Curator's 2004 Report

Ames Historical Society Collections Annual Report for 2004 by Dennis Wendell photos from the Ames Historical Society Annual Meeting

The year 2004 has been an exceptionally good one for documenting Ames
history.  Records were once again broken – a total of 91 gifts were
accessioned from 65 donors. Individual donations ranged from a single item
to hundreds of artifacts.  All collections were greatly enriched:
archives, artifacts, books, audio-visuals, photographs, and maps. 
Collections Curator, Dennis Wendell, and Collections Assistant, Sara Vouthilak,
were challenged to keep up with the pace of collecting and organizing materials. 
Limited floor space was continually reorganized to make room for collections
and activities.  After attending the Midwest Archives Conference last
fall, the curator returned with new ideas for future endeavors.  Major
amounts of time were spent creating the new web site.  Important gifts
of essential equipment included microfilm readers, gondola shelving for
artifacts, and a refrigerator for film negative storage.

The following list includes a representative selection from the
year’s donations of historical items and illustrates the diversity of gifts.

COLLECTIONS

Businesses

Ames Bulletin Board – complete set of issues 1951 to date

Ames Engraving – clippings, photos, price lists

Ames Theatre – marquee letters, red & blue light bulbs, and AMES
sign; carbon arc lamp

Christensen Hardware – 1931 wall calendar

Collegiate Mfg. Co. –  cloth & leather emblems, personality
pets, catalogs, original designs

Dixon Drug – 1943 calendar

Howard Flying Service – propeller-shaped letter opener

Mikado Restaurant – menus, dishes, and wait-staff happi coats

Spic and Span Grocery – scooter with advertising

Organizations

Christian Science Church – correspondence from churches in England,
France & Holland

First Methodist Church –  color slides and photos of sanctuary,
choirs, organs

Friends of Halletts – records 1999-2003

North Star Country Club – records 1912-1914, 1917-1919, 1944

Residents

Arrasmith – family history

Brown  – 1870s gouache portraits

Cole – family photos and scrapbooks

Hannum – family history

Ringgenberg family – archival materials & hundreds of rural life
artifacts

Underwood – family photos and scrapbooks

Schools

Ames High – photographs of class reunions

Central Jr. High – memorabilia of Mary Sterling’s tenure (newsletters,
school clothing, etc.)

Clearview – photograph

Crawford – PTA scrapbooks 1930-1955, treasurer’s book 1951-1966

North Grant – photograph, records 1917-1921

Oakwood – photograph, records, DVD of 1941 school day film

Other

Ames-College bus token; railroad lantern & switch lamps from old
C&NW switchyards; Ada Hayden

Heritage Park dedication memorabilia; advertising pencils and pens;
wood paving blocks; WWII medals, insignia, memoirs & phonographs

VOLUNTEERS

Faithful volunteers have contributed over 700 hours of service during
the year!

• Perhaps half of those hours were spent by webmaster Alan Spohnheimer
  in bringing our new website online.
• Considerable effort went into organizing loose photographs in the Ames
  Tribune Photo Archive.  Liz Smith, Ellen Stewart, Jack Froehlig, Sarah
  Dentlinger, Cecilia Finken, and Brenda Schmitt from the State 4-H Youth
  Conference began indexing "mug shot" photos and inputting entries into
  a computer database.
• Martha Rasmussen and SeoYoung Kim spent much of the year sorting and
  organizing black & white photographs and news clippings of individuals.
• A non-traditional history student, Alice Mellen, began the labor-intensive
  task of identifying and cataloging negatives in the Archive.
• Further effort was contributed by Veishea Community Involvement Committee
  volunteers, Heath Brock and Cory Hanson, who input several hundred names
  into the "mug shot" database.  For a change of pace, Abe Schwager
  and Brent Schaub exercised their muscles by moving large, heavy artifacts
  to a separate storage facility.
• Deborah King, an ISU graduate student in Textiles & Clothing, spent
  more than half the year cataloging, marking, preserving, and re-housing
  our textile collection.
• Without exception, all Board members have contributed countless hours
  within their special assignments.

DONORS

Numerous friends have donated items in 2004.  For all of these
generous donors the Society is most grateful!