Search results | Digital Grinnell

Title: Henry W. Spaulding
Description: Black and white photograph showing Henry W. Spaulding (1846-1937) dressed in a long coat and holding a hat, standing in front of a painted forest backdrop. Henry was the founder of Spaulding Manufacturing Company, in addition to being an Iowa state senator from 1910 the mayor of Grinnell for a short period of time.
Date Created: 1880
PID: grinnell:23271

Title: Henry W. Spaulding
Description: Sepia photograph showing Henry W. Spaulding (1846-1937) seated in a relaxed pose and wearing a suit with a fine watch fob.
Date Created: 1880
PID: grinnell:23242

Title: Homer Hamlin
Description: Black and white photograph showing the face of Rev. Homer Hamlin (1813-1868), a prominent Abolitionist and one of the founders of Grinnell.
Date Created: 1860
PID: grinnell:23253

Title: In Memory of Hannibal Kershaw
Description: In this block the artists decided to honor Hannibal Kershaw and recognize the legacy he left on Grinnell during his time here as a student. Hannibal Kershaw was the first black student to graduate from Grinnell College in the early 19th century. The Iowa College Newsletter called Kershaw “an earnest, conscientious student, a fluent society speaker, and a man whom all respected for his high moral and religious character.” After graduating from Grinnell, he became a member of the South Carolina legislature and was also a teacher and a minister. Although Kershaw passed away only 4 years after leaving Grinnell, his memory is honored in the East Campus hall named for him, and now also in this piece of art. In this block, the artists have included a photograph of Kershaw along with the commemorative sign on Kershaw Hall, as well as keys and screws to symbolize not only the dorm, but also Kershaw’s commitment to building respectful race relations at the college and the symbolic doors he opened as the first black graduate of Grinnell. The artists also included a bird in flight, meant to remind viewers that while loved ones may be gone, their legacy will be remembered forever. Lastly, a piece of twine placed between these images reminds us of how connected the struggles of people of color are all over the world. Although Kershaw never set foot in Haiti, he certainly knew the pain and legacy of slavery and colonization, and felt the burn of racism even in Grinnell.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25515

Title: Ina Sprague
Description: Black and white photograph of Ina Sprague (1891-1979), lifelong resident of Grinnell. Ina was principal of the Davis School for 28 years until her retirement in 1956.
Date Created: 1940
PID: grinnell:23255

Title: Inheriting the Iowa Diary: Little Women and their Audiences on the Prairie
Description: Diaries are literary sirens, enticing readers to furtively open them and learn all their writers’ secrets to understand them as deeply as the diary does itself. However, despite popular conception, diaries are not meant to be secret and left unread; for if someone has taken the care to save the moments of a life and protect them across time and distance, perhaps they deserve to be read. Diaries exist as a marginal form of literary expression, both limited and freed by the social orders that act upon their writers. All the tensions that are impressed upon the diarist extend onto their diaries; furthermore, diaries are written with a specific intent and readership in mind which increasingly controls the content of a diary. I have added to the conversation about the role of diary readership by emphasizing that the intended audience are not the only readers of the diary: an inheriting readership, separated from the writer through time and often distance, eventually picks up the diary as well. The temporal separation causes a gap of understanding between the inheriting readers and the diarist, a space that these readers must navigate in order to fully contextualize the diary. I located dozens of local diaries before selecting two to demonstrate these gaps, as well as to analyze them through pre-existing diary theory. Lucile Hink’s Great Depression diary and Eliza Ann Bartlett’s pioneer diary share many traits of rural farmsteading and life in Grinnell during economic constraints, creating an ideal set to analyze and to demonstrate the traditions of diary-keeping practices across swaths of history.
Date Created: 2019
PID: grinnell:28278

Title: James H. Bonesteel and Alice Brent Bonesteel
Description: Black and white photograph of a couple, James H. Bonesteel and his wife Alice Brent (according to written inscription). James is dressed in a black suit, and Alice is wearing a dark-colored dress with a lace collar. This photograph was rescued from a donor in Michigan who found it in an antique shop. The photographer was Eckhardt, in Grinnell, but we don't know anything else about the couple.
Date Created: 1890
PID: grinnell:23282

Title: John Pfitsch Interview, American Beliefs and Cultural Values
Description: John Pfitsch was born in Miraj, India, and raised in San Antonio, Fort Davis, and Pflugerville, Texas. During his youth he lived for nine years in the Civilian Conservation Corps camp at Fort Davis where his father, Alfred Pfitsch, Jr., was a medical doctor. During the summers from age 8 to 21, John attended a YMCA Boys Camp in Kerrville, Texas, where he progressed from camper to assistant director of the camp. Interview conducted as part of American Beliefs and Cultural Values, an American Studies class taught by Hanna Griff at Grinnell College in 1993.
Date Created: 1993
PID: grinnell:26712

Title: Leila Mabel Williams
Description: Black and white photograph of Leila Mabel Williams (1880-1909) at age 18 wearing a dark-colored dress with a high collar and ruffles on the left side. "Sister Babe 18 yrs" is written on the back of the photograph.
Date Created: 1898
PID: grinnell:23280

Title: Lena Sprague
Description: Portrait of Lena Sprague, around high school graduation age, wearing a white, ankle-length dress with three-quarter length eyelet lace sleeves. She wears a bracelet and locket necklace while resting her hands on a podium.
Date Created: 1916
PID: grinnell:23210