Museum News

During the 1830s and 1840s, the Neutral Ground was home to thousands of Ho-Chunk and associated government officials, soldiers, and traders. Archeological traces of these villages, camp sites, battlefields, burial grounds, trading posts, and other sites still exist in northeast Iowa, but are difficult to relocate.

La Raw Maran, Emeritus professor, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, spoke on the “Past, Present and Future of Ethnic Peoples”. LaRaw stated that a people’s organized life actually requires traditional culture. He emphasized that ethnic peoples had to make drastic adaptation to survive as living communities in response to nation-building politics of 19th and 20th centuries.

Jon Greendeer, executive director of Ho-Chunk Nation cultural affairs, challenged the audience to learn more about the Ho-Chunk Nation. Jon spoke powerfully in the Ho-Chunk language for a time. His elders had charged him to learn the Ho-Chunk language and the traditional ways to preserve their heritage.

Katherine McCarville, professor of Geology at Upper Iowa University emphasized that the geology and geomorphology of an area influence the culture or cultures that inhabit that area, through features of the landscape and the availability and quality of earth resources. These resources include stone, clay, mineral and fuel resources, and soils.

Russell Baldner’s presentation, Sacred Places: An Introduction to Northeast Iowa’s Native American Rock Art Legacy,” featured striking photographs of indigenous petroglyphs (rock carvings), pictographs (painted figures), and natural landscape.

Matthew Blong with a linguistics degree from Yale University, presented on “River-Names of Native American and European Origins: A Brief Historical Linguistic Overview.”

Tereasa Lenius examined his heroic, tragic, life from his fighting with the British in the War of 1812 to his death near the Turkey River Mission in 1847 as well as the uncertainty over his burial site.

In May 2022, the Museum roof sprung a major leak during a heavy storm. This storm resulted in a major section of the ceiling crashing down in the kitchen. For several years we have been dealing with serious leaks that have destroyed ceiling and wall areas in second floor museum rooms.