bordered by two major river systems,
Iowa's gently rolling countryside was originally covered by thousands of acres of prairie grass, some of it
so high that to see over it required a rider to stand on top of his horse. To further bless this land, nearly
35 inches of rain falls each year, and although it can get very hot and very cold, the average annual
temperature hovers around 50 degrees, which guarantees Iowa with a growing season sufficient to raise
abundant crops.

The Native Americans whom the French fur traders first encountered in the 1700s were the loway, whose
name means "beautiful land" or "this is the place." Others, including the Sac, Fox, Winnebago,
Pottawattamie, Otoe, and Illini tribes came into Iowa after losing their homelands to the westward
advancing white settlers. These varied groups blended the woodlands culture of the northeast with the
existing plains and prairie civilization to produce a semi-nomadic lifestyle that relied primarily on
hunting, fishing, and gathering of nuts and berries. In their small garden plots the Native American
peoples also grew maize, tomatoes, potatoes, squash and other vegetables. These "New World" crops were
an important addition to the European food base and served as the foundation for future agricultural
developments.

By 1833, most of the Native Americans had been displaced and the territory was opened to new
settlement. The nearly treeless prairie provided little hindrance to the wave of pioneers that moved
inexorably across what would soon become the 29th state in December 1846. Like their counterparts in
other Midwestern states, Iowa's nineteenth-century settlers were a mixture of pioneers and foreign-born
people. After the Civil War, many families moved westward from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana,
stopping in Iowa some settled permanently while others stayed only a short while before moving on. By
1890, nearly 20 percent were foreign-born, almost entirely from northern and western Europe, with the
majority being of German ancestry. In the early part of the twentieth century the burgeoning coal-mine
industry would attract immigrants from southern and eastern Europe.

Yet it has always been the land that has shaped Iowa, its people, and its history. The men and women who
toiled long days in the sun, or shivered in winter's icy blasts, developed a soberness, hardiness, and strong
work ethic that buttressed them from the vagaries of the marketplace. They took their work seriously,
their religion quietly, and their politics with a good dose of moderation. Perhaps Dorothy Schwieder has
best summarized the essential characteristics of Iowans as people of the "Middle Land", not only
geographically, but socially and politically as well. From the middle of the nineteenth century to the
middle of the twentieth, most Iowans seldom strayed from within the fold of the Republican party. Even
when the Populist Party chose a native son, James B. Weaver, as its presidential standard-bearer in the
1890s, Iowa farmers tended to look the other way and stayed with the
tried and true Republican Party.

It was one thing to raise a crop; it was another to get it sold. In the early years, most Iowans were unable
to grow much more than they needed to support their homestead. But as agricultural methods improved
and machinery began to assert its impact on productivity, the issue of transportation became significant
for Iowa farmers. They needed to acquire ways of getting their surplus to market to generate the capital
necessary for future success on the land. Fortunately, the two major rivers which serve as Iowa's east and
west boundaries functioned as efficient and regular conduits for agricultural products. Despite the
importance of water transport, it was the advent of the railroad that especially spurred sustained growth of
Iowa's rural economy. By 1870, four major lines crisscrossed the state linking the countryside with the
rivers while establishing nodes of embryonic towns and villages along the way. These small communities
often consisted of only a grain elevator, a few stores, a church or two, some private dwellings, and, of