Keeping the keeping of history alive
During the process of our committee’s work creating a list of people who have significantly impacted our community over the past 150 years, committee members shared personal stories and insights about many of those discussed.
I was impressed by what history was exchanged and couldn’t help thinking that our job would not have been possible without the efforts of those past and present who have worked in various ways to preserve the history of our community.
We might think of local museums and archives that strive to preserve objects of the past, make them accessible to us and help us use those objects to connect to the lives of those who preceded us. We can also look out our windows and see the impact of those who have labored in the preservation of historic properties and neighborhoods.
Individuals such as Margaret Nowysz who pushed for a preservation commission and plan in Iowa City as well as countless families who have chosen not only to live in or operate businesses in older buildings, but to invest the time, energy and money needed to restore them to their former glory. Our community reflects the efforts of groups who have seen the value in saving, restoring and reinventing the use of historic properties such as Old Brick or the Old Coralville School, or faith communities such as Bethel A.M.E. or the Welsh Church, who continually choose to invest in what their ancestors built with pride. Those individuals and groups exist not just in Iowa City and Coralville, but in every community in Johnson County.
Selecting the top 150 newsmakers would be difficult without the work of numerous individuals such as Irving Weber, whose research and writing have left us a better understanding of the contributions of local people and organizations to the development of our community. Important, too, are countless others who have had the responsibility of “keeping the record.”
It includes those who have held the position of “historian” in an organization and labored to keep a well-documented record of the group’s activities, but also individuals who have accepted the role of collectors of their family history.
Family historians include more than family genealogists, but also the person in each generation recognized by family members as the saver of the family history. In my family, it was my grandmother. When someone didn’t want Uncle Henry’s daybook or the portrait of great-grandma’s sister who died at 16, they knew my grandmother would save them, care for them and pass them on. It includes those who have taken time to record names and dates on family photographs, and grandparents who have written their life stories for their grandchildren.
Why preserve local history? As our individual stories are part of our identity, so does our collective past contribute to who we are. In the way that our own experiences direct our individual actions, so does our collective experience direct our actions as a community. To grow as individuals, we need to understand why we react the way we do. To progress as a community, we need to understand why things are the way they are. The experiences of former residents both inspirational and tragic have lessons important for us to learn.
Author John Kotre paints a fantastic image of how objects connect us to the past. “When you lift your hand to touch (an object from the past) you also see a hand from the past reaching out to touch you.”