Pella Community Memory Database

Pella Public Library is pleased to provide you with this free monthly newsletter keeping you informed on the progress being made on the Pella Community Memory Database (PCMD), a new grant-funded project sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). We hope you will find this newsletter informative!

The VanEe Family Collection is the newest addition to the Pella Community Memory database. With 40 different photos and documents, it's the perfect place to start searching for information on this Dutch line! We appreciate the efforts of Will Verhoef in lending and scanning the materials for this collection!

The Street Views Collection is only growing larger and more interesting as time goes on! Currently, there are 523 items in this collection. We're currently working on the 400-700 blocks of Franklin Street, which contain some awesome buildings like the Smokey Row building, the Pella Opera House, and the Quilted Windmill/Fowler Telephone building, shown above. Stay tuned!

We're proud to say that we've been able to positively identify the addresses of virtually all of the Street View pictures in our collection. However, there are 16 of them that we just can't figure out! Take a look at the pictures and see if you're able to positively identify an address, or even a general area of town where they might have been taken! Any information is useful, and you can report your findings directly to cbrown@cityofpella.com. Thank you!

Part of the purpose of the Pella Community Memory Database is to not only present materials, but to allow the stories the materials tell to come to light. Take the photo above, pulled from our Street Views collection, and available here. What stories does it tell?

In the background we see businesses - Pella Produce Co. and a Grocer, who have long since disappeared. We can tell that the Grocer was proud to sell Queensware, which was a white earthenware. In the center, we see the Carnegie-Viersen Library, prior to renovations which removed the original staircase, showing that at one time the porch was functional and well-used. We see a time before air-conditioning, when the windows of buildings were large and left wide open for cooling and for added interior light.

In the foreground, an even more compelling story is told when we reflect upon the history of the time. At first glance, the parade entries are simply celebrating their home in the Dutch settlement of Pella. But looking deeper, we can see that the the float also represents the idea of manifest destiny, commonly held among European settlers of that time. It also clearly speaks to ideas about race with a float proudly celebrating the "First White Baby Girl Born In Pella, Iowa," trimmed with stars and stripes all around.

Some may feel that the history represented should be celebrated, while others may find that same history troubling. But it is important, borrowing a golf term, to "play it where it lies." The Pella Community Memory Database works to present the historical record of Pella, Iowa in its entirety in order to promote study, research, and understanding. Looking to our past, we can better understand our current condition and hopefully make a better future.

This newsletter is published monthly with funding from an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant.

For more information, please contact:

Chris Brown

Project Director

Pella Public Library

603 Main Street

Pella, IA 50219

641-628-4268

cbrown@cityofpella.com