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History Center Houses Valuable Resources

Ruth Darling

The Gazette

February 19, 2006

[Note: This material is copyright by The Gazette, and is reproduced here as a matter of "fair use" for non-commercial, educational purposes only. Any other use may require the prior approval of The Gazette.]


Hope for the continuation of the History Center was raised in reading the encouraging Feb. 5 Gazette editorial ‘‘History Center raises bigger questions.’’
 
The Center is grateful to the many caring people and organizations that have supported it. Many have trusted the center to professionally care for their artifacts.
 
Included in the History Center collections are numerous old, rare photographs, maps, city directories, etc. that aren’t found elsewhere.
 
Taped interviews of wellknown people and people in various professions are available to the public to take out at no cost.
 
Our History Center library, with its free admission, has been called the best-kept secret in Cedar Rapids. Files of old and current newspaper clippings on all subjects including businesses, organizations, events, schools, etc. are available. We receive inquiries from all over the United States. One Easterner tried many resources to find information on Richard Pinney, who she claimed to be another Grant Wood. She was pleased with how much information we sent. We sent another lady a history of Cedar Rapids to use as background for a book she was writing. Good public relations, right?

Children love the History Center. Caring and professional people provide many enjoyable and educational programs.

It would be a great loss if such knowledgeable and dedicated staff as Mark Hunter, city historian, and Carrie King, child educator, were dismissed. We’ve already lost some cream off the top; maybe that’s where scrutiny should begin.

I believe the people of Linn County, including my fellow History Center volunteers and those who control the center’s expenditures, care enough about preserving its history to keep the History Center doors open.
__________
Ruth Darling
Cedar Rapids